Yep, wildlife rehab continues through holidays, record numbers of intakes and the threat of running out of money. Welcome to our world…
As of this moment, LWR has received a record-setting 302 intakes for the year. There may be another coming in today; there’s all of December yet to come. This is approximately double the number of intakes we usually see in a given year, hence our current funding crisis.
And our funds remain dangerously low, with about enough for one, maybe two, more mouse orders. This is not hype, it’s a true funding crisis, folks; when the money runs out, the doors shut until we can get the funds to reopen—and I’ll have to start turning away birds if I’m going to have enough food to keep the barnies and flyers fed through the winter, so we may be looking at shutting down for at least the month of December.
The fundraiser is now running in extended time. We did receive three additional donations last week, pushing the total to $1065 and leaving just $435 to go to meet the original goal of $1500. That deficit could be the deciding factor in whether we can remain operative through December—and if we shut down, there’s effectively nowhere to take raptors or songbirds in the southern half of the state, so please donate generously to allow LWR to remain open and continue to provide our injured wild birds a safe haven.
As of this moment, LWR has received a record-setting 302 intakes for the year. There may be another coming in today; there’s all of December yet to come. This is approximately double the number of intakes we usually see in a given year, hence our current funding crisis.
And our funds remain dangerously low, with about enough for one, maybe two, more mouse orders. This is not hype, it’s a true funding crisis, folks; when the money runs out, the doors shut until we can get the funds to reopen—and I’ll have to start turning away birds if I’m going to have enough food to keep the barnies and flyers fed through the winter, so we may be looking at shutting down for at least the month of December.
The fundraiser is now running in extended time. We did receive three additional donations last week, pushing the total to $1065 and leaving just $435 to go to meet the original goal of $1500. That deficit could be the deciding factor in whether we can remain operative through December—and if we shut down, there’s effectively nowhere to take raptors or songbirds in the southern half of the state, so please donate generously to allow LWR to remain open and continue to provide our injured wild birds a safe haven.
In less depressing news, three of the four barred owls were released last week. I have video of the last two; brilliant me hit the wrong button on the first release, which was actually the “prettiest” of them, so…oh well…I did get some decent photos of him after the release, though!
The fourth barred owl required euthanasia. While he seemed to be able to locate his food, I’m pretty certain it was more by feel than sight; when he attempted flight, it was aimless, low and uncertain, with frequent crashes into the wall of the raptor flight. In short, his vision was too severely impaired for release.
The barbed wire great horned owl and the fledgling pigeon also required euthanasia. Vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital saw both and while x-rays showed no fractures to the GHO’s wing, there was too much exposed bone all along the wing and her eye was beyond trashed.
The poor pigeon was already getting pressure sores on his hocks from his deformed legs, and Peggy agreed with my initial assessment that it was too late in the bird’s development to attempt corrective measures.
Late Thanksgiving evening, LWR received a call from a couple desperately seeking help for a hawk they’d rescued from the side of the road. When they arrived with the bird, a first-year Cooper’s hawk, nothing seemed broken and his crop was bigger than his head, leading me to believe he might’ve just been a sluggish flyer because he was over-full.
However, in wildlife rehab, almost nothing is as it initially appears…
When he was boxed for the night, he refused to stand, sitting back on his hocks and tail. Coops are notoriously stressy birds, so I chalked it up to stress and fear. The next day, however, when I took him to the raptor flight, intending to test-fly him and release him, it was a no-go. His flight was more a series of short, awkward hops and he kept falling to his side—and his tail tended to skew to one side. Not good. It looked like lower spinal or pelvic trauma of some sort, although he was fully able to grasp the gloves with his feet.
Yeah, other folks fight crowds for bargains on Black Friday; I fought a pissed-off Coop to get him back inside and on a doughnut to ease pressure on the spine/pelvis until he can get x-rays Monday. (Smalley’s was closed from Thanksgiving through today for a well-deserved long weekend.) The good news is that he is attempting to stand for short periods of time and his appetite is undiminished, so I’m hopeful we can sort out his issues and aim at release.
