Man Shocks Tiny Bird Back To Life With CPR
Every now and then a video resurfaces that perfectly captures how far some people are willing to go to help animals - whether or not they know exactly the right thing to do.
A video that circulated last year of a man in Brazil recently made new rounds on Facebook because of the amazing moment it captures - the moment he tries to revive a little sparrow who had fallen into his pool.
The little bird wasn't breathing when Alessandro Sambatti found him - so he used what he could to get the bird's breath going again: CPR.
The seconds he's trying to revive the bird are very tense and seem to stretch on forever.
At certain points it seems like the bird is about to come to life, but then his wings fall limp again.
Finally, Sambatti seems to feel movement, and he tries turning the bird over - the winged animal quickly rights himself and stretches his little feathers, still a little stunned from his plight.
But the video isn't free of controversy. Some commenters point out that despite his good intentions, Sambatti may have been doing more harm than good. "All birds go into a trance-like state if you put them on their back," one commenter wrote. "If they're healthy they do come round when they are put back on their feet, as this one did. That's why you never see birds in that position in nature unless they're dead. Far from being a hero, he's actually putting the poor bird through horrible stress."
Other commenters didn't want their happy ending to be marred by such concerns, since they believed the bird to be better off than before: "[W]hat is it with people and their negative comments ... you do not know the circumstances or exactly what was going on so keep your comments to yourself if you don't have anything good to say."
It is quite possible that the bird wasn't moving because he was stunned. A little research shows that it's probably best to observe the bird for a while to see if there are signs of movement before handling the animal to check for injuries or intervene with CPR.
From the video alone, it's hard to tell whether Sambatti did the exact right thing - but we know his heart was in the right place.
Click here to learn exactly what to do if you find an injured wild animal.