Working With Wildlife Can Be a Real Beast
by
L.A. Jackson
I
know very little about all the creatures great and small, especially the ones
that live in the forests and meadows around my house. This wildlife consists
mainly of birds, rabbits, opossums and an occasional raccoon, although, like
Dorothy on her way to Oz, in the shank of the night, I still wonder about lions,
tigers and bears.
Anyway,
while it is true I know little about these creatures, I do know more than most
folks do when it comes to giving these critters a helping hand. This is because
my wife is a member of Wildlife Welfare, Inc. which rehabilitates injured and
orphaned wildlife. With the continued encroachment of new developments in the
area, this is an organization who's time has come.
I
try to stay on the outer fringe of my wife's activities because, hey, I have my
hands full already with my scribblings. Still though, I have occasionally been
called on to make a late night run to pick up an orphaned rabbit or a bottle of
beef baby food for a bird on the mend. My part has been minor, but from it, I
have still learned several things about wildlife rehabilitation. The main thing
I have learned is that there are a lot of misconceptions about the whole
business of helping critters from the wild. Allow me to illustrate, elaborate
and then inform by highlighting several of these misconceptions:
If a baby bird is found, don't touch it or the mother and father will
smell your scent and not feed the baby. Wrong. The parents aren't that picky. The little
fella can be put back in the nest. If the nest is gone, a small basket nailed to
a tree will do just fine. Just talk to a rehabber to analyze the best solution.
Tabby the Cat just brought in a small rabbit, but he was only playing
with it, so the bunny is OK. Well, Bugs might look OK, but any small puncture
wound, intended or not, inflicted by Tabby's teeth introduces a lot of nasty
germs common in cats’ saliva called pastaurella which can easily be fatal to
wildlife. So give the local wildlife a break and curb your cat.
Baby birds should be fed worms. Been watching a lot of cartoons lately,
haven't you?
Most small birds will do just fine, if not better, being fed small bits of
canned dog food, or beef or chicken baby food. Just remember though that some
birds — pigeons and doves, in particular – require a special diet.
I found a wild baby animal; I think I will raise him as a pet.
"Wildlife" means "life in the wild." It is the natural order
of things, so keep it that way.
Wildlife Welfare, eh? So they will come out and clean those noisy birds
out of my chimney, right? Wildlife Welfare is an organization of volunteers who care for injured
or orphaned wildlife. Period. They don't have the time, the people, the money or
the equipment to be crawling up and down chimneys to extract chirping birds that
prevent a homeowner from listening to other noise, such as the kids fighting
over something nonsensical.
Wildlife Welfare, eh? So they will come by any time and pick up any
critters that I find in dire straits about my property?
Wildlife Welfare ain't deliverers from Checker's Pizza. They don't have the
horses to run all over the region in search of one beat-up beast after another.
If you find an orphaned or injured animal, get involved and check your car's gas
gauge to see if you have enough go juice to take the necessary trip yourself.
Wildlife Welfare, eh? I guess they don't need any more help, do they? Last year, a handful of WWI rehabbers in particular handled hundreds of birds and mammals by themselves. With the demands ever increasing on this volunteer group, there is no such thing as too much help! Supplies, caging materials, donations, personnel—you name it, they need it!
Reprinted
here with permission from the author so that his wife can get this newsletter
out of her life.