The barbed wire great horned owl and the fledgling pigeon also required euthanasia. Vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital saw both and while x-rays showed no fractures to the GHO’s wing, there was too much exposed bone all along the wing and her eye was beyond trashed.
The poor pigeon was already getting pressure sores on his hocks from his deformed legs, and Peggy agreed with my initial assessment that it was too late in the bird’s development to attempt corrective measures.
Late Thanksgiving evening, LWR received a call from a couple desperately seeking help for a hawk they’d rescued from the side of the road. When they arrived with the bird, a first-year Cooper’s hawk, nothing seemed broken and his crop was bigger than his head, leading me to believe he might’ve just been a sluggish flyer because he was over-full.
However, in wildlife rehab, almost nothing is as it initially appears…
When he was boxed for the night, he refused to stand, sitting back on his hocks and tail. Coops are notoriously stressy birds, so I chalked it up to stress and fear. The next day, however, when I took him to the raptor flight, intending to test-fly him and release him, it was a no-go. His flight was more a series of short, awkward hops and he kept falling to his side—and his tail tended to skew to one side. Not good. It looked like lower spinal or pelvic trauma of some sort, although he was fully able to grasp the gloves with his feet.
Yeah, other folks fight crowds for bargains on Black Friday; I fought a pissed-off Coop to get him back inside and on a doughnut to ease pressure on the spine/pelvis until he can get x-rays Monday. (Smalley’s was closed from Thanksgiving through today for a well-deserved long weekend.) The good news is that he is attempting to stand for short periods of time and his appetite is undiminished, so I’m hopeful we can sort out his issues and aim at release.
Also on Black Friday, a first-year male red-tailed hawk came in. He’d been in a family’s yard since late Wednesday afternoon, and when he didn’t leave Thanksgiving Day, they got worried and sought help. On intake, the only apparent issue was a slight stiffness in the right wing, although nothing felt broken. But he was lethargic and refused for hours to stand up, leading me to worry that he might not survive the night.
However, the next morning he was standing, and he’s eating…but his head tends to show a random tremor and he spends most of his time with it jammed in the corner, as if to control the tremor. My first thought was rodenticide, but I’ve seen owls with West Nile exhibit a similar tremor. I dunno…He’s also headed for Smalley’s Monday for x-rays on that wing and to see if we can determine what’s up with the head tremor.
And we rounded out the week on Saturday with another great horned owl found by the roadside. This one has a definite wing fracture, left wing, feels mid-bone or close to. He’s still pretty loopy and concussed and will also be paying a visit to Smalley’s Monday. Mondays are hectic enough at Smalley’s; they’re hellacious after a holiday. They’re gonna put out garlic and holy water to ward me off after this visit, I swear…
The flyers continue to be utterly adorable and active. I attempted a night video, illuminated by a small flashlight, so you could see the insane level of nocturnal activity in their cage. It turned out fairly decent, I think.
And while group visits to the water and food dishes are increasingly rare, here are a few shots of them eating and drinking en masse.
Oh, let’s see, am I forgetting something? Nah, I think that’s it for this week… Oh yeah, the barnies! Just kidding—it’s not like I could forget that quartet of cuteness.
The barnies have outgrown yet another box and are feathering out nicely. They’re also starting to pick up their own food, which is good, since when they outgrow this box, their next move will be to the raptor flight (unless it’s occupied at the time, in which case the rehab bathroom will be their new digs for a while). And they need to be self-feeding before going into the raptor flight, ‘cause as much as I love these rascals, I ain’t draggin’ myself outside in the cold at midnight to hand-feed ‘em—nope, just ain’t gonna happen…
I also snapped a few individual shots of them as they were moved to their bigger box—such adorable rascals!
The barnies have outgrown yet another box and are feathering out nicely. They’re also starting to pick up their own food, which is good, since when they outgrow this box, their next move will be to the raptor flight (unless it’s occupied at the time, in which case the rehab bathroom will be their new digs for a while). And they need to be self-feeding before going into the raptor flight, ‘cause as much as I love these rascals, I ain’t draggin’ myself outside in the cold at midnight to hand-feed ‘em—nope, just ain’t gonna happen…
I also snapped a few individual shots of them as they were moved to their bigger box—such adorable rascals!
RSS Feed
