As I’ve pointed out numerous times, release can come in various forms for wildlife. Too often, it’s in the form of euthanasia; sometimes the wildlife relieves us of the decision by simply dying. And, of course, we have the glorious releases. Last week had all three forms of release.
The second paralyzed red-tail never improved; her feet stayed tightly balled and actually started turning black, although there was no gangrenous smell. Vets Peggy Hobby and Richie Hatcher were as stymied as I was on this one, but given the deterioration in her feet and the failure to respond to treatment for the paralysis, we opted for euthanasia.
The common nighthawk also showed no improvement; in fact, the follow-up x-ray of his wing showed a worsening of the fracture and no callus formation at all. Given the increased displacement, we again opted for euthanasia.
The second paralyzed red-tail never improved; her feet stayed tightly balled and actually started turning black, although there was no gangrenous smell. Vets Peggy Hobby and Richie Hatcher were as stymied as I was on this one, but given the deterioration in her feet and the failure to respond to treatment for the paralysis, we opted for euthanasia.
The common nighthawk also showed no improvement; in fact, the follow-up x-ray of his wing showed a worsening of the fracture and no callus formation at all. Given the increased displacement, we again opted for euthanasia.
In better news, we had several releases: another mourning dove, the remaining house finch, the Carolina wren (who has been released five times now and keeps slipping back in through the escape hatch when it’s open…) and the barred owl the police department left at Smalley’s.
I knew this male ruby-throated hummer was in trouble when he arrived with feathers fluffed and making no attempt to move; he never perked back up and refused to eat as far as I ever saw, even when his bill was dipped into the feeder—a common method to encourage a stressed hummer to eat. The poor fellow died during the night.
Near the end of the week, yet another barred owl came in, a young male. He’d been observed sitting in the middle of the street in a busy residential area, and after he didn’t move from that spot for a couple of hours, rescuers stepped in to get the owl to safety. Fortunately, he had no broken bones and was quite feisty upon arrival at LWR, but he appears to have soft tissue damage, as an attempted release after a couple of days’ observation ended with him fluttering to the ground. The photo below is after I picked him back up; he was NOT a happy camper.
And late this evening, this adorable little fellow arrived. He was found in a horse stall; his finder reported no nest that she’d noticed but is checking tomorrow to make sure. Flying squirrels are honestly pretty much the only reason I keep my small mammal permit current; if not for these little rascals, I’d be perfectly content to focus solely on birds!
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