Joe Presler, of Assiniboia, with his eight-year-old Robin E.T. at the Allan Blair Cancer Clinic Monday in Regina. Photograph by: Troy Fleece, Leader-Post
, Leader-Post
If E.T. turns nine, Joe Presler is throwing the bird a party.Presler was hoping that could happen June 4, when the robin he has raised from a chick turned eight, but the Assiniboia man had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
With its faded orange feathers and hobbled leg from an injury as a chick, the bird is not the most visually stunning of creatures. It is, after all, in its sunset years.
But it clearly occupies a place in Presler's heart second only to his family and his beloved Roughriders - and he's pretty sure E.T. is one of the oldest robins to live in captivity (their average lifespan is two years in the wild).
You only have to look at the bird's cage - white, with colourful baubles and two kinds of food - and the stack of photographs Presler is more than happy to flip through.
"There he is in the yard," Presler says, stabbing his finger at a picture showing the robin hopping in green grass.
Presler will "sit there and babysit him," he says, to guard E.T. - "my E.T." - from neighbourhood cats and other dangers.
He has many such stories about E.T. - the time he found him hiding inside a pair of shoes, the bird's younger days when he'd sit on the roof, the fact E.T.
will chirp whenever Presler coughs, "like he's making sure I'm OK."
A few years ago, Presler became somewhat of a local celebrity around Assiniboia after he started taking in and rehabilitating sick and injured birds.
As it turned out, he was supposed to have a special licence for that, so all of the birds were removed. Well ... all but E.T. While he undergoes cancer treatment, Presler has left his wife Marianne with strict instructions to look after the bird.
"Sometimes he will fall, you know, and he's old so he can't turn himself over again," Presler explains.
Earlier this week, Marianne brought the bird to Regina for the day; her husband sat outside the Allan Blair Cancer Centre, showing E.T. off to friends. One quipped that Presler should train the bird how to play chess, "then you'd always have a partner, Joe."
"They can't believe it when I say he's eight," Presler says with a chuckle.
For her part, Marianne isn't taking any chances.
With a laugh, she says, "I have to make sure he lives until (Presler) is done his treatment here, or I'll be packing my bags."
egraney@leaderpost.com Twitter/LP_EmmaGraney
If E.T. turns nine, Joe Presler is throwing the bird a party.Presler was hoping that could happen June 4, when the robin he has raised from a chick turned eight, but the Assiniboia man had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
With its faded orange feathers and hobbled leg from an injury as a chick, the bird is not the most visually stunning of creatures. It is, after all, in its sunset years.
But it clearly occupies a place in Presler's heart second only to his family and his beloved Roughriders - and he's pretty sure E.T. is one of the oldest robins to live in captivity (their average lifespan is two years in the wild).
You only have to look at the bird's cage - white, with colourful baubles and two kinds of food - and the stack of photographs Presler is more than happy to flip through.
"There he is in the yard," Presler says, stabbing his finger at a picture showing the robin hopping in green grass.
Presler will "sit there and babysit him," he says, to guard E.T. - "my E.T." - from neighbourhood cats and other dangers.
He has many such stories about E.T. - the time he found him hiding inside a pair of shoes, the bird's younger days when he'd sit on the roof, the fact E.T.
will chirp whenever Presler coughs, "like he's making sure I'm OK."
A few years ago, Presler became somewhat of a local celebrity around Assiniboia after he started taking in and rehabilitating sick and injured birds.
As it turned out, he was supposed to have a special licence for that, so all of the birds were removed. Well ... all but E.T. While he undergoes cancer treatment, Presler has left his wife Marianne with strict instructions to look after the bird.
"Sometimes he will fall, you know, and he's old so he can't turn himself over again," Presler explains.
Earlier this week, Marianne brought the bird to Regina for the day; her husband sat outside the Allan Blair Cancer Centre, showing E.T. off to friends. One quipped that Presler should train the bird how to play chess, "then you'd always have a partner, Joe."
"They can't believe it when I say he's eight," Presler says with a chuckle.
For her part, Marianne isn't taking any chances.
With a laugh, she says, "I have to make sure he lives until (Presler) is done his treatment here, or I'll be packing my bags."
egraney@leaderpost.com Twitter/LP_EmmaGraney
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