Sometimes I think people get the impression that wildlife rehab is all about the "cool" and "warm & fuzzy" stuff. If anyone out there is thinking about becoming a licensed rehabber for the "cool" aspects, let me set the record straight: there’s not one thing cool about being peed, puked and/or pooped on daily. It ain’t "cool" to have a rehab bite, claw, peck or scratch you. Keeping these animals clean and healthy (or nursing them back to health) and preparing them for release takes time, energy and money - lots of each. I know a rehabber who says he’ll end up spending about $20,000 on his raptors this year; fortunately, since I rehab the smaller animals who don’t require rats and chicks for food, I’ll probably end up spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 - and did I mention that what we spend is for the most part out of our own pockets? I promise you, anyone who attempts wildlife rehab for the "cool" factor won’t be in it long - I’d give ‘em 6 months, tops.

As for the "warm & fuzzy" aspect - well, Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends and I joke about me doing the "warm & fuzzies" while he does the raptors, but there’s nothing warm and fuzzy about having an endangered species come in with a fatal injury. Had that happen a couple of weeks ago, in fact: an adult wood stork came in with his right wing pretty much snapped off at the elbow. All that held the lower part in place was soft tissue, and precious little of that.

I honestly didn’t expect the poor bird to make it through the night, but he did, so off we went first thing the next morning to Smalley’s, where Jim Hobby suggested that even though this was a fatal wound, we probably needed to get permission from the feds to euthanize, since wood storks are listed as endangered in Georgia. So I called FWS, we got permission to end the bird’s suffering, and they requested that Smalley’s send the corpse to UGA for research purposes. I promise you, there was nothing "warm & fuzzy" about any of this, but the stork wasn’t going to survive. We did what needed to be done, and at least his body will provide valuable information for researchers trying to save the species.

In other critter updates, the dog-pinned red shoulder was released shortly after the last LWR update. He’s a gorgeous creature; it was an honor to have him around for a couple of days.

The possums are coming right along and may be ready for release within the next week or so. C’mon, people - you’ve gotta admit they’re actually cute in their own weird way!

Heloise and Abelard have been released and every couple of days, Heloise reappears for a treat. Hildegard is still coming and going - one day out, two days in, etc. - and Spaz hasn’t yet decided to test the great outdoors.

Eliza’s eyes have opened and she’s a veritable bottomless pit. This shot is from right after her eyes opened. I don‘t have updated photos of her because she’s currently rooming with two recent arrivals who are still a little camera-shy. Porgy and Bess are about the same age and fell from their nest, resulting in a pretty severe eye injury for Bess. We’re treating it and watching it closely in hopes that she won ‘t lose vision in that right eye.

The blue jay still hasn’t acquired a proper name, although he’s been called Goober, Twit-face and Poopy-butt a lot lately. In a surprise development, the flight feathers that were ripped out by the dog attack are growing back early: apparently, since they were ripped out at the shaft rather than just broken off, his little body was signaled to replace ‘em. Unfortunately, the improper diet he was fed before I received him has resulted in very brittle older feathers. Hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t break off another tail feather or two in quite routine activity. No new pix of him this time; he’s not still long enough these days - too busy testing those new wing feathers!

While I’m almost all out of the "feather business" for the fall, there’s still plenty of fur to keep things hoppin’.

Let’s see...Toodles the bluebird no longer visits, and Chip, the probable blue grosbeak, died suddenly and inexplicably. The wound on his head hadn’t healed after two weeks, and he went from a chipper, noisy, happy little fellow one Friday morning to a dull, listless, lethargic bird who was unable to perch by early that afternoon. I suspected a brain tumor, since there was a knot under the wound - not an abscess, as he continually ripped the scab off and it bled freely when he did so. Anyway, I called Jim Hobby at Smalley’s and discussed the situation with him. Jim agreed that something was seriously wrong and we decided to euthanize, but before I could get Chip to the clinic, he’d died on his own. Again, these sorts of frustrating, mysterious things happen in wildlife rehab. Knowing that doesn’t stop the second-guessing, but sometimes even when a rehabber’s doing everything right, the animal’s just not gonna make it. It’s an unhappy fact that we have to learn to live with.

