Taking Flight

Truthfully.
I was confused when this white-haired gentleman walked into the store with this large flat amazon box in hand.
Because like....what could be in it?
I would have thought an animal, except there were no holes and it was too flat....
So I was like...maybe he had bought something online and it didn't work so he was wanting to return it in the store.

Nope.
There was actually an animal in the box.

The guy came up to me and was like "Two years ago I bought a bird from you."
-Not specifying what type.
Which...O.O I only have a very brief return policy on animals so like...two years is....basically waaaaaaaaaayyyy past the return date.

But he continued "And I noticed that it's foot is now blackened."
-Not sure when he noticed it, like if it was just that day or if he'd been watching the foot get progressively worse without doing anything.
"And I think it's turning black because the band on the foot is too tight."

Which...I'd heard of that happening to birds before.
Where the band ended up being too tight....though it's more of a rare case. They usually try to keep the bands loose around the leg....

But I had no idea what he meant by "blackened." like was it swollen? Was it the foot and the leg? Was it just a toe? What?

So I asked if I could see it.
But before I could wrap my brain around like...taking the box into another room that wasn't the main store to see the bird closer...
The guy opens up the box.

So I was like. "Oh it's a tame bird."

Nope.
A little dark blur darted out of the box and into the store....
With our like 20 foot high ceilings. 

*exhales* 
Like....dude you weren't thinking on that one were you?
Because like....birds fly.
Our store is big.
You don't let birds loose in our store if you want them back! 

*shakes head*

The dude was like ()_() …..well now what?

>.< I don't know dude you're the one who let your pet loose. Not my fault you didn't think that one through. 

Still.
I saw where the bird had vanished to.
Somewhere over by our water conditioners and fish decorations. 

So after a bit of searching I managed to find the zebra finch. And catch it.

Which in of itself is amazing...cus like those things can be really good fliers when they want to be.
But maybe the wings were clipped?

In any case.
Once I had it in my hand.
I could look at the foot.

And yeesh. *shudders*
That thing was bad.
Like blackened is a good word.
Only one toe was still pink.
The rest was like swollen blackened, bleeding mess.
As I messed with one of the scabs I could see falling off and yah...drew blood. 
It's not something that happens overnight.
No.
This bird has had this foot injury for a while now.

>.>
Which does beg the question of did the dude really just notice it.
Or if he's been just not paying attention to the bird for that long....

In any case.
There wasn't much I could do.
I did remove the band around the leg. As it was tight. And it was digging into the flesh.
So I managed to pull it apart and such.
But yah...foot does not look good.

It probably needs to be amputated really.
So I suggested he take it over to the vet.
But unfortunately our vet that sees small pets wasn't in today.
He'd have to come back tomorrow.

I don't know if he is going to come back though.
For the dude it was a matter of how much it was going to cost and such.
So like....not sure what's gonna happen to the bird. :( 

But hopefully it recovers. *fingers crossed* 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi