All Things Wild and Wonderful

Sometimes it's hard to believe that so much can transpire in so little time. I notice this when I travel abroad, when I start a new job, and recently, each time I volunteer at the NWC.

Teach your children well
Mark Naniot, the husband of someone I consider a good friend, is the rehab director for the NWC. We had newbie interns in today - mostly students who are going to be attending vet school at some time in the future and need this to round out their education before they apply. Therefore Mark was at his teaching finest, and I reaped the benefits because when you are in the presence of a good teacher, and you ask a question, no matter if you're an intern, a volunteer, or your wife's friend cum volunteer, you get a great answer. Today I learned:
-That even though a turkey vulture has a wingspan of 5 feet, it only has a weight of about 4-5 lbs
-That sometimes the most humane way to deal with an injury of the gorgeous symbol of our nation is to put it out of its misery by putting it to sleep
-That calling a baby otter to you is done by making a noise in the middle of your mouth blowing gently outward with your lips closed and not by imitating the beginning of the song "Mr Sandman"
-That when Mark came to the center it was dilapidated and now it is a beautiful, clean facility that saves thousands of wild animals every year.

The Good...
Here comes Peter cottontail
Okay,there is nothing as cute as a warren of baby rabbits. And there is nothing as sad as 31 baby rabbits being brought in by the public because their "mothers abandoned them." Actually,mama rabbits often leave their warrens in search of food, or if they are scared - like by a lawnmower perhaps. And they often come back to take care of their young at night or when it's quiet -unless someone has removed them from the area, at which time they become confused and possibly sad (allow me to anthropomorphize here).Here's a great article on what to do when you find "abandoned" bunnies from the premier lagomorph site, www.rabbit.org. It is the site I use for all things rabbit in my work.
I guess I should be happy that the public is bringing these creatures in rather than trying to domesticate them or getting back at their rivals ala "Fatal Attraction"
Anyway, my shift this week started by watching the new interns feed these 31 baby bunnies by putting an unbelievably tiny feeding tube in their stomachs and squeezing in the liquid nutrition. It is a long, delicate process that takes place every hour all day.

The Bad...
On the wings of eagles
A female bald eagle was brought in swaddled in a shroud of white sheeting in a wooden crate. The interns and I carefully watched as Mark carefully took it out of the crate, ensuring that the sheet stayed over her head. This serves two purposes: to make sure the bird is not frightened, and to protect the rescuer from the strong beak. Mark carefully pulled back the sheet as one intern held the strong talons in yellow leather work gloves. As the sheet was pulled back, the room was filled with the stench of rot. As Mark gently pulled each wing to its full spread, we all leaned forward to see the injury: the feathers under her left wing was damp and a tendon on the top portion was being eaten away by maggots (or as my friend Renee likes to call them, "“rice with legs"). This was a death sentence for the raptor. Because the DNR does not allow rehabilitators to amputate eagles wings below the elbow, Mark had to make the decision to euthanize her. I don'’t know if it was because it was so close to my own dog'’s euthanization, or just because I don'’t particularly like seeing beautiful creatures take their last breath, but I teared up and had to go into the other room for a bit. I forced myself to go back to see the act though- I would have to get used to scenes like this if I was going to survive this work. Unexpectedly, I got so interested in the explanation of what probably happened (an inter-eagle fight?), how we could tell how old the injury was by the age of the maggots (just like C.S.I.!),and feeling the talons and beak of these magnificent creatures for the first time -that I forgot to be upset.

And the Snuggly...
There otter be a law
When I heard there was an otter in the house, I knew I had to find a way to at least observe it, since otters are my absolute favorite wild animals and have been since I was a child. I got to help exercise her, since, although she was healthy, she was not old enough to swim yet. Swimming is the major activity of river otters.

Exercise consisted of letting this foot-long, sleek, button-nosed, stuffed animal lookalike follow you - until she got interested in someone else and followed them. For some reason, she loved curling around my feet and rooting her wet nose under the leg of my sweat pants, making baby purring noises in her throat. Of course I was in love immediately. I learned that she was found as a nearly newborn, that otters cannot swim until they are 12 weeks old (she is 8 weeks old this week), and that she will be released in August, when she will be old enough and strong enough to survive on her own over the winter and find a mate next spring.

After helping with some housekeeping duties, I found I was exhausted at the end of my shift. It was a good exhausted though and I still feel the pleasure of doing for others.

When I got home, the dogs were suspicious. They always know when have been around other animals and when I come back they press their noses on my pants and shoes for a number of minutes,then look at me and snort. It's pretty funny.