Laurens Wildlife Rescue
  • Home
  • I found a wild baby - what do I do?
  • How can I help?
  • Contact us
  • FAQ
  • This week in wildlife

A busy couple of weeks…

4/7/2011

0 Comments

 
While intakes remain slow so far this season, there’s a steady enough trickle to keep me busy. According to reports from rehabbers around the state, slow but steady seems to be everybody’s current situation…which none of us are complaining about after our “banner year” in 2010!

Let’s see…this update is a mixed bag…

The barnie was released and from all reports is quite happy to be back home. It’s always nice when we get to release adult wildlife back into the wild; too often the adults come in too badly injured to be saved.

Picture
This was, in fact, the case with this gorgeous male red tailed hawk, who had numerous issues. He’d been hit by a car and had head and beak damage, in addition to a broken wing. This paled, however, beside his major problem: he’d apparently eaten a rodent that had eaten rat poison. This probably explained why he’d been hit by the car; he was already dying slowly and painfully as the rodenticide caused him to begin bleeding to death internally. As you can see from the bloody spots around him, he’d begun pooping blood by the time I got him to the vet. The small wound on his wing also refused to clot—a sure sign that rat poison was the culprit.


Soapbox time here, people: I realize no one wants rats and mice in their homes, garages, barns—whatever. But there are better ways to deal with them than rat poison, okay? Use rat/mouse traps— humane or snap traps, not glue traps; those are lethal to wildlife, too. Put up an owl nesting box and see if you can encourage a screech owl to move in. According to some people, Bounce dryer sheets will deter rodents. I haven’t tried this so I can’t vouch for it. There are companies that sell a repellant that smells like fox/bobcat urine; this is also one I haven’t tried, but those who have say that it also deters squirrels if you have problems with them. Encourage rat snakes, black snakes and king snakes to take up residence around your property. They’re nonpoisonous and non-aggressive toward anything other than their prey, which includes rattlesnakes, so you get double-duty protection from them. Bottom line: when you use rat poison it moves up the food chain into the predators that eat rodents. The predators that most concern us would be hawks and owls. They die, slowly and painfully, because they ate the very pests you didn’t want around to begin with, and you lose their help in controlling the rodent population. Rat poison is a self-defeating method, in my opinion, for that very reason.  Don’t use the nasty stuff!

Okay, off the soapbox…for a while, at least.

Picture
In other raptor news, LWR received its first osprey. Ospreys primarily eat fish, so they’re found near rivers, lakes, etc. This guy was found near a lake and had a broken wing. He was lucky; his break was mid-bone and not too badly displaced, so he has a chance at release. He’ll be going to Bubba & Friends (www.bubba-and-friends.org) soon, where as his wing heals, he’ll get daily PT and flight conditioning.


Picture
We had another barred owl come right after the last update. He was found by the side of the road by a group of birders, who brought him to me. His left eye was damaged pretty badly but he could see out of the right eye, so we were hopeful all would be well. About two weeks later the damaged eye began to atrophy, which the vets at Smalley’s Animal Hospital had said was a possibility. He had to be euthanized.

The youngest squirrel from the last update also had to be euthanized. Once his eyes opened, he turned out to be blind, the poor baby.

Picture
And this female pine warbler was downed in a hailstorm. Nothing was broken; she just refused to eat or fly. She was force-fed and we began antibiotics, as this seemed to be the next logical alternative. The pretty little thing actually seemed to perk up and began flitting about her pen and pecking at things—including me—after the meds kicked in, so I was confident she’d be a success story. The next morning she was dead.

This is one of the frustrating aspects of wildlife rehab, as I’ve mentioned before. The really ill or seriously injured animals, you expect not to make it. It always comes as a shock when the ones who respond to treatment and seem to be on the mend keel over overnight.


Picture
The squirrel whose progress you’ve been following for a couple of months now is doing quite well and attempting to break records for most weight on a squirrel his size. Such a greedy little rascal!


Picture
He has a companion, too, another little male. They’re about the same age, so they’re housed together. This little guy was one of two found when someone cut down a tree. Both were taken home, where the people attempted to raise them as pets, feeding them all the wrong foods in the process—for the record, squirrels DO NOT eat bread; cow’s milk will kill them; and pecans are the nutritional equivalent of a candy bar and are used only as treats here at LWR.  His brother died of starvation/malnutrition before the people decided to get this little one the professional help he needed. When he came in, he was rail-thin. It took a good week before he began noticeably gaining weight, but he’s making up for lost time now. I can no longer feel every rib on his little body, and he and his “brother” are active, playful little rascals who’re in the process of being weaned now.


Picture
And finally, only two of the white bluebird eggs I mentioned in the last update hatched. I do, however, finally have “blues” nesting in a box they’ve ignored for the three years it’s been up; there are four pretty little eggs in it. And a weekend neighbor has a nesting mama, as well, who also has four eggs. I’m checking all nests daily, as there are so many predators out there and so few bluebirds…and in my admittedly biased opinion, there’s very little prettier than a bluebird!


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008

    Categories

    All
    Baby Birds
    Baby Deer
    Baby Opossums
    Baby Possums
    Baby Rabbits
    Bluegray Gnatcatchers
    Carolina Wren
    Common Loons
    Epd
    Fawns
    House Finch
    Mbta
    Migratory Bird Treaty Act
    Mockers
    Mockingbirds
    Orphaned Birds
    Orphaned Deer
    Orphaned Fawns
    Orphaned Opossums
    Orphaned Possums
    Orphaned Rabbits
    Orphaned Wildlife
    Squirrels
    Wildlife
    Wood Ducks

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.