Heloise, Abelard and Hildegard are growing by leaps and bounds and should be ready for release in about three weeks or so.

The Wee One has been named Eliza and has about a week to a week and a half before her little eyes open. See how much she’s grown?!

Another squirrelly addition is Spaz, who lives up to - or would that be down to? - her name. You have to see her eat to understand - the girl acts like each feeding is her first and last!

In a tale fit for the record books, a young red shoulder hawk was pinned by a Dachshund last week, bruising but not breaking his wing. The lady who owned the dog said she was out walking her dogs, heard the "whoosh" of wings, and turned to see the Dachshund pinning the hawk! He’s still with me while we wait for the bruising and tenderness to go down enough for him to feel like flying.

I also have three possums who are about a month away from release. They’d been fed an inappropriate diet for about month before I got them, so they were rail-thin when they came in. They’ve made up for lost time and nutrition with a proper diet and have grown like weeds.

There are those people who despise possums because they’re "nasty" and they hiss and snarl - in fact, these three have been nicknamed Hissy, Pissy and Snarly - but the fact is, possums are invaluable little critters. They eat carrion, rotten fruit, nasty little creepy-crawlies - all sorts of stuff we fastidious humans would prefer not to think about. They’ve been described as "Nature’s little garbage collectors," which I think is a highly appropriate summary of the near-sighted little rascals. Their hygiene may be somewhat lacking, but these critters have survived for millions of years virtually unchanged, so they must be doing something right! They’re also highly disease-resistant: body temp’s too low to harbor the rabies virus; can survive a rattlesnake bite; can eat other animals who died of various diseases without contracting the illnesses themselves...they ain’t pretty, not by a long shot, but they ARE so ugly they’re cute!

I also have a late-hatch blue jay who’d been fed a massively inappropriate diet for three weeks before I received him: bologna and rice for the first week and mealworms and suet for the next two. He also had diarrhea when he came in, poor baby. He has stress bars all in his tail feathers from the malnutrition, and because he was attacked by a dog who ripped out most of the primary and secondary feathers on his left wing, he has real difficulty flying. Those feathers won’t be replaced until he molts, so he’s going to have to overwinter with me. He hasn’t acquired a name yet.

I also had a pinky squirrel come in Friday night, after being fed Hartz Just Born formula for a week, during which time he aspirated the formula and developed severe pneumonia. He died just hours after I received him, even though I started antibiotics immediately. It was too late to help the poor little fellow.

First off, let me state for the record that Hartz formulas of ANY kind are NOT nutritionally balanced for wildlife. Secondly, pinkies must be fed very carefully by someone who knows what they’re doing in order to avoid aspiration. Just one or two drops of formula in that baby’s lungs and within hours you can have a fatal case of pneumonia already developing. If you truly care about these babies, when you find them...CALL A LICENSED REHABBER!!!

Folks, instances like this and those of the possums and the blue jay should emphasize the need to locate a licensed rehabber as soon as possible upon discovering orphaned/injured wildlife. Quite frankly, it’s a miracle that any of these four animals survived, given the diets they were fed, and the poor pinky didn’t have a chance by the time I got him - and that doesn’t even touch on the issue of the illegality of possessing the animals without a license. As I’ve said before, there’s a REASON wildlife rehabbers have to be licensed: we’ve taken the time to learn the proper ways to handle wildlife, the diets each species should receive, how to properly prepare the animals for release, how to treat injuries/illnesses, and so forth.

You know, most vet clinics know the rehabbers in their area and will refer you to them - all you have to do is call. Check with your local animal shelter if you have no vets nearby. And in Georgia you can always call the DNR hotline 24/7 at 1-800-241-4113 for the name and number of the licensed rehabber nearest you.

Bottom line - don’t let your inaction or ignorance cause the needless suffering and/or death of some poor animal that a licensed wildlife rehabber would have a good chance at saving. There’s just no excuse for that.