Despite the insane weather—warm and humid one day, rainy the next, then frigid after that—LWR maintained business as usual last week. Wildlife in need is wildlife in need, period.
Early in the week one of our volunteer transporters called saying she’d heard of a great horned owl hung in barbed wire fence. Not good. Never good, but especially bad during their nesting season. While LWR’s dedicated volunteer transporters arranged to get the owl to me, I hoped the damage wasn’t too severe, although I knew with the week’s predicted weather, even two nights away from his family would be deadly for them.
When he came in, his wing was shredded underneath, where he’d been caught in the barbed wire. It was raw and still bleeding, but nothing was broken—that was good. There was still the potential for soft tissue damage and even for the wounded tissue to shrink as it healed, prohibiting full extension of the wing.
Early in the week one of our volunteer transporters called saying she’d heard of a great horned owl hung in barbed wire fence. Not good. Never good, but especially bad during their nesting season. While LWR’s dedicated volunteer transporters arranged to get the owl to me, I hoped the damage wasn’t too severe, although I knew with the week’s predicted weather, even two nights away from his family would be deadly for them.
When he came in, his wing was shredded underneath, where he’d been caught in the barbed wire. It was raw and still bleeding, but nothing was broken—that was good. There was still the potential for soft tissue damage and even for the wounded tissue to shrink as it healed, prohibiting full extension of the wing.
The good news was he was alert, aggressive and hungry, devouring the mice offered to him the first and second nights. While he was out of his box for medication and treatment of the wing, I gently exercised the wing as well, hoping to prevent tissue shrinkage.
However, the third night he ate less, which didn’t really concern me; I’d been putting quite a few mice in his box and in the wild, an adult raptor can go several days without food with no ill effects. And he was stressed, too—he was in full “feed the family” mode and here he sat in a box, away from his family.
However, the last thing I expected was for the stress to take him out. He died the fourth night. Given that he was on meds and none of the usual parasite-caused raptor diseases were present, I can only attribute his death to sheer stress.
However, the third night he ate less, which didn’t really concern me; I’d been putting quite a few mice in his box and in the wild, an adult raptor can go several days without food with no ill effects. And he was stressed, too—he was in full “feed the family” mode and here he sat in a box, away from his family.
However, the last thing I expected was for the stress to take him out. He died the fourth night. Given that he was on meds and none of the usual parasite-caused raptor diseases were present, I can only attribute his death to sheer stress.
In less depressing news, the gray-phase male screech was sent back to his territory via his rescuer, who was delighted to be able to take him back to his home. He was initially reluctant to leave the box and then perched on her hand for quite a while, during which time she called LWR for advice. Just as we were discussing the fact that a couple of other screeches LWR had treated had exhibited the same behavior and debating whether he needed to come back for an additional week or so, he flew off her hand into the brush.
The red-phase female went on a brief hunger strike after her buddy left. While raptors are by nature fairly solitary aside from breeding/nesting season, in a rehab setting they generally fare better with another of their own species. She’s eating again but still puffed up, head-bobbing and giving me the stink-eye when I walk near her pen.
The barred owl is in the flight pen and flying well enough that, weather permitting, he’ll be outta here this week.
The red shoulder is in line for the flight next, after the barred’s release. His eye looks great now—no residual swelling at all—and he’s going stir crazy awaiting his turn to build his flight muscles back up. Soon, buddy, soon…
Still a bit of residual swelling here.
No swelling here, though!
Finally, while LWR specializes in birds of all species and flying squirrels, I do occasionally, as time and space allow, take in other species. Late last week LWR received a call about two “pinky” gray squirrels, meaning they were extremely young. After some quick calculations showing that even if they were newborns, they should be at least self-feeding if not at release phase by baby bird season, I agreed to take these two.
Their rescuers said they heard the pinkies’ faint squealing on the ground and discovered a fallen nest. They initially left the babies in the nest, hoping Mama Squirrel would retrieve her babies. Since squirrels usually have several nests and will often move the babies from one nest to another, this was a wise decision on their part. Unfortunately, these babies were simply too young to make the ear-piercing screams that alert Mama to their location. But I applaud the rescuers for giving Mama a chance before calling LWR.
However…they did attempt to feed them before calling LWR, and here is where I want to offer advice to ANYone who finds ANY wild animal, baby or adult: NEVER, EVER attempt to feed or offer water to wildlife without talking to a rehabber first—and this doesn’t mean allow it to starve to death over the course of a day or several days; it means call a rehabber as soon as you’re sure the parents aren’t coming back for their babies, usually within an hour or two. These babies were stone-cold when they came in. Feeding cold babies can cause their systems to shut down and kill them outright. Also, most often people feed an inappropriate diet, which can also cause potentially lethal digestive issues, and then there’s always the threat of aspiration pneumonia from food getting into the lungs as the babies are fed by an untrained individual. With babies this small, avoiding aspiration can be a challenge even for a trained individual.
These two babies were already “click-breathing” when they came in, a sure indicator of aspiration pneumonia, so they’ve been on meds since intake. Fortunately, their rescuers were actively seeking help as soon as they realized Mama wasn’t coming back for her babies, so they’d only had them for about four hours before getting them to LWR.
As of today, they’re both doing well and I estimate them to be about 10 days old, as they still have their umbilical scabs but their little whiskers are showing.
However…they did attempt to feed them before calling LWR, and here is where I want to offer advice to ANYone who finds ANY wild animal, baby or adult: NEVER, EVER attempt to feed or offer water to wildlife without talking to a rehabber first—and this doesn’t mean allow it to starve to death over the course of a day or several days; it means call a rehabber as soon as you’re sure the parents aren’t coming back for their babies, usually within an hour or two. These babies were stone-cold when they came in. Feeding cold babies can cause their systems to shut down and kill them outright. Also, most often people feed an inappropriate diet, which can also cause potentially lethal digestive issues, and then there’s always the threat of aspiration pneumonia from food getting into the lungs as the babies are fed by an untrained individual. With babies this small, avoiding aspiration can be a challenge even for a trained individual.
These two babies were already “click-breathing” when they came in, a sure indicator of aspiration pneumonia, so they’ve been on meds since intake. Fortunately, their rescuers were actively seeking help as soon as they realized Mama wasn’t coming back for her babies, so they’d only had them for about four hours before getting them to LWR.
As of today, they’re both doing well and I estimate them to be about 10 days old, as they still have their umbilical scabs but their little whiskers are showing.
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