Loving Turkey Vultures

Mom's column from "Lurking Back" about a wounded turkey vulture

All Things Bright and Beautiful

I have just learned to my surprise that I should only care for ‘pretty’ creatures.  What, pray tell, would happen to my family?  Oh well, let that be as it may.
What was this creature lurking along East Sooke Road?  It was big, big for a bird I mean.  It was mostly black and a bit hunched as it waddled along the road looking suspiciously at me.  When I approached it, huge wings were spread but the bird did naught but run, flapping.  I realized then that it was one of the vultures, who are known to gather in East Sooke before migration.  This one was obviously unable to fly and had been left behind.
I returned to my house and dragged Barbie out to look at this wonder.  She called the SPCA and they asked us to keep it at our driveway by feeding it.  What could we feed it?  The cats?  Jeannie?  Jimmy? Could it be that desperate?  There was liver in the freezer, surely that would do.
As I thawed bits of liver in my arm pits, I would give them to Barbie to toss to the hungry vulture who showed signs of ecstasy, tempered with caution, but he did stay in the driveway.  Finally, after eating a fair amount, he hunched over to a stump, jumped up and fell asleep.
Bamba, of course, being a mighty hunter, never sleeps and appeared at this juncture.   He stopped in mid-step and stared.  What was this?  A bird?  And bigger than a woodpecker even.  Just imagine.
“Barbie, grab the cat,” I screamed.  Thus was Bamba hastily thrown into the car where his now silent yowls gave both of us the giggles.
The SPCA, hiding how impressed they were at how much liver I could thaw in my delicate armpit, caught the vulture and sent him to a wildlife rescue place up-island where he was treated well and finally released.
One of the WI ladies, when told of our exciting escapade exclaimed, “But Peggy, vultures are so ugly.”
I learned that day that I needed to temper my kindness with judgement from now on.  Are you deserving of care?  Do you matter?  And, more importantly, are you pretty?