My main professional background is in the earth & life sciences, but I now also explore topics in the broad area of bioethics. That's about equality, fairness, justice, diversity and inclusivity. It's also about people's biases, the associated otherization and everything that this can result in. That includes poverty, homelessness and poor health, shabby looks and shrinking personal bubbles, exposure to chemical and noise pollution and lots more. It's also about law, philosophy, neuroscience, technology, forensic psychology, politics and public policy (governance). Diversity and inclusivity are much bigger challenges than I used to believe. I for example now think that society's lack of genuine acceptance and support for people whose brains work very differently can among other things result in destructive behaviours for which the forensic psychology terminology is sadistic stalking or resentful stalking. My own experiences on the receiving end of something like this caused me to start looking into personality disorders and neurodiversity. That is how I stumbled upon bioethics. Seeing the massive inequality in England had something to do with it too. No, I don't have all the answers. Do you?
I’ve been hampered by a foot problem so I don’t know what exactly happened when, but about a week ago, I discovered that one goose was missing from a flock of six. The remaining five were depressed and possibly shocked.
What happened?
A day or so later, after I saw what looked like one of the two lead geese trying to drown the other, I started to believe that that’s what happened. I was quite disillusioned. This wasn’t the vibe that I had been getting from them. How could I have been so wrong?
Today, five geese stood tall on the bank, watching me approach from the other side of the water. They seemed to be waiting for me.
Geese Nr. 6 was in the water there. Thin, tired, covered in mud.
The other five geese and particularly the lead goose made clear that they wanted me to look after goose Nr. 6 right now. Not after them.
Goose Nr. 6 already had a bum leg and some grey patches.
I was still at a loss as to what had happened when two swans showed up and one of them suddenly attacked. I was able to tell it off. They have no little ones and were being terrible bullies. I don’t like that. I told them that. They need to go back to their side of the bridge.
The other five geese were clearly trying to lure the swans away from Goose Nr. 6. Lead goose Nr. 2 is currently limping – and hissing a lot, not surprisingly.
I called a friend and also searched the web for what best to feed. I ended up with corn, peas and chicken cheese cat food. The goose liked the cat food.
I’d already given escarole and bread. I hate giving bread but in this case, maybe it wasn’t so bad because the bird needed calories. (Unfortunately, they tend to go for bread.)
I’ll stop by from time to time and I’ll do what I can. It can’t get out of the water; I don’t know why.
Of course, bird flu crossed my mind too, but I didn’t think I was seeing the results of bird flu. When the swan suddenly attacked and the goose went into a panic, everything became clear.
These geese really see me as their friend, possibly because of the story below.
I’d always counted to see if they were all there, but after the incident 👇🏻, I counted out loud, to let them know.
(Humans are the stupid ones. That’s what I have learned from birds. If you work with animals instead of against them, you can achieve a lot more. Non-human animals are “people”. Many birds are incredibly smart, far smarter than humans.)
(That said, I tell swans that are out of line off the same way that I tell humans off when they’re out of line.)
This incident below happened on 5 November.
What exactly occurred here, I wondered?
(written to someone in the US on 7 November 2025)
For the record, I have brought these geese escarole (andijvie) a few times, mostly in the summer when there was almost no grass etc. I’ve known them for about 8 months and I mostly talk with them. On this occasion, I thought that giving them a bite to eat might be good. I brought them escarole the next day.
Google has flurries in which it unpublishes my reviews. Initially, this was mostly for local government and the like. At around the same time or a little later, other online activities were being reported as fraudulent and I figured that the latter might be done by someone who has covert NPD.
Slowly, a pattern started to emerge that seemed to reveal that it’s Dutch civil servants (and friends and family) who are doing this.
Google increasingly often claimed that I was lying and/or extorting people, such as at VU University Amsterdam. When I started adding evidence that I really had been to or at these places, Google would then refuse the review on the basis of the “low quality of the media” or because it “contained personal information”.
Now this has happened. Google just removed another review. Why? 🤔
Keep reading. 🤪😤😠🤬
Google unpublished this review a few days after posting because Google claims that it contains people’s medical information, credit card details or govt-issued ID. This concerns a gull and a pigeon who are unidentifiable and are also both likely or possibly dead by now. Humans don’t have wings and humans don’t have a crop, Google. (I know that you don’t know that because your AI search comes up with similar rubbish as, say, “crop wing gull pigeon legal” not being a common legal phrase.)
Niet bellen voor vogels. Leidt alleen tot een enorme, walgelijke dierenkwelling. Schokkend. Ik ga er intussen echt van over mijn nek. Dat dit überhaupt MAG!
Ik kom nu voor de tweede keer een dier tegen dat hier angstig vele uuuuuuren deels of geheel in het donker en in de kou staat.Het idee schijnt te zijn dat ze dan wel vanzelf dood gaan.
Nú maak ik eerst foto’s.
De vorige keer betrof het een zogenaamde squeaker (jonge duif, nog niet vliegend) met een compleet kapotte krop. Het was nota bene de politie die erover had gebeld. Om een uur of 5, 6. Om 11 uur kreeg ik nog steeds smoezen te horen.
Die duif zat in een doos met briefje erop dat de dierenambulance het dier kwam halen, op een bankje op een plek met veel verkeer en veel luide mensen. (De spoorbrug bij de Pontanusstraat/Eerste van Swindenstraat. Midden augustus was dat. Het dier zou door iemand steeds in de lucht zijn gegooid en kwakte dan steeds op de stoep volgens de mensen in de bar Botanique.)(Uit nest gevallen?)
