Friday, June 19, 2015

Glendale birds fall victim to carelessness


From the Queens Chronicle:

[Paul] Graziano went to the site — on Union Turnpike between Myrtle Avenue and 88th Street — to collect the small birds. The poor creatures were covered in the white tar all over their bodies and wings, and one of the two had its beak sealed shut.

Someone had caulked a gap in the sidewalk next to a fire hydrant, which Graziano said implies that a city contractor was involved. “This is negligent on part of the city for not taking proper precautions. If whoever laid the cement down would have waited for it to dry or at least protected the area, this would not have happened,” he said.

It was 7 p.m. on a Saturday when Graziano rescued the birds, so many veterinarian offices were closed. A 24-hour animal care center in Manhattan told him it could try its best to help the birds, but that the best thing to do would be to euthanize them. Graziano found this to be unacceptable and decided to take matters into his own hands.

He picked up Palmolive and Dawn dish soap, which is what wildlife rehab centers use on animals caught in oil spills. He proceeded to remove the caulk with the soap, a small needle and a tiny pair of sewing scissors, working for six hours. He was successful in removing almost all of the material and the sparrow that had its beak closed was able to open its mouth, but it died an hour later.

The second bird only had a little left on one of its wings and tail feathers, and started to fly around Graziano’s kitchen after being cleaned. He wanted to keep the bird in a box under a heat lamp outside, but the bird escaped and flew into the trees behind his yard in Flushing.

This is not the first time Queens has seen such an incident which, for Graziano, is a big issue. In July 2012, the same situation of small birds trapped in cement filler occurred on 67th Avenue in Rego Park, and was covered by NBC news. (See video above) “It’s standard procedure to cover this wet rubber tar with plastic while it’s drying and remove it the next day, which they failed to do back in 2012 and again last week,” Graziano explained.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that Paul Graziano is secretly Batman.

FlooshingRezident said...

Paul is a true local hero! He works tirelessly to improve Queens and is a dedicated animal lover!

Vote for Paul!

Anonymous said...

I am hoping nothing like this ever happens again but if it does there are 2 amazing resources in our area who can help: WINORR (wildlife in need of rescue & rehabilitation)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/WINORR-Wildlife-In-Need-of-Rescue-and-Rehabilitation/113685721999067
and Wild Bird Fund
http://www.wildbirdfund.org/
Both groups are miracle workers , when it comes to birds of all types.

Anonymous said...

I am hoping nothing like this ever happens again but if it does there are 2 amazing resources in our area who can help: WINORR (wildlife in need of rescue & rehabilitation)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/WINORR-Wildlife-In-Need-of-Rescue-and-Rehabilitation/113685721999067
and Wild Bird Fund
http://www.wildbirdfund.org/
Both groups are miracle workers , when it comes to birds of all types.


Unfortunately, this happened at 7pm on a Saturday night. I called the Wild Bird Fund first. They are only open from 1pm to 6pm. I left a message on their emergency hotline, but did not receive a call until 10am Sunday morning, long after I had treated the sparrows. And, the call was from a volunteer who checks messages for them, not a staff member.

While they may be a great resource in general for helping wild birds, they were unfortunately of zero help to me in what was an extremely urgent situation.

Paul Graziano