Fundraising is a 365 day job

Most larger wildlife rehabilitation facilities have a fundraising staff.  Unfortunately, we do not, so we are either focused on our patients needs, our dwindling supplies, our ever growing vet bill for the wildlife and sometimes, all of these are on our mind at once.  We started another fundraising campaign for our remaining 2012 vet expenses.  Our vet does wonderful things for the wildlife and for us as well.  He is a patient man and we are forever grateful for this.  Please share this post with all of your wildlife loving friends, and contribute whatever you can.  Soon we will be full with orphans as well so we will need to stay stocked with formulas of different types for all of the wildlife we see.
Look through the archives to see what your donations pay for.  We do good work here!



http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wildlife-vetting-expenses/x/2642103


To donate, please click on the safe link above or the PayPal link on the left side of this page.

Secondary lead poisonings and wildlife

I need to pass along some information that is so important in the work we do as rehabilitators.  Lead plays an ugly role in our work unfortunately.  Some rehabilitators see it much more often than others, but it's out there causing all sorts of problems.  Most often, the occurance we see it is referred to as secondary lead poisoning.  This results from bodies of dead animals filled with lead being devoured by scavengers and predators.
This is a very lethal situation and has been well documented and known about for many years.  To have an animal dying from lead is one of the worse things I have ever seen.  I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.  Recently, the endangered California Condors living on the Utah/Arizona boarder have been dying at an alarming rate due to lead ingestion.  This has always been a problem for the Condors there and other scavengers as well, such as Golden Eagles.  Finally, this is getting some attention from the main stream media.  I've attached a story, from here in Utah.  Please educate yourself and those around you. 
 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865575097/Death-toll-climbs-as-giant-birds-are-felled-by-tiny-lead-fragments.html?pg=all

What's up with this weather?

One minute it's snowing like a blizzard, then things are frozen and we're trying to chisel into the enclosures, then things are thawing out and everything is muddy........enough already.

The little Screech owl in our last post was determined to be non-releasable due to her eye injuries.  Poor little angel.    We named her Avon.  She will become an ambassador bird for a group in Texas.  We are working on her paperwork now.


The other little Screech we had, Mojo, was released here in our area.  I hope she does well.  We put her where the other Screech came from, so maybe Mojo will find Avon's mate and make many Screech babies.









We took in a male Great Blue Heron from the Moab, Utah area.  He had trauma to his right wing and needed complex orthopedic surgery.  This has happened and now, he is healing in a large enclosure where he can move around and perch if he wants. 

 
 

These are such magnificent creatures, being one of my favorites.  The device to repair his wing is called a fixator.  This is the picture you see with pins going through his wing.  He will need this in place for about 10 weeks.  At that time, we will do more x-rays and surgery again to remove the device.  Then, his physical therapy will begin.

Our Barn owl from last year that was caught in fishing line and was hanging upside down in a tree, 30 feet off of the ground, is about ready to be released.  I'm waiting to get her banded and then we will put her back near her area she came from.  It's been a long rehab with a lot of tissue damage, but she has now healed well and all but 1 feather have all grown back, so she is ready to go.  We weren't sure this would ever happen, but we are so glad it has.






We took in another Ferruginous hawk, this one a male from near the Four-Corners area of Utah, after he struck a car.  It was a pretty short rehab.  He had soft tissue damage to his right wing and a concussion.  He healed well and let us know he did not care for our hospitality and wanted to leave.  We arranged a ride for him back down to that area with a wildlife biologist from that area and he was released successfully. 













Our other Ferruginous hawk, Layla, that also came from that area of Utah but that is non-releasable, will be going to South Dakota for education.  She will be leaving us the 18th of this month for the Black Hills Raptor Center.  They are a wonderful group of well educated and caring individuals.  We couldn't be happier.....well, yes we could; if she had been releasable we would be happier, but since she is not, she will have a wonderful life with them.







Our non-releasable Swainson's hawk that came in last year after being found shortly after leaving the nest with only one functioning eye, will be headed to New York in two days to be an educational bird as well.  We had hoped, even with the one eye, he could be released, but that just wasn't meant to be as he cannot hit his perches perfectly every time.  This would be a huge problem in the wild.  He will be going to Wild Wings Inc.  The transfer paperwork and approval has taken several months.  It's been frustrating but at least we are to the point where he will be heading to his forever home.  He is an amazing bird and we hope he will thrive in his new environment.


Our gunshot eagle, Clark, is doing very well.  His wound is healing and getting smaller.  He is getting very strong and wants to be free, but his broken bones still have not healed so he has several more weeks with us.  It's heartbreaking to know that he is fighting, at times, to be free, but he may feel 'well', but he is not 100%.  Hopefully, we can get him out into our large flight here in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for taking interest in our work.  We couldn't do it without those that support our work.
Debbie







 

And so it starts....................

Well Danny is finally in Kansas.  We hope he has a wonderful life ahead of him.  That's what we want for him. 

We attempted release of our little pigeon that came in burned on her crown.  She said "no".  She could have cared less about the other pigeons in the area.  She wanted to stay with us.  So I found a place for her to live the rest of her life with a non-releasable Eurasion Collared dove, so she'll have a friend.  She went to Moab, Utah.  We are very happy for her.

Our newest Golden eagle from Clarks Valley, Utah

We have a new Golden eagle with us.  This guy is an adult and came from Carbon county and has been shot, so we have another open case with law enforcement.  The bullet went through his left wing and into his body.  This broke his wing fracturing the left ulna.




We also took in a new Ferruginous hawk, this one is a male and from the same area we get all of our Ferruginous hawks, the 4-corners area of Utah.  He had an impact with a vehicle.  I can't find any broken bones but this guy tangled with a vehicle, so I'm sure he's pretty sore.  I'm hoping we may be dealing with minor issues, soft tissue injury, for example.

Our newest little Screech owl had an x-ray the other day as we took several patients up to our vets office for x-rays.  Little Avon, as we are calling her, doesn't have any broken bones, but she still needs to see our veterinary eye specialist as there is damage, to what degree, the appointment will let us know.  She does have one laceration to her right eye, but there is more.  She is now eating on her own. 



Jim has been busy as well, with wildlife issues in Utah and Salt Lake county.  That guy is amazing!

Connie and Jim at our vets office in Payson, Utah
 

He met us at the vets office with our Red-Tail hawk that he has been holding while her bones heal.  Now, she is in the flight, building her endurance for release.  We are hoping she can be released sometime this coming week.  We are so happy for her.