Wildlife Rehabilitation in Utah/Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation: Now the rest of the story.................

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Now the rest of the story.................

Regarding two postings back and the story of the eagle found hanging in a tree. Most of this post will be pictures.
Keith Cauley, a gentleman I became acquainted with from another eagle situation in his area, stumbled upon another Golden eagle in trouble. This guy is a professional wildlife photographer, so he's out and about everyday in very remote areas taking photo's.
He has found 3 or 4 now, that without him, surely would have died.

This latest one was hanging upside down in a large Cottonwood tree. Once he discovered her, he notified the Division of Wildlife Resources. Thank God the officers down his way are wonderful guys, responding quickly. The only way to get her down was to shoot the branch she was attached to and hope it would break and she would fall. Casey Olsen, with the Division did just that. What a shot!
They caught her in a blanket they had ready. Then they called me and I suggested we needed to examine her as we had no idea if she had any injuries and just releasing her would be irresponsible.

Through a series of transporters, including us, we got her back to Price and she had an injury, possibly a break in her left wing and she had a bad abrasion on her right ankle, probably from trying to free herself, clear down to the bone. She was sore and had pain reactions in both legs and shoulders. We took her in and got x-rays and confirmed a break in a very tiny bone in the wrist area of that left wing. Time would tell if it would cause her to be non-releasable.
We also started working on healing the wound on her leg.
She was not happy about her stay with us, flailing herself again the walls in her enclosure. This wasn't good. We had to keep her as still as possible for that bone to heal correctly. We moved her to a larger enclosure, the opposite of what I would normally do, but she was the exception, not the rule. She did the same thing in the larger enclosure, just not as often. We had her on pain medication, but that didn't slow her down one bit!

Her leg wound was healing nicely, so after a couple of weeks, I moved her out into the eagle flight with two other Golden eagles. Man oh man, she went after the youngest eagle, Canyon.
We broke that up and make sure we were watching them on remote TV. This happened a couple of times, but Canyon held her own. I couldn't put her back in the smaller enclosure since she was limiting her chances of that wing healing well hitting the walls the way she was.
Pretty soon she was up on the perches and getting around very well. We had to take the opportunity and get her released, so at the first chance, I called Keith and asked him if he would like to release her.

We drove out to Monticello and he did just that.

He and his wife Dee were there along with two other people, friends of theirs.

Dee took the photo's while Keith did the toss.

Perfect; off she flew and gained lift and higher and higher she went, then another eagle flew up to meet her; as maybe a greeting "hey, where have you been?" The flew together, circling and gaining more height. I

t was just beautiful. Could this have been a mate? Maybe. It couldn't have been any better. We finally lost sight of them.

The next day, Keith was back out there, taking more photographs and there she was. Easy to spot because of her band. Keith got a couple of great photo's of her back out there, doing exactly what she was meant to do !

This is why I do what I do!

Debbie

No comments:

Post a Comment

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, November 1, 2011

Now the rest of the story.................

No comments:

Blog creator

Followers

My Blog List