Recued Bird

During a two-hour training on a paddle board around Aquatic Cove in San Francisco, I noticed a beautiful bird wandering around the surface of the water looking kind of lost. As I got closer, I realized it was in distress. I decided to approach it and the closer I got, the more in trouble I saw it was in. It had a broken beak! Amazingly, the bird agreed to come up on the paddle board with me, near my chest. I calmly but quickly paddled back to the club, wrapped a towel around him and took him inside looking for help.

Club manager Wayne Black was there at the moment and we decided to call my wife Kim Howard, knowing she’d be in front of a computer, to help us figure out who to call. She looked up the wild life refuge animal control phone number. I told them what happened and they said to stay there, that they’d be over as soon as they could. I was really worried because his throat was really swollen and he was having a hard time breathing.

Not much longer, while waiting for the wild life rescuers to arrive, sadly, the bird died in my arms. It was one of the saddest experiences I have ever had with an animal. I was really hoping to save him.



I learned later that the bird was a grebe, known for its superior swimming and flying abilities, two things I admire a lot.

Growing up in Brazil, one of my childhood dreams was to become a veterinarian. I have always loved animals. They are innocent and pure. While I pursued my other childhood dream and became an airline pilot, I hope someday to do both. Maybe flying animal rescue missions, or saving animals from natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina.

In any case, watching that grebe die that day was the main inspiration for learning more about BAYKEEPER, and the reason why I decided to raise funds for them. I don’t know what broke that bird’s beak, but I do know we need to be doing more to keep our water clean and safe, for all of us.