Wildlife Rehabilitation in Utah/Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation: More patients................

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

More patients................

Finally a minute to sit down and catch up. We've officially hit 'baby' season. Several orphan nestlings have been brought in during the last few days. Sparrow, finches and starlings, all with big open mouths. My volunteer Diane is sharing the responsibility of baby feeding by taking care of the sparrows. What a huge help that is.
The other new patients I mentioned previously are a new male golden eagle and a ring-neck duck.
The eagle was found by a passerby and he called me. I asked wildlife officer TJ Robertson if he could go look for the bird as it was in San Juan county and that is his territory. After looking for a while, he found the bird, thank goodness. He (the bird) is terribly thin and covered with lice. He's also dehydrated. He has a broken right wing. Both the radius and ulna are broken mid shaft and cannot be repaired as healing has already started to take place. This bird has been down at least 2 weeks. They never cease to amaze me. Hit by something and then left incapacitated, on the road and survives! He is definitely non-releasable. No surgery will be performed. I will get his weight up, get rid of those pesky lice and make sure the wound on his wing heals well and attempt to place him.

The duck came in from an evaporation pond belonging to a company out of Texas looking for natural gas in the area. The pond was contaminated with by-products from the drilling process. There were 19 other duck killed by the contamination, she was the sole survivor. We've been bathing her with the protocol established for waterfowl in this situation. We also have been giving her sub-cutaneous fluids to flush her kidneys. She is eating some foods on her own, but we are tube feeding her at least once a day. Today we moved her outside. Hopefully she will like it better out there, but she had to stay indoors and on heat until she could thermo-regulate on her own. She's doing much better and is feisty, which we like! We call her Bubbles. I'll try posting pictures. As I mentioned previously, there is something odd going on when I try to post pictures, so we'll see how it goes today.
Debbie

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ATTENTION

Spring is a very active wonderful time for all animals. Babies are born and learning what it takes to be wild from their parents. Unfortunately, many may end up in trouble and often times humans may try to intervene, whether or not it is necessary. The inexperienced human finding a baby bird, for instance, more than likely cannot tell if the bird is truely in need of help, or is learning to fly, something that can take a few days to master. Leaving the baby to learn what it needs is something an experienced birder can spot, but taking that baby home, thinking you're helping, when in fact, it is the worst thing possible for that baby, has now changed it's life forever.
Call a rehabilitator for answers. Yes, we want that baby to be safe from predators, but give that baby a chance. The worst thing that happens in these situations is an improper diet being fed by the 'rescuer'. This will result in death, if not right away, then in time, due to improper development. Different birds require different diets and different amounts of food at different times. Here is where a wildlife rehabilitators knowledge and experience makes all the difference. Don't try to do this yourself, only to attempt to find a rehabilitator as the baby is dying due to your 'efforts'. When they are at this stage, there is very little that can be done AND it is also illegal to attempt raising wildlife. Only a permitted wildlife rehabilitator can do this legally, for we know how to keep them wild and ready for release as well. Making them pets, besides being illegal is very selfish and is not what's best for the wildlife. They need to be free and have learned how to find the food they will need to survive in the wild and know what to avoid and learn the language of their species. There is a lot that goes into a successful rehabilitation and the orphans out there deserve the best chance possible. Don't you agree?

DID YOU KNOW...........

Wildlife rehabilitation is a profession borne of a love and concern for wild things everywhere. We wildlife rehabilitators have taken this many steps forward, increasing our knowledge, skills and techniques into a career that most people do not know exists. Most people assume that the work that a wildlife rehabilitator does is something all state wildlife agencies perform as state employees. This could not be further from the truth.
The reality is, all wildlife rehabilitation is done, in all 50 states, by us, wildlife rehabilitators. State and federal officials MAY occasionally pick up the patients that come to us, but they bring them to us at our homes and facilities, not their state or federal offices or vets offices.
Ours is a specialized field that primarily involves vet/medical expertise. No, we are not veterinarians, but many of us have extensive backgrounds in medicine (people and animals).
We also have vast backgrounds in the natural history of the patients we care for. Our work involves many fields. State and federal wildlife folks just don't have that training or background.
The other aspect of our work that is not known, is that we are not paid by anyone. Our patients don't 'belong' to anyone. They are wild beings. So when they have medical needs, there is no one to step up to this challenge except wildlife rehabilitators. Most of us work basically 24/7. Holidays are no exception. When an animal is hurt, it needs help now!
To top it all off, whatever expenses these patient incure, the bills are paid by us, for vet care, surgeries, medications, all of it. We build their homes and repair them as needed. All of our patients need something. They are not here to visit, they are in trouble. So imagine if you will......going to work everyday, driving your own vehicle to do that work and never getting a paycheck. OK, so maybe you can do that.....now imaging having a source of income from somewhere, now, this is where things get really different. When you get that money, you just turn it over to other people to pay for what your patients need, regardless of your financial needs!
This is wildlife rehabilitation.
We also are constantly pursuing continuous education of the latest finds in our field. We strive to be the best we can for those entrusted to us.
So please, support your wildlife rehabilitator in your area. They need it and believe me, it is very much appreciated.

Wildlife Rehabilitation in Utah/Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

More patients................

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