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If you think I'm trying to sound discouraging, I am. The adoption of a baby bird will probably result in failure. You might even cause a death that would not have occurred had you left the baby bird where it was. Your intentions might be good; the ethical impulse that motivates your actions might be of the best kind. But you should know that even experienced veterinarians have a low success rate in caring for wild animals.
如果你认为我是在泼冷水，那么你尽可以这样认为。收养幼鸟很可能以失败告终。你甚至可能导致幼鸟死亡，但如果你最初让幼鸟就待在原地的话，说不定它不会死去。你的初衷可能是好的，动机可能非常符合道德标准。但你应该知道，即使一个经验丰富的兽医来养护野生动物，成功率也是很低的。
Perhaps the most important thing a child or adult can learn from an encounter with a baby bird is the difference between wild animals and domestic pets. Whereas puppies and kittens warm to human attention and become very much a part of the family, a wild bird never will. Attempting to make a pet out of a wild animal is a serious disservice to that animal—so serious, in fact, that there are laws against it. Life in the wild does not consist of friendly humans, readily available meals, and a protected environment. Wild animals must remain wild to survive.
或许，成人和儿童从与幼鸟打交道的经历中所能学到的最重要的一点就是野生动物与家养宠物的区别。家养的宠物狗和宠物猫喜欢人类的照料，会成为家庭的一部分，而野生鸟类则永远也不会。试图把一只野生动物驯养成宠物是对那只动物极大的伤害——而且非常严重，因此，事实上，法律禁止这样做。在野外生存，不会遇到友善的人类，没有准备妥当的食物和给予保护的环境，野生动物必须保持野性才能生存。
