Karin Caston’s two cats allowed a little robin to nestle in their fur as it was being cared for until it was old enough to return to a life in the wild.
Peeps and Sambo
The feel-good story was published in the Kalamazoo Gazette on the Michigan news site MLive this morning and is now spreading to media outlets everywhere.
Karin has been tending to a baby robin she found on its own in her Ostego, MI yard about two weeks ago. She bought it a used birdcage, but “Peeps” enjoyed sitting on and snuggling with two of her cats. a thrid cat merely tolerated the bird.
Peeps became old enough and strong enough to be released, but has the two cats to thank for their patient and tolerant fostering while the fledgeling was in Karin’s care.
This morning’s version of the story told that Peeps was nearly ready for release. This afternoon a reporter accompanied Karin as she took the bird to a nearby park and let him go.
The release:
Photos: Initial series, Karin Caston. The release, Mark Bugnaski
My gosh. One FB story today has a bear in MA eating baby House Wrens. Here we have an unfledged (not flying yet) Am. Robin being fostered by a lady with the HELP of 2 of her cats. The cats let the bird snuggle in their fur!! Amazing, but the story ends well.
until it tries to snuggle with another cat:(
This story is amazing
i think the bird will stick around the place he was raised at
because as long as the person and the 2 cats are there and they will probably keep pertecting it hopefully
NO, NO, NO!!! This is another case of a well-meaning, though uninformed, person trying to do a kind thing–to the detriment of the animal! As cute as it may look, when you teach a wild animal (of any kind) to trust one of its predators, you are sentencing it to its own death. Once this bird is out in the wild and gets close to the first thing resembling a cat, it will fly up to it and become that predator’s lunch! Please, please, please contact your nearest wildlife rehabilitator if you find a wild animal that you think may be injured or an orphan. Note: When young birds fledge from the nest they “jump” out, that is how they learn to fly, leave them alone! Both parents are very attentive and will continue to feed it on the ground for the few days it takes for them to learn to fly! Also, with baby bunnies, if you find a nest in your yard leave it alone, the bunnies will be grown and out of your yard in as little as 2-3 weeks. They have not been abandoned, mama bunny stays away from the nest to avoid attracting predators, coming back to feed them at dusk and dawn.