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Wildlife Wednesday - Dancing Against the Odds

This will be a very short post.  But I wanted to share Tiny Dancer’s progress.  I know things could still change, but right now this little Wild Angel is doing really well.  Her pneumonia is behind us.  She is putting on a bit of weight.  She is bright-eyed and active.  She loves her formula.  And she has recently been introduced to some solid food and is learning how to eat!  I will never get over the fact that this sweet baby came to me for help.  I’m so very glad that she was placed in Older Daughter’s hands just in time.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we really do need a story with a happy ending.

 

Our Farm Animals

The definition of livestock is -  farm animals regarded as an asset.

We have pigs and donkeys and chickens.  They are NOT “livestock.”  No doubt our farm animals are a financial liability; certainly not an asset (smile).  Large animals like pigs and donkeys consume a lot of food.  Our pigs get a special food designed for the large pot belly pig.  They get a mixed salad daily and a few bites of apple.  Our donkeys get their grain (two different types), hay in the winter, and a few bites of apple.  The pigs and the donkeys have required vet care multiple times over the years and you don’t load up a 200-pound pig or a donkey.  That means the vet has to come to you (extra charges, of course).  The pigs have a stall with two houses inside.  They have heat lamps and blankets and straw in the winter.  The donkeys have a stall and feeders and water tanks.  The pigs have one industrial fan; the donkeys have three.  And we pay a farrier every six weeks to tend to our donkeys’ hooves.   Our chickens do pay us back with delicious fresh eggs.  But the savings in egg purchases doesn’t begin to compensate for their feed.  And by the time we finished building their chicken coop – a nice large house with a fortress pen around it – it would take right at 200 years of eggs to pay for their abode.

Nope.  We do not have “livestock.”

I’ve mentioned before that our donkeys and our pigs are rescues.  The chickens are not, but when I purchased them I felt like we were saving them.  I can’t go into my feelings about how livestock are treated.  I would have to write for days to cover all of the changes I feel should be made.  And I would, no doubt, offend someone along the way.  But I DO feel like it is time for humanity to view its livestock differently.  They are animals, not crops in a field, and they deserve to be treated with compassion. 

I will treat with compassion two donkeys, two pigs, and six chickens.  I know there are other people who do actually care about their farm animals.  I can only hope that as humanity progresses, we will begin to see our farm animals as the beings they are.  And that we will learn to value them as beings and not just as a commodity.

 

Radio

 

 

Jenny

 

 

Jenny has continued to improve to the point of returning to the field.

 

 

 

 

 

Two chickens enjoying one of the pig's dirt holes.

 

 

This is the chicken fortress; they are put in here at night to stay safe from raccoons, opossums, and coyotes.

 

 

I think eggs are beautiful

 

 

 

Chickens sharing a dirt hole with Annie

 

 

Annie and Arnold

 

 

 

 

 

As I was adding pig pics I noticed that they are always lying down. That's because when they are up snooting around they are never together. But they are SO cute lying side by side.

 

 

 

Farm animals are still animals.  They deserve our love. 

Tomorrow – a short update on Tiny Dancer.  See you then.

 

Wildlife Wednesday - Tiny Dancer

The story I will tell you today is true.  But I will admit, it seems unlikely.  When I told each of my daughters (they of course believed me), each one said – You know, if someone we didn’t know told that story we probably wouldn’t believe it.  They are right.

