Today, spent about three hours at the Calusa Nature Center in Fort Myers, cleaning the exterior of the raptor cages. They have about a dozen in all: great horned owl, screech owl, red-shouldered hawk, red-tailed hawk, bald eagle, caracara, turkey vulture, and black vulture. All these animals were severely injured and are unable to return to the wild.Anyway, cleared off the debris, giving them more sun--though they were plenty spooked and stressed by my presence. So I'm feeling awfully virtuous, especially after rehydrating.
Oh, another great place in the area is CROW, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, on Sanibel Island. Their wonderful veterinarian, P.J. Deitschel, is just an amazing person--she and the clinic have been featured on Animal Planet. They take in any injured nondomestic critter, and they have a very impressive success rate in returning them to the wild. At least there are a couple of organizations getting it right in Southwest Florida.
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That virtuous feeling you have is well deserved.