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2010 not off to an auspicious start for rehabs

1/21/2010

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Shortly after the Jan. 3 update, animals began trickling in. I really hate this time of year, as most of what I see are adults who’re injured too badly to save. Add to that the polar temps Georgia experienced for nearly two solid weeks, and it didn’t bode well for the five animals I’ve had come in thus far this year.

The first intake of the year was an adult chipping sparrow with an open wing fracture. Hot on the heels of getting the call on this sweet little bird, I received a call about a great blue heron in a culvert in Dublin. The sparrow was in another county, but we’d arranged a halfway point to meet, so I picked up the sparrow and headed to town with my waders to get the heron out of the icy water in the culvert.

The poor heron was a victim of old age and cold weather. He was starving to death, with a breastbone so rail-thin it was almost like a razor blade.  With the unusually cold temps we’d been having, he’d not been able to find enough food and was too weak to get out of the frigid water—not a good combo. Birds need much, much more food when the mercury drops, because they burn off so much energy staying warm. The great blue’s chances didn’t look good.

Both birds obviously went to Smalley’s immediately for a thorough vet exam. Vet Peggy Hobby confirmed the open facture on the chipping sparrow, which meant our only option was euthanasia. We discussed the great blue’s options and decided to give him 24 hours—maybe warmth and food would start him on the path to recovery. I picked up some shiners (small fish) on the way home to feed him, but he was too weak to eat on his own. I force-fed him a few small fish—too much food too quickly will kill a starving animal—and hoped for the best, but he died during the night.


 
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Five days later LWR received an adult screech owl, probably female, based on her size (remember, female raptors are generally larger than males). She had been hit by a car and was in pretty bad shape.  It was again Peggy Hobby who saw this bird. The lens of her right eye was torn loose and her beak was cracked along the left side. Adding to her general misery, she had a massive headache from a severe concussion and just sat hunched over in pain.  Despite the severity of the injuries, we thought she had a chance, so I took her home and made her comfortable in a warm, dark room for the remainder of the day.

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By the next morning she was looking much better and was alert enough that I felt safe attempting to feed her very tiny, soft bits of food, which she ate eagerly. She was transferred to Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends raptor rehab shortly thereafter, and at last report, she’s doing quite well.

Fast forward another five days, and an early morning call resulted in the intake of a Canada goose. One wing was pretty obviously broken, so we headed to Smalley’s, where vet Jim Hobby & I discovered that in fact, both wings were broken. There was nothing to be done for the goose but end his suffering humanely.
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Photo courtesy of Tommy Martin
And just two days ago, I got a late afternoon call about a downed red-tailed hawk. Based on the caller’s description, the bird wasn’t in good shape: he said she was on her back in his yard. When I got there, she hadn’t moved from that position, so I scooped her up and headed to Smalley’s again. 

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Photo courtesy of Tommy Martin
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X-rays showed no fractures and her reflexes seemed normal, but the confusion in her eyes was heartbreaking. Vet Shelley Baumann showed me the bird’s cloudy lungs on the x-ray and said that indicated pulmonary bruising—in other words, her chest and lungs were bruised. Shelley drained excess air and blood from the hawk’s chest cavity, which seemed to ease her breathing considerably. 

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As of today, she’s eating well and pooping normally, although she’s still not attempting to use her legs or wings. At this point, though, we’re still too close to when the injury occurred to expect really drastic improvement. I’ve talked with Steve Hicks and we’ve agreed to delay transfer until she’s a little more stable—after all, our goal is to assist the bird in returning to the wild, not stress her into further injury or death.

And on an “up” note, now’s the time to put out bluebird boxes if you want these lovely cavity nesters to hang around your yard.  The best location is facing a meadow or lawn, but with trees or shrubs nearby so fledging babies later this spring have somewhere safe to make their first clumsy flight to—and remember, no chemicals in the wood of the box or on the lawn!  That goes for all birds: chemicals, pesticides, rat poisons, etc., are deadly to all birds, including birds of prey. A slightly weedy lawn is well worth the extra wildlife it will attract.
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2009 wrap-up

1/3/2010

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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!

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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!)

 
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