i mentioned the 9/11 attacks and the impact on the birds being shipped at the time on the duck board. I was asked to expand my remarks and decided it wasn't just about ducks, so here it is:
If you remember the 9/11 attacks all air traffic was grounded at the closest possible airports under threat that if they did not comply it would be assumed they were no longer under proper control and they would be shot down before they could be used as flying bombs. This meant that the big hubs had more planes than they had space for and many smaller airports had planes that were never meant to land there.
One thing the airports have in common is that they have people to handle mail either just local incoming and outgoing or crews to transfer the mail from one plane to others (hubs).The story goes that a postal worker in a smaller Midwest airport discovered a box of chicks and realized that they would die without prompt care. The woman realized that there was nothing she could do to save humans on the east coast but she could save those chicks!
It has never been settled if the USPS helped or merely allowed their employees to do what they could to save the live animals in the mail stream at the time (many other animals are also shipped by air usually in containers that are pressurized and insulated). Anyway the word went out over the postal communications system.
Of course most people live off the farms these days and had no idea how to care for chicks or ducks or what have you. I was at work that day and checked the poultry boards and the info requests were pouring in. Well there wasn't any work getting done anyways so I started in answering questions on what to feed how to water etc.
I have often wondered how many birds first meal consisted of breakfast cereals or chopped up sandwiches? Water wasn't usually a problem, containers were, and most people didn't believe that you usually had to dip the bill/beak into the water to get them to take their first drink. How many were fed and watered from droppers because city folks believed all baby birds had to be fed that way
As the mess continued it was apparent that most of these birds could not be shipped on and then the problem became to find them homes. How many made it to their new homes because of over the road truckers hauling them in their cabs, hooking a ride on buses and trains etc.
Of course many birds were shipped insured and the postal service had to cover many small claims. How many backyard flocks were started with free birds? How many died because they didn't get help in time. There were very few reports in the news about this, how could there be when so many people died? I remember the birds because none of my people suffered because of the attacks.
That is about all I know about the subject, I would love to hear stories about people that actually directly helped the birds.
If you remember the 9/11 attacks all air traffic was grounded at the closest possible airports under threat that if they did not comply it would be assumed they were no longer under proper control and they would be shot down before they could be used as flying bombs. This meant that the big hubs had more planes than they had space for and many smaller airports had planes that were never meant to land there.
One thing the airports have in common is that they have people to handle mail either just local incoming and outgoing or crews to transfer the mail from one plane to others (hubs).The story goes that a postal worker in a smaller Midwest airport discovered a box of chicks and realized that they would die without prompt care. The woman realized that there was nothing she could do to save humans on the east coast but she could save those chicks!
It has never been settled if the USPS helped or merely allowed their employees to do what they could to save the live animals in the mail stream at the time (many other animals are also shipped by air usually in containers that are pressurized and insulated). Anyway the word went out over the postal communications system.
Of course most people live off the farms these days and had no idea how to care for chicks or ducks or what have you. I was at work that day and checked the poultry boards and the info requests were pouring in. Well there wasn't any work getting done anyways so I started in answering questions on what to feed how to water etc.
I have often wondered how many birds first meal consisted of breakfast cereals or chopped up sandwiches? Water wasn't usually a problem, containers were, and most people didn't believe that you usually had to dip the bill/beak into the water to get them to take their first drink. How many were fed and watered from droppers because city folks believed all baby birds had to be fed that way
As the mess continued it was apparent that most of these birds could not be shipped on and then the problem became to find them homes. How many made it to their new homes because of over the road truckers hauling them in their cabs, hooking a ride on buses and trains etc.
Of course many birds were shipped insured and the postal service had to cover many small claims. How many backyard flocks were started with free birds? How many died because they didn't get help in time. There were very few reports in the news about this, how could there be when so many people died? I remember the birds because none of my people suffered because of the attacks.
That is about all I know about the subject, I would love to hear stories about people that actually directly helped the birds.