Overigens kan een kapotte krop worden gehecht en zo’n vogel worden gerehabiliteerd (gecheckt met iemand aan Cornell die zowel vet tech als onderzoeker is), maar dat vergt behalve geld voor de behandeling geduld en toewijding. Dat er dan soms voor euthanasie wordt gekozen kan ik begrijpen, maar dan moet je dat prooidiertje niet eerst urenlang in herrie, donker en kou in de angst laten zitten.
Walgelijk.
Want de mensen van de dierenambulance liegen, liegen en liegen en o wee als je belt als er na 5 uur wachten dus na 11 ‘s avonds nóg niemand is geweest, want dan word je letterlijk weggedrukt, en als je dan weer belt en stampvoet, zijn ze er opeens binnen 5 minuten. En dan blijkt er van enige drukte of tijdsnood geen enkele sprake te zijn. (Ook voor socials hebben ze alle tijd, trouwens.)
Ze gaan er gewoon van uit dat het dier op deze manier wel gewoon dood zal gaan. Het is maar een stomme vogel, tenslotte.
Echt WALGELIJK.
Ik heb ervaring met animal rehab. Vogels. Ook zelf privé ervaring mee. (Overigens óók ervaring met honden, paarden, vee, katten etc. Voor iedereen die denkt dat mensen met vogels mentaal een soort breekbare vlindertjes zijn.)
Dit is geen animal rehab, dit is dierenfoltering.
PS Ik ga zo even proberen te kijken en hoop dat deze meeuw “gewoon” even een vleugel had laten hangen. Dat gebeurt wel vaker. Maar in deze wasmand heeft ie wellicht intussen wél een verwonding overgehoudenIk word hier echt ziedend door en voel me enorm machteloos. Ik kan niet even naar mijn avian vet in Andover gaan oid (John Chitty). Ik kan niet even naar Lee Fox in Wimauma gaan. Ik kan niet even in mijn auto springen. Ik kan hem nu indien nodig niet in mijn eigen bird icu thuis zetten. Ik heb niet eens een handdoek bij me.
PPS Bespaar me jullie reactie. Ik heb het echt gehád met jullie. Ik had de vorige keer ook een review geplaatst. Later weggehaald. Ik wilde niet al te gewichtig doen en niet zeuren. Ik heb het nu echt gehad met jullie.
Vogels zijn PROOIDIEREN! Triage, people! (Who am I still kidding? 😓)(Overigens was ik er óók niet van gediend dat jullie me eerder zo raar gingen stalken op Mastodon.)(Maar misschien was dat 4chan oid weer. Kan heel goed.)(Of, eigenlijk logischer, 764 of zo.)
Tipje voor anderen: De Toevlucht in de Bijlmer is mogelijk een betere optie voor vogels. Zelf geen ervaring mee. Geen idee of ze goed zijn. Ik weet dat ze bestaan omdat ik iemand ken die er vrijwilliger is geweest. (Dierenambulances hebben vaak ook weinig kennis van vogels. Heb ik althans elders in Nederland gezien.)
For the record, this was a juvenile gull and one of its wing joints was off. It might have been a dislocation; I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t do a damn thing and am still seething with anger re Dierenambulance Amsterdam. They’re despicable. My experience with everyone who I interacted with at Dierenambulance Amsterdam this year have been really negative. They’re simply bullshitting you.
That said, this gull was in an urban environment where people often drop food and some even feed birds. Gulls don’t only fly, they also spend time in the water (and here’s where they can be safer). Adult gulls tend to look after youngsters in trouble too, I’ve noticed. Its musculature was not off. There was no wound. It was hungry and thirsty and tough. Smart, too.
I think I had seen this gull before, btw. Juvenile gulls sometimes let a wing droop without there anything being wrong with it. Pigeons too do stuff that makes it easy to assume that they are ill. Birds – prey animals – tend to hide illnesses really well. They can be about to keel over dead while still looking fine.
The main danger in that gull’s location comes from dog owners who allow their dogs to chase birds. The owners laugh about it when anyone – not just me – says anything about it. Most birds know exactly which dogs do this and recognise them from a distance, however.
From John Chitty, I’ve learned that birds with a dislocated wing often still teach themselves to fly again (if the wing angle isn’t too bad, I assume). I had a formerly feral quaker parrot (Myiopsitta monachus) with a dislocated wing for over two decades.
I called De Toevlucht later, hoping that I could take it there, but they weren’t accepting birds because of this mostly human-induced spread of bird flu. Smart decision.
Two years ago or so, I noticed that a different Dierenambulance had very little knowledge of birds and bird flu, btw.
Many vets may recognise John Chitty’s name because he was the president or chair or whatever of the European organisation for vets or whatever.
Having the luxury of being able to focus on the blood work on one bird only and compare it with the blood work of other birds that were diagnosed with what John assumed was one of my two bird’s problems, I did not agree with him on that. However, I really respect John (and his wife who’s also a vet) and when he later did the necropsy, which he let me witness, we discovered that none of us could have known what was going on without having opened up this bird, which would have killed it.
The bird had a crisis during the x-ray and went into the ICU, on oxygen.
A few days later, they tried again, with barium. I still have the images.
That what later happened to me in Portsmouth and after ruined my entire network is a different matter. John couldn’t figure it out either, what on earth was happening in my life, and he started distancing himself, understandably.
