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

No need for “angels”…

8/17/2009

0 Comments

 
Believe it or not, the 100 acre dream site sold two days after I sent out the last update—so much for a slow economy, huh? Oh well…I’m not happy but I don’t have time to sulk; sulking requires energy better spent on the rehabs that just keep comin’.
Picture
Our little pinkie from the last update is growing by leaps and bounds, as evidenced by this photo of her on 8-10…

Picture
…and this one taken today. She’s not a pinkie anymore!  Amazing, huh?!

Picture
And I received another little pinkie, also a female, today. She’s pretty bruised up: the left side of her head is blue-black, as is her lower back, but she survived a fall that apparently killed her two siblings. The finders said both other babies were dead when they discovered them this morning. Squirrels can usually survive a fall of 100 feet or better with nothing more than bruises, but we had some wind yesterday that may have knocked these babies into branches on the way down, or they may have had branches fall on them—who knows? At any rate, this little girl is only around 5 days old and still has most of her dried-up umbilical cord in place.

Picture
The older squirrel is pretty close—another couple of weeks—to release and is weaning herself. Some squirrels will do that; others have to be gradually weaned. This lady is an independent little cuss and has decided she doesn’t need formula too often now that she’s a “big girl.”

Picture
The two new possums mentioned in the last update continue to grow slowly—with possums, growth always seems slower to me.  The female is a friendly little thing; the male is a hissy, snarly little rascal.

Picture
The blue jay no longer comes down for supplemental feedings; here’s a shot of him sunning shortly before he stopped coming down to me.  I love watching birds sun: it’s just gorgeous!

Picture
In other intakes, we had a great horned owl with a massively broken leg who had to be euthanized. Very little makes me cringe anymore, but when I saw his leg, I cringed. It was about the nastiest fracture I’ve seen in a while.

Picture
Continuing along the raptor trail, LWR also received a 1st-year Cooper’s hawk last week, and we’re still not sure what her issues are…but they are numerous. When she came in, she was severely dehydrated and unable to stand, in addition to being very emaciated.

Picture
Within 24 hours of fluids and food, and after a vet visit for x-rays to confirm that nothing was broken, she was able to sort of sit back on her butt.

Picture
By 48 hours, we had the ability to more or less crouch…but she still can’t perch or stand: she pitches forward, face-first. Raptor rehabber Steve Hicks & I have spent a lot of time tossing theories back and forth, and I also called Cornell University’s wildlife clinic for advice, and based on their recommendations, we’re headed back to the vet in the morning for some additional tests.

Picture
And today the police chief at the Carl Vinson VA Hospital called me with a downed red tailed hawk. This guy’s big and he’s gorgeous, and he’s missing all but one tail feather. Officer James Pettis & I chased him down—for some reason, he doesn’t seem to be able to fly, but he can run really fast! Officer Pettis said it had been a long time since he'd had to engage in a foot chase, but he nabbed his suspect today! This gorgeous bird will be making a vet visit tomorrow, too.

Baby season should pretty much be over for songbirds, although there’s still the possibility of a few late-season nestlings/fledglings, and I have received very young mourning doves as late as early October.  We’re into the second baby season for squirrels now, though, so I expect to see more furry (or pinkie) little ones right up through November.

On a final note, I’ve had several people over the past few weeks ask about touring LWR. Sorry folks, that ain’t gonna happen. This is a rehab facility, not a zoo. The animals LWR houses are all slated for release, which means their contact with humans must be as limited as possible.  I handle these critters only when feeding/medicating, so that even their contact with me is minimized. There are nature centers around that house non-releasable animals: visit them if you absolutely must see animals in captivity; otherwise, take a quiet walk in the woods, find a nice clearing, sit down, and enjoy whatever wildlife you happen to see—THIS is the best way to experience and appreciate our native wildlife.

 
0 Comments

Any “angels” out there??

