Photos by Kristina Aas This is the full, unedited, original article of my monthly column on the Kesklinna Sõnumid newspaper. Tallinn is blessed with an abundance of greeneries. You can easily find hedgehogs and hares, but they do not come and ask for food from human beings. It is impressive to see them still living with animal dignity right in the city centre. But when an injured baby bird was shivering on the car road in front of my flat, it was the appropriate moment for us to reach out and help. There was no nest or mother bird around the area, she had a wound under her wing, and she would have been run over by a car if we had not picked her up. I took a quick research online about how to shelter her in my place until a rehabilitation officer could take her in. Throughout the night, I checked her body temperature every 2 hours to maintain the 40-degree range. During the daytime, she poops and cries “pipipi” to get my attention every 1.5-2 hours. So I started calling her Pipipi. I calm her down first by feeding an egg paste into her mouth with my chopsticks from Japan, gently lift her up from her pod that I made from an emptied Estonian honey jar and soft cushion fabrics, change the pooped bedding, and ask her to walk back to the new bedding. By the afternoon of Day 2, she already recognised me as her new mother and learned to look up and open her mouth to be fed as soon as I looked into her pod. She was smart, seemed to react better to Estonian and Japanese than English, and cooperated with me very well throughout the house moving procedure 7 times per day. During the daytime, I could not leave her alone as she poops and cries “pipipi” to get my attention for feeding every 1.5-2 hours, and the sleepless night continued. It really felt like raising a baby, and I named her Pipipi. On Day 3, the Estonian Wildlife Association (Eesti Metsloomaühing) connected me to Kristina, one of their animal rehabilitation officers in Kesklinn. It was the Midsummer week, but she kindly offered to take care of my Pipipi. Kristina is a fashion designer and volunteers to help the small wildlives like birds, squirrels, foxes, etc. The daily updates of the growth of Pipipi and her fellow cuties were full of Kristina’s love and care for the animals. While Pipipi was in the good hands of Kristina, she also told me that a man drove hurriedly to bring her a baby sparrow, whose mouth was filled with maggot’s eggs. It was the night of Midsummer’s Day, and Kristina was certainly on this rescue mission to save the baby sparrow from being eaten from the inside by the hatched maggots. Kristina is very knowledgeable with animal species and how to treat them. Because she has an extensive hands-on experience of helping wildlives, she also knows: “Nature is beautiful, but also, so cruel.” Her dedication to saving the lives of troubled wildlives leaves her no holidays, 5331just like human mothers do not have any rest time to completely hold off from their baby raising. In July only, she took care of 40 animals, and she does all these as a volunteer, not being paid. Not only offering up her time and efforts, she is also supporting the organisation financially. As an artisan jewelry designer, Kristina makes gilded porcelain brooches inspired by her appreciation of wild animals, and every sale automatically gives a donation to Eesti Metsloomaühing. Shop: Karud ja Pojad Eesti Metsloomaühing is purely operated by volunteers like Kristina and donations, and almost all the funds go for the vet bills. Many volunteers equip their animal shelters at their own expenses. In Tallinn, you may also come across an injured hare on the street or a hedgehog stuck in a small hole on the wall. When you find animals in need of humane intervention in Estonia, you can contact Eesti Metsloomaühing. Communication in English is also available. How to contact Eesti Metsloomaühing
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Üüdisele või ajalehele jne: palun kirjutage vormis siin (inglise keeles küsisin, aga võite kirjutada eesti keeles).
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