Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a good start to 2010. I was able to release the pigeon whose wing had been broken; she flies well but is hanging around the house still. That’s funny, because her favorite perch is the peak of the roof, where one of last year’s mockers also likes to sit and swear at me. So far, we have an impasse—they glare at each other but no feathers have flown. In a showdown, though, my money’s on the mocker!
The flying squirrel will be offered the option of soft release within the next week and a half or so, and I suspect he’ll take leave of his rehab digs. Before being moved into a pre-release pen, he managed to escape from his indoor cage every single night, as well as one morning while I was attempting to secure the cage. Now THAT was hysterical: I’m working away on rigging the cage door so he can’t unlatch it (something no other flyer has ever done), and the next thing I know, he’s on my arm, watching me “escape-proof” his cage. Obviously, it was time for a move outdoors…
The red tail who was having seizures had a major seizure the day after I uploaded the last update and began tearing the flesh from his own wing, down to the bone. I conferred with Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends raptor rehab, and we decided to call it and end the bird’s suffering.
The GHO is with Steve now, and our initial assessment of imprinting seems to have been on target. The bird acts more like a feathered cat, according to Steve, and this level of imprinting is probably irreversible. He’s slated to become an educational bird, as he’s not releasable.
This is the time of year I start working on the state and federal year-end reports, so I figured I’d give y’all a brief rundown of numbers, etc. If that sort of stuff bores you, well, sorry. Some people like to see random facts and figures!
Laurens Wildlife Rescue received a total of 209 intakes in 2009, with an additional 3 held over from 2008, for a total of 212 critters. I’ve not broken that down into mammals and birds yet—haven’t gotten that far on the state and federal paperwork! I can, however, give you a breakdown of final outcomes for those 212 animals:
· 1(the flyer) is still pending
· 20 were transferred
· 40 were euthanized
· 23 died in care
· 22 were DOA (dead on arrival)
· 106 were released
Taking the transfers, DOAs, pending and euthanized out of play, that means that my release rate for the year was 82%. That amazes even me! (Leaving the euthanasias in, I still have a release rate of 63%, which is above the national average of 50%.)
I received 94 calls that didn’t result in an intake; many of these were from the Atlanta area and were referred to rehabbers closer to their homes, and several were from out of state. The others were cases where I was able to advise the caller so that mama and babies were reunited or never separated in the first place.
There were also 18 e-mails seeking advice, one from Ireland!
I racked up 7260 miles picking up, transferring and running animals to the vet, which at the federal mileage allowance of $.50/mile, equates to $3630 in gas expenses.
Food, bedding and other supplies totaled $3914, while professional memberships and registrations and such came to $127.
Of the $2000 facilities grant LWR received, $1971 was used to build a new flight pen and to purchase mammal caging and carriers that serve as pre-fledgling bird “nests.”
Leaving the improvements funded by the grant out of the final expenses, it took a total of $7671 (that includes the mileage allowance) to “give Nature’s children a second chance” in 2009. Donations totaled $940, only 12% of LWR’s total operating costs. Where did the remainder come from? My own paltry coffers. This is why I stress that praise is nice but cash is better. Providing for these animals and giving them a second chance at life isn’t cheap, and everyone seems to assume that someone else will step up and help cover the costs. That leaves me making up the rather substantial difference. Sadly, this is true for most rehabbers: we are among those few who can honestly say that we put blood, sweat and tears into our work, along with vast amounts of our own limited funds.
Both intakes and expenses increased in 2009, and they will probably increase again in 2010. Please keep in mind that YOU are the “somebody else” whose tax-deductible donations can help us continue to compensate for general human stupidity (which, oddly enough, I’m not allowed to list as a reason for the animal’s need for rehab) and return these animals to the wild. (Hint, hint: there are PayPal links at the bottom of every page on this site except this one!)
The GHO is with Steve now, and our initial assessment of imprinting seems to have been on target. The bird acts more like a feathered cat, according to Steve, and this level of imprinting is probably irreversible. He’s slated to become an educational bird, as he’s not releasable.
This is the time of year I start working on the state and federal year-end reports, so I figured I’d give y’all a brief rundown of numbers, etc. If that sort of stuff bores you, well, sorry. Some people like to see random facts and figures!
Laurens Wildlife Rescue received a total of 209 intakes in 2009, with an additional 3 held over from 2008, for a total of 212 critters. I’ve not broken that down into mammals and birds yet—haven’t gotten that far on the state and federal paperwork! I can, however, give you a breakdown of final outcomes for those 212 animals:
· 1(the flyer) is still pending
· 20 were transferred
· 40 were euthanized
· 23 died in care
· 22 were DOA (dead on arrival)
· 106 were released
Taking the transfers, DOAs, pending and euthanized out of play, that means that my release rate for the year was 82%. That amazes even me! (Leaving the euthanasias in, I still have a release rate of 63%, which is above the national average of 50%.)
I received 94 calls that didn’t result in an intake; many of these were from the Atlanta area and were referred to rehabbers closer to their homes, and several were from out of state. The others were cases where I was able to advise the caller so that mama and babies were reunited or never separated in the first place.
There were also 18 e-mails seeking advice, one from Ireland!
I racked up 7260 miles picking up, transferring and running animals to the vet, which at the federal mileage allowance of $.50/mile, equates to $3630 in gas expenses.
Food, bedding and other supplies totaled $3914, while professional memberships and registrations and such came to $127.
Of the $2000 facilities grant LWR received, $1971 was used to build a new flight pen and to purchase mammal caging and carriers that serve as pre-fledgling bird “nests.”
Leaving the improvements funded by the grant out of the final expenses, it took a total of $7671 (that includes the mileage allowance) to “give Nature’s children a second chance” in 2009. Donations totaled $940, only 12% of LWR’s total operating costs. Where did the remainder come from? My own paltry coffers. This is why I stress that praise is nice but cash is better. Providing for these animals and giving them a second chance at life isn’t cheap, and everyone seems to assume that someone else will step up and help cover the costs. That leaves me making up the rather substantial difference. Sadly, this is true for most rehabbers: we are among those few who can honestly say that we put blood, sweat and tears into our work, along with vast amounts of our own limited funds.
Both intakes and expenses increased in 2009, and they will probably increase again in 2010. Please keep in mind that YOU are the “somebody else” whose tax-deductible donations can help us continue to compensate for general human stupidity (which, oddly enough, I’m not allowed to list as a reason for the animal’s need for rehab) and return these animals to the wild. (Hint, hint: there are PayPal links at the bottom of every page on this site except this one!)
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