8/2/2009

0 Comments

 
Laurens Wildlife Rescue just learned that 100 acres near our current location is for sale. This would be an ideal release site, as it’s heavily wooded—a mixture of hardwoods and pines—and there’s a clearing that would be perfect for an eventual state-of-the-art facility. Of course, LWR operates on a shoestring budget, so coming up with the $160,000 to purchase the land is going to require a miracle…or a lot of generous “angels.”  Every little contribution would help; if you know people who have deep pockets and would like a huge tax deduction, refer them to me ASAP, please. (Or just send them to this website; every page except this one has a PayPal link at the bottom, and LWR’s mailing address is on the “How you can help” page.) This is an excellent price for the land, and I’ve already been dreaming about the gorgeous facility we could construct there.

Why do we need the land? Because we continue to grow!  LWR had 33 intakes for the month of July—the second time this year we’ve had more intakes in a month than days in the month. As of July 31, the total intakes for the year are 143. To give you an idea of what a heavy year this has been, for 2008 the total intakes for the entire year were 139.  We’ve already surpassed that, with 5 months left in 2009…and baby squirrels are starting to trickle in…

 
Picture
Speaking of which, on July 21, I received an app. 10 day old gray squirrel. At this age, we call ‘em pinkies. Look at the photo and you’ll understand. The umbilical stump was still present. Pinkies are such helpless little things: they’re furless, blind and deaf; they can’t pee or poop on their own; and they can’t maintain their body temperature. Even feeding them is a laborious process, as we have to be extremely careful that they don’t get formula into their lungs and end up with aspiration pneumonia—and they have to be fed every couple of hours and at least once during the night.

Picture
She’s doing well, though, as evidenced by these photos from July 27…

Picture
…and August 1. See the grayish shadow on her face, back and tail? It's her fur coming in!

Picture
Shortly after receiving her, I got in another gray squirrel, this one app. 6 weeks old. She’s also doing well and eating quite enthusiastically. You can’t see it in this photo, but she’s got a nice little pot belly goin’ on!

The passel o’possums mentioned in the last update have all been released; with possums, it’s a matter of size rather than age, and they’d all reached the right size for release. Below are some photos of the cute little buggers prior to and after their release.
Picture
Here we have snack time…

Picture
…being a possum in rehab is a hard life…

Picture
…really hard…

Picture
…which might explain the snarls upon release!

Picture
And we have this final shot of one of the girls just before she clambered down and ambled off.

Picture
I have two more small possums, but no photos of them yet—they just came in Friday.

The mourning doves have been released; here’s a photo of one of them after release.

 

Picture
The blue jay who came in with the leg issue has been released. After his vet visit, mentioned in the last update, he never had another moment’s problem with that leg and is doing great outside the flight pen. Actually, he’s hanging around with two previously released jays from this summer, all of whom randomly scream at me and demand food, which they get, of course. Blue jays are such shameless little beggars!

Unfortunately, the bluebird who had been having health issues in the last update didn’t make it. He began losing weight despite being fed every half hour for 14 hours a day. Even with the weight loss, he remained alert and vocal until a couple of days before I decided to euthanize. For the two days prior to the euthanasia, he struggled to swallow the food I was now having to force-feed; he slept all the time; and it was obvious that he was going downhill fast. The morning I called it, I walked into the “nursery” (my former dining room; I now eat at the bar) and found him on his side in his crate. Shortly afterward, we made the trip to Smalley’s, where vet Shelley Baumann agreed that euthanasia was the kindest option.
Picture
On a happier note, the deer have all been released. They’re at the right age, were pacing the pen restlessly, and have been ecstatic since their release a few days ago. Since I do soft releases with most of my rehabs, I’m able to monitor them for adequate food intake, etc. until they adjust totally to being on their own. These babies will probably hang around for a month or so, until they figure out they really don’t need me anymore.

Picture
Finally, just a reminder—let me know of any funding sources you might be aware of that could help LWR purchase the gorgeous release site I mentioned at the beginning of this update…all contributions will be cheerfully accepted!
0 Comments

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    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.