Are you able to demonstrate problem-solving abilities?

Are you able to demonstrate problem-solving abilities?

You are given a brief scenario which one of our A5 team members have experienced and have your own chance to see how good your problem solving ability is.

published on August 15, 20171 response 0
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1/6

You have just left your friend's lifestyle block and are a few kilometres down the road when you glance out the window to one of her leased paddocks and see something flapping about in the paddock. What do you do?

Ignore it and pretend you haven't seen it. Ignorance is bliss and it isn't your problem.
Ask your friend to pull over and insist you go back so you can see what it was, you think it may have been an animal trapped
and unable to escape.
Ask your friend if she saw something in the paddock and suggest going back to have a look.
2/6

You decide to investigate and go to the paddock and from a distance you can see it's a wild bird that looks kind of like a hawk stuck in a poacher's trap. It is distressed and when you try to go closer it flaps frantically and tries to fly away. What do you do?

Retreat to a distance where the bird doesn't feel threatened and observe the situation further to gleam any more information
you can. Ring a veterinarian to seek advice on what to do before taking any course of action, you are not familiar with birds and
don't want to stress the bird further because you are aware they can die of stress.
Continue advancing towards the bird so you can get a clear look at what's going wrong before retreating and deciding you can
get it out you just need to get some equipment first. You haven't worked with birds before but it seems straight forward. Get
the birds leg out, and then take things from there.
Retreat away from the bird because you don't know what to do and don't want to try and get it out because it seems a big job
and discuss with your friend whether to leave it there or not. You both come to an agreement that the farmer who is leasing the
paddock who put the trap there in the first place will be back to check it, he can deal with the situation.
3/6

The veterinarian will be costly to come and capture the bird themselves and won't be available for the next 2 hours. They give you some information about birds of prey and give you some key advice on how to capture one and some solutions on what to do with the leg in the trap which might bleed out when you take it out. You ask questions and come away feeling okay about how to do this. How would you proceed?

Acknowledge that while it is all very well having information on how to catch these animals it is very daunting and you don't
think you can do it on your own. You go back to your friends house where you call her dad and enlist help. Equipped with more
help on it's way you do some more research on the internet to find more information on how to handle these birds and create
some steps to follow after you have got the bird out of the trap and in a cage.
Discuss with your friend how you will go about this and decide that it is in the bird's best interests that you do not wait a couple
of hours in the heat of the day for the bird to get more stressed and dehydrated for a vet to capture it. Go back to her house
where you pick up her large chicken cage, her dad's welding gloves and a few thick towels for the bird and some to cover the
cage in so it is dark and less intimidating for the bird. Do more research on the internet to find more information on how to
handle these birds and create some steps to follow after you have got the bird out of the trap and in a cage.
Wait for the vet for the two hours and be prepared to pay the money for the call out. You reason it is better to have a
professional who will have some knowledge in animals and be able to treat the leg straight away when they see it. It is a hot
day and you get some water in a container and take it and put it near the struggling bird so they could have a drink if they were
thirsty enough while you wait. Continue on to your house like you had originally been on your way, with a plan for your friend
to meet with the vet and bird later.
Listen to the vet's advice and decide you have everything you need to catch the bird straight away. You take off your hoodie to
use as a towel for putting on the bird to restrain it and you find a pocket knife and a band aid in your friends vehicle that you
can use where you may need to.
4/6

You successfully get a towel over the bird and capture it. Wearing welding gloves for safety you approach only to find the bird's leg has been twisted around and around so much in its struggle to escape that it has nearly amputated itself. How do you proceed?

Look at the leg and see that the lower half of the leg is nearly detached and that there looks to be no blood flow to the lower
half of the leg. It seems to be safe to proceed with cutting the leg out of the trap however you ring the vet clinic quickly to
confirm it will be painless to proceed. The bird is quiet and doesn't seem too stressed you note before you decide to ring. Your
friend keeps the bird under the towel while you ring the vets and get the cage ready in the back of her car.
Look at the leg and see that the lower half of the leg is nearly detached and that there looks to be no blood flow to the lower
half of the leg. It seems to be safe to proceed with cutting the leg out of the trap so you do it so you don't prolong the time you
are working with the bird and don't stress it any longer. Following cutting the leg off you put pressure on the leg to staunch any
bleeding that might occur and discuss how you will get the bird into the cage.
Your friend holds the bird down while you get in there and notice that the birds leg is very mangled. You decide there is no
possible way the leg will be able to stay attached so you just chop it off quickly without too much regard for where you are
cutting or whether there may be still a blood supply or nerve system active to the lower half of the leg.
5/6

There is no bleeding of the limb once you cut it off thankfully so you take the bird and put it in the cage carefully. What do you do now?

Drive to the vets clinic where they will be able to take the bird from your care and provide a more knowledgeable level of care
for it. Remove the trap from the middle of the paddock. Call the vets to let them know you are on your way with this bird. Place
towels over the cage so it is dark so the bird won't get as stressed out.
Drive to your friends house and ring the nearest bird sanctuary regarding a suggestion the vets gave you earlier about the
possibility of it being re-homed to a sanctuary. Take the bird and put it in a quiet place of her garage where her dogs cannot
get into the room and set up some water and raw meat to feed it - advice given from the bird sanctuary. They will be around to
pick it up in the next day or two so you agree to look after it until then.
The bird is now rescued from the trap and because the bleeding of the trapped limb wasn't existent you think that it is safe to
release the bird to the wild straight away. You remove the trap from the paddock and then let it out of the cage where it tries to
fly away and because it is exhausted it doesn't fly very well but eventually flaps off.
6/6

The bird has been taken from your care on its way to a bird sanctuary where it will receive appropriate care and facilities that can provide it with a good enclosure to spread it wings and fly in. After a long and rather stressful time you look back on the situation to reflect and find you are a little overwhelmed and don't know how you felt about the situation afterwards. How do you treat your emotions afterwards?

Bottle them up and brush them aside. The bird is safe now and you managed to solve the situation okay so there is no point dwelling on it, it is in the past.
Talk to your friend and have a debrief about the how you are feeling about the situation. You both agree things went okay and that you would have a word with the farmer who you think put the trap there to alert him of the situation he caused.
Debrief the situation with your friend and even the vet or bird sanctuary worker to get some tips on what went well and how you can improve or what you could do differently or more efficiently next time if a similar situation arose. They may be able to help you figure out what you are feeling and have some tips on how to deal with your emotions. Talk to the farmer about the trap to avoid situations in the future arising.