Let me set the stage.  I had been way behind on my gardening chores, primarily weeding, because of knee trouble and really hot temperatures here in Southern Illinois.  Last week we had some beautiful weather.  On Wednesday I made a lot of headway.  Then on Thursday I was at it again.  It was afternoon and I was down to my last big flower bed.   Sometimes when I am weeding, I am listening to the sounds of Nature – the birds, the cicadas, etc.  But sometimes, especially if I’ll be at it for several hours, I put in my ear buds and listen to the music on my phone.  When I do this, I sing or hum along.  I live way out in the country so I don’t have to worry about distressing neighbors with potentially off-key performances.  Anyway – I was busily pulling weeds from between iris rhizomes, humming along softly when I suddenly became aware of something very small and furry in my field of vision.  It was definitely moving towards me through the irises.  My first thought was that it was a chipmunk, but my brain couldn’t quite wrap around why it would be moving in my direction instead of away from me.  I stood up and focused and saw that it was a very tiny squirrel.  And it kept coming towards me.  I started backing away from it as I pulled my phone to call Older Daughter for advice.  I was pretty sure I needed to find the nest it had fallen from and try to get it back home.  I couldn’t get enough of a signal to get a call through.  I was slowly walking away from the squirrel holding my phone in the air looking for signal.  And this little baby was continuing to follow me.  I could see that it looked too thin and it seemed wobbly (weak).  But what I became more and more shocked by was that it continued to try to get TO me instead of AWAY from me.  I realized that I was going to have to go up closer to the house to be able to get a call through to Older Daughter.  Just as I was thinking that I shouldn’t leave the little thing alone (since it didn’t seem quite right), it wobbled over to directly in front of my feet, rose up on its back legs and literally reached up to me.  I instinctively reached down for it.  My brain was fried.  I could NOT imagine any wild animal, especially a baby, going towards a human – trying to get picked up!  If I had been a predator, this would have been the end.

 

 

I was dumbfounded as I reached down and picked up this helpless little creature.  As soon as I held it against my body, it immediately started trying to find a place to nurse.  My heart broke as my brain fell deeper into bewilderment.  I started walking towards the house and finally got a call through to Older Daughter.  Hey I need you up here at my house.  I have a baby squirrel and it doesn’t seem to be in good shape.  I was so lucky that this was on Thursday, Older Daughter’s day off.  She was there within five minutes.  She immediately examined the little thing.  Older told me that this little baby girl was too thin and massively dehydrated.  She checked her gums and found that she was anemic.  Then she showed me why.  She was COVERED with deer ticks and mites.  Clearly, these parasites knew this was an animal who was dying.  And they were taking over.  Older left with her and told me not to get my hopes up.  I told her to keep me posted.

I know (from Older educating me) that you cannot start feeding a starving dehydrated animal immediately.  She would need to receive fluids and a bit of sugar water and be placed on a heating pad or in the incubator to bring her body temperature to where it should be for a baby squirrel.  First she had to bathe her to remove as many mites and ticks as possible and then try to pick off the remaining ticks.  Hours later I heard from Older Daughter.

Well, she’s had a bath and fluids and some sugar water.  She is warming.  She is asleep.  She will receive formula a little later.  Mom, you know I never name the wildlife that come  to me.  But I’m calling this one Tiny Dancer – I believe she came to you because you were singing.  I believe she felt like you were not a threat and that you might be help.

Older told me that of course the chances of her living were slim because she was in such poor shape.  I guess I wasn’t surprised.  I mean, she looked pretty normal when I took that first picture of her.  But that was before I felt how thin she was and before Older showed me all of her other issues.  I needed to try not to get my hopes up.

 

covered in ticks and mites

 

 

only tiny amounts of sugar water initially

 

 

finally comfortable and sleeping

 

The next day Tiny Dancer showed signs of pneumonia.  Older added antibiotic and we kept our fingers crossed.  Older told me that with that level of starvation and dehydration it was likely she had already suffered organ damage and that her lungs probably weren’t up to the battle.  But of course Older Daughter would do everything possible to save this special baby.   On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Tiny Dancer was doing better.  Her breathing was less labored.  Today is Wednesday.  And she is doing really well.  I don’t know what the final outcome will be, but I’m SO hoping that this little angel (Wild Angel) will survive and thrive.

 

enjoying formula

 

 

Things are looking up!

 

 

See you next week.

 

Jenny

The title of last Tuesday’s post was “Two in One Week.”  Then I proceeded to tell the story of Tinkerbell’s struggles.  It was only in one of the last lines of the post that I mentioned one of our donkeys was struggling, too.   So that was a bit of a confusing title.  The point is that during the same week that I was worrying so much about Tinkerbell, our Jenny was really having a difficult time as well.

 

 

Jenny had a knee bothering her several weeks ago - her left front knee.  The vet put her on “bute” and a few days later she was back to normal.  Then only days later, her right knee seemed to be giving her trouble.  We got more bute from our vet.  But Jenny’s knee got worse.  As I’m sure many of you know, when equines have foot or leg issues it can be very serious, even life-threatening.  A horse, pony, or donkey can be in perfect health but if something happens to a leg, it puts their very life in danger.  These large animals cannot live without the use of all four legs.  It is even dangerous for them to spend a great deal of time lying down.  It’s just not what they’re made to do.

Jenny’s knee seemed to be getting worse, and we noticed that she was lying down too much.  Then we found a pooched out place on her side.  My fear was that this was possibly some type of hernia – from lying down or from the strain of getting down and getting up.  Our vet arrived the next day.  We were given great relief when he told us it was not a hernia, but rather a surface infection from pressure on her side due to lying down more.  It was easily treatable.   The vet opened the area for drainage and we were to keep it clean and to apply an equine antibiotic ointment once a day.  He also gave an antibiotic injection.  We discussed how it was her knee pain that was causing her to lie down so much.  So he gave us a different medication and said for us to stop the bute and use this medication.  He said we would be able to tell in just a few days if this medication would better treat her pain. 

Unfortunately, just 36 hours after taking her off the bute, she was much worse!  I contacted Dr. C and he said to immediately go back to the bute and to add another ½ tab.  That’s what we did.  And Husband has been cleaning the wound and applying the ointment.  Finally last week, our Jenny started to show some improvement.  She is no longer lying down.  For a few days she could only hobble over to her food and water station.  But now she is moving around better and she definitely seems brighter. 

 

There are rescue donkeys, rescue pigs, and chickens here.  There are dogs and cats.  I love each one so much.  I want them all to live happy, healthy, comfortable lives.  With so many animals here, the odds are that there will be somebody suffering the bigger part of the time.  But right now in this moment  all is well.  I’ll take it!

I have a special Wildlife Wednesday post for you tomorrow.  See you then.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Returns

Recently I have blogged a bit about how Older Daughter has had visits from a few of her successful releases.  Over the years there have been some returns but certainly not very many.  This year she has had the joy of having an opossum come back once, and her first two raccoons to be released came back to eat a couple of times.  Those are all long gone now.  But the dove from last year is a somewhat regular visitor and one of the two starlings only recently released continues to return once in a while.  Older Daughter sent me these picture just a few days ago.  The two birds returned together which gave Older Daughter quite a smile.

 

 

 

Older had been a little concerned about the release of her three younger raccoons.  Once released, they didn’t show up again.  She worried a bit about them because the female was smaller than the two males and Older hoped that she could find as much food and shelter as the two slightly bigger males.  One evening, one of those males came back to the yard and had a little snack.  It was nice to see him, but she wondered about the other two from this group.  Then one evening after a rain, the three showed up together for a meal.

 

 

Over this past weekend, I was at Older Daughter’s house when the group of three showed up again.  One of the males stayed in the woods line and never ventured any farther.  But the other male and the little female played on a tree in the yard for a while.

 

 

Then when Older went in and got a snack for them, they came running over for the food.  But before Older could even dump the snack out on the ground, the little girl reached up to greet Older Daughter.  Older discourages this kind of behavior during the transition period before release, but she couldn’t pass up the temptation to reach back towards this little girl for some quick reassurance.  They ate their snacks and off they went.

 

 

 

Nice.  See you next week.

 

Two in One Week

I didn’t blog last week because it was a bit of a scary week.  We are in a better place now but things didn’t look good for several days.

Do you remember a Wisher by the name of Tinkerbell?  She and her brother (Peter Pan) were sent on a transport from Florida by the dear Cheryl who helped me so much with a feral cat colony a LONG way from my home.  I’ve told the story on this blog about our vacations to Florida and how we discovered a feral colony at an abandoned hotel.  I’m going to include the links here in case you want to read a super inspiring story about some wonderful people coming together just in time to save three precious kitties.

The Florida Hotel Cats

Florida Hotel Cats - Conclusion

 

Tinkerbell is now almost 9 years old.  I’ve described her personality before.  What I’d love to say about her more than anything else is that she is just SO SO sweet.  She and I have a very special routine that we do NOT miss.  Every single morning as soon as I step into the kennel, Tinkerbell runs to her kitty condo and starts screaming at me to hurry up.  Sunspot’s run comes first and Tink continues to scream at me.  The next in line is the condo that Pretty Boy and Kin Kins live in.  Tink continues to scream.  Then I move to Theo and Tink’s condo.  I put the food down and right after they eat Theo runs straight outside and jumps up on his outdoor deck.  Tinkerbell jumps up into one of her cat trees and goes to a particular shelf and looks straight at me.  She has me completely trained to shower her with attention during this love fest we engage in every morning.  I pet her and pet her and talk to her and love on her, and she purrs and twists around and purrs more and bumps faces with me.  When I’m about to exit her condo, she reaches out and grabs me and pulls me back.  So we do the whole thing over again and then I move on to the next kitty condo.  She is SO sweet!

Well early last week, I went into the kennel and Tink didn’t start screaming at me.  I found her in her outside run on the kitty deck.  She was bunched up in a ball and she didn’t even turn to look at me as I hurriedly stepped inside to check on her.  I brought her in and immediately tried some food, but she wouldn’t eat a bite.  Instead of going into the day-by-day details of the rest of last week, let me just say that Tink stayed really sick for days.  Of course, I called my vet that day.    Tink ended up getting an antibiotic injection, and Older Daughter came every evening and gave fluids.  I also had an appetite stimulant (an ointment) that I was to apply to the inside of one ear once daily.  Tink didn’t eat for days.  She did not purr.  She did not care if I petted her or not.  I was extremely worried.  On the fourth day, she licked some food on her own.  On the fifth day, she took a bite on her own.  And by the end of this past weekend, she ate a small meal.  I was ecstatic.  When she first started to improve, I was afraid to get my hopes up.  But on Sunday, I let myself rejoice.  Tink is now back to her old self – daily love fest and all.

It was just this past winter that I had so many sick cats – FIVE in a row.  I lost two of those five – Jazzy and Daffy.  I could feel the panic when I found Tinkerbell so sick on that first morning.  I think my winter had a bigger effect on me than I previously realized.  It was hard not to wonder if I might be headed down a path with Tinkerbell that would not end in her recovery.  But she is back and I am SO happy!

 

 

 

During this very same week, one of our two donkeys gave us quite a scare as well.  That story next week.  And tomorrow – a quick Wildlife Wednesday update.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Another Release

Last week I wrote about the beginning of the releases at Wild Angels.  At the end of that post, I updated you about the starlings.  They have been in an outdoor enclosure with special wire (just for birds).  At first, they weren’t really getting the hang of scavenging for their food.  Well, all of that changed, and they’ve recently been doing a great job of finding food and feeding themselves.  On Sunday, I was at Older Daughter’s house and it was Release Day for the starlings.  I stood back and Older opened the door to their enclosure and stepped back.  At first, they didn’t get it.  In fact they flew around in their enclosure and even landed above the open door several times.  Then all of a sudden one of them flew straight out and up.  It soared into the sky, flew over Older’s house and landed way up in a tree in her backyard.  The other one took a little longer to find the open doorway, but when it did, we saw a repeat performance. 

Older said she could see both birds way up in that distant tree.  I couldn’t spot them in the tree line.  But I told Older Daughter, once again, that I don’t know how she does what she does.  My heart was racing as those birds “flew the coop.”  Sure, my heart was racing out of excitement and exhilaration but also out of anxiety.  Older Daughter found these two starlings when they were tiny, completely bald, and dying.  She carried them with her day after day, feeding them every 20 minutes from sunup to sundown.  I couldn’t imagine how hard it would have been for me to then watch them fly off into the Unknown.

 

 

 

Older told me that she feels both of those emotions as well.  She says it is always extremely difficult to release the wildlife that she has brought from abandonment, illness, starvation, etc. to fully healthy young adults, and then send them off without knowing the future for them.  But this is the work of a wildlife rehabber. 

After the release, I told Older that I sure wished she might see these starlings again.  The dove I’ve written about STILL visits occasionally.  Older said it’s always such a gift to get to see a released animal come back for a quick visit.  She acknowledged of course that if she saw a starling flying around anywhere on her property she certainly wouldn’t know if it was one of hers.  Starlings are very common birds and there are plenty all around here. 

Well, the morning after release day, I got a text from Older Daughter.  One of the released starlings had come back for a visit.  Older was out doing her morning routine, and a starling was making a bit of a fuss in a tree above her. 

 

 

She called to it and it flew directly down onto the deck rail.  Older hurried to put some favorite food on the rail and snapped a picture.  Then she ran for the little water dish the starlings had always used.  The starling ate a few bites and drank some water and off it went.  WHAT a wonderful feeling for Older Daughter.  She wished she had seen both starlings but it sure was amazing to have this visit.

 

 

As Older was talking to the starling and scurrying around to get food and water for it, she was unknowingly attracting her regular visitor.  Just as the starling few off, the dove arrived just a few feet away on that same deck rail.

 

 

Doesn’t get much better than that!

 

Wildlife Wednesday – The Releases Begin

The first of the releases has begun.  There are raccoons, opossums, and starlings to be released.  You might remember that two of the raccoons were older and bigger than the other three.  After time in an outdoor enclosure (learning about food, water, climbing, and less human contact), the two older raccoons have been successfully released.  It is always bittersweet for Older Daughter when she releases animals.  They started out abandoned, too young, and sometimes injured or sick.  Reaching the milestone of surviving babyhood, the next step is to learn how to make it on their own (in an outdoor enclosure).  Finally, the day comes to let these beautiful creatures venture out into the wild to live the lives they were meant to live.  These two raccoons bounced around in Older’s yard for a while and then headed for the woods.  They learned to climb while in their outdoor enclosure and they put those skills to work right away.

 

 

 

A few days after the two raccoons were released, Older released an opossum who's been at Wild Angels since the spring.  I've mentioned before that Older Daughter really hates releasing opossums because they just don't fare that well in the wild.  But this girl lumbered off and headed into a nearby woods.  Then just yesterday, Older got quite a treat.  I've mentioned that she puts food out each evening for whoever might be around to take advantage of it.  She has the occasional raccoon show up for the feast.  And this summer the wobbly momma raccoon and her two kits have come for a meal many times.  Well, just as Older was spreading the food around she caught movement out of the corner of her eye.  Out popped the two raccoons who had just been released a few days before.  They were still together and they came for a little snack.  Older said they looked great and didn't seem to be super hungry.  It's joyful to get confirmation that a release is doing OK.   The joy didn't end there, however.  That night Older saw movement outside near one of her enclosures.  She went out to check and the opossum was back.  She snapped a couple of pictures and ran in to get some food.  When she came back out with a meal for this gal, she was actually noodling around inside the enclosure she'd been released from.

 

 

 

 

 

The starlings were especially difficult to train to scavenge for their food.  They are beginning to get it, and they are enjoying flying around in their enclosure.

 

 

 

Good stuff!

 

A Couple of Updates

This will be just an update post on a couple of kitties I’ve written about recently.  Let me get the bad news out of the way first.  Well, not bad news really, just not what I was hoping for.  There has been no sighting of the tabby cat I’ve been trying to catch since last February.  The trap has been set every single day since the last sighting (about a week and a half ago), but no catch.  I set the trap in the area I’d spotted her in, knowing she will probably never come to that place again because that is where she encountered me.  I’m sure she’s terrified to come back to that spot.  All I can do is hope and wait for her to show up somewhere again.  I’ll be keeping an eye out.

The good (GREAT) news is about a little kitten I wrote about a few weeks ago who had been caught in a car motor and lost her tail and one of her back legs.  The vet who did her surgery named her Chevie.  After