• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

I killed a Robin and can't forgive myself :( :(

nickybunny1

Mama Doe
I know this is off topic but i just felt I could post here as I can't get over this. Last June on a hot day below our bird feeder I saw a little Robin. The poor things bottom beak was hanging down permanently open. I am guessing he flew into a window and broke his beak. I put out a little bit of cheese and he tried to peck it as he was obviously starving. I panicking as I didn't want a cat to catch him. I managed to throw a little cloth over him and catch him. I thought as it was so hot he would want water so I held while my husband dribbled some water into his mouth. I then placed him in a shoe box with air holes until i could get sometthing bigger About a couple of minutes later he started squealing and died. I am crying typing this as I read later I probably drowned him as they have wee airways on their lower beak. Why did I not just leave him be. I made his last few minutes on earth awful and terrified him and then killed him. All he wanted was food. Seeing alk the wee robins in my garden and at work where i feed then just remind me of the wee one i killed. I love animals so much and can't believe I killed a little bird :( :(.
 
He was probably in agony with his beak - it may have dragged on for ages, so it's better that it was over quicker even if it was traumatic for you. What's done is done - perhaps if it happens again, go straight to the vets? We can only make decisions based on what we know/see at that time, so don't be too hard on yourself.
 
With hindsight, maybe you didn't make the right choice but back then, at the time, in the moment, you definitely did. Doing something rather than nothing. Poor thing wouldn't've stood a chance without you: in trying to help you increased that :) And maybe it didn't drown, maybe it had an awful parasite attack that really got to it (not being able to preen and all that) and it was just coincidence.

You did your best: don't let it put you off next time!
 
I agree with the others above. You did what you thought was best at the time; at least you tried to help and you saved it from being mauled to death by a predator.
 
Bless your heart :(. You tried to help and that's all you can do. Like Angie said, he may have been in a lot of pain so at least he's at peace now xxx
 
I have rescued birds before and have taken them to bird rescues etc. I guess I thought he needed water first. I know now unfortunately to leave it to those who know what they are doing.
 
You did what you thought was for the best. He would most likely have suffered a long drawn out death being starving. Although his end was traumatic, it was fast. Please forgive yourself x
 
Don't be too hard on yourself. In a situation like that you've got to make a quick decision, and it's easy to sit back and worry if you made the wrong decision but you've just got to remember you made that decision at the time for the right reasons. I still have guilt for taking Maisie to the E-vets when she was dying as he wasn't great with her and was playing around with her dying body as if she was a doll, until I stepped in. I wished that I had just let her die peacefully at home, on her cosy blanket with us around her, but at the time I made the decision and it was right at the time (I didn't want her suffering). Hindsight is a wonderful thing but sometimes it can cause these guilty feelings :(
 
Don't blame yourself, you did your best to help, it was obviously badly injured and the outcome will probably have been the same whatever you did xx
 
Back
Top