Temps are mild; wildflowers are blooming; songbirds are building nests—yep, it’s spring in Georgia! Yesterday there was a single straw in one of my bluebird boxes (the male takes a piece of straw into a potential nest in an attempt to convince the female it’s a good nesting site; if she agrees, she starts building the nest); today there was about a quarter-inch high ring of straw in the bottom of the box—too little to open the box fully for a photo, as the breeze would’ve carried away most of her hard work. And the other bluebird box has been commandeered again this year by chickadees; Mama Chicker’s been quite busy over the past few days and has her nest about half-completed.
In actual rehab news, the red tail continues to eat well while she heals. She’s getting restless, too, as that wing feels better and better. We’re aiming at a vet visit for follow-up x-rays this week. If all looks good, into the raptor flight she goes.
LWR normally doesn’t take in possums, but a game warden from a neighboring county called and said Good Samaritans had gone to remove a dead possum from the road and saw feet sticking out of her pouch. They had removed nine pinky possums that he was pretty sure were too small to survive and he wanted verification and humane euthanasia if he was correct.
The survival threshold for pinky possums is 19g; if they weigh less than that, no amount of effort will save them. The rehab manuals advise euthanasia for any baby possum under 19g. When I learned that as a newly-minted rehabber nearly two decades ago, I was sure it had to be wrong; I learned from painful firsthand experience it’s correct.
So he showed up with the nine teeny-tinies, and I knew just looking at them they were under the survival weight threshold. But I weighed every one, to be 100% sure, and their weights ranged from 6-7g—well under the survival threshold. I humanely euthanized them, and yes, it hurt like hell. Euthanizing babies is always the worst; they’ve had no chance at life.
The survival threshold for pinky possums is 19g; if they weigh less than that, no amount of effort will save them. The rehab manuals advise euthanasia for any baby possum under 19g. When I learned that as a newly-minted rehabber nearly two decades ago, I was sure it had to be wrong; I learned from painful firsthand experience it’s correct.
So he showed up with the nine teeny-tinies, and I knew just looking at them they were under the survival weight threshold. But I weighed every one, to be 100% sure, and their weights ranged from 6-7g—well under the survival threshold. I humanely euthanized them, and yes, it hurt like hell. Euthanizing babies is always the worst; they’ve had no chance at life.
And this gorgeous male bluebird was rescued from a cat the evening before he came to LWR. His rescuers saw no injuries but said he couldn’t fly. An intake exam indicated a possible right wing fracture, so off to Smalley’s we went for x-rays. Vet Peggy Hobby agreed that the right wing didn’t “feel” right but the x-rays showed no fractures. Given that coracoid fractures don’t always show on x-rays and are especially hard to see in songbirds, we’re guessing that’s what we have with this unhappy fellow.
A coracoid fracture is essentially like a broken collarbone in humans. It can’t be splinted; he just needs cage rest for a few weeks to give it time to heal. And, of course, since he was cat-attacked, he’s undergoing a round of antibiotics, as cat saliva is toxic to wildlife.
Once again, y’all, say it with me: “Cats belong INDOORS for their own health and safety and the health and safety of our native wildlife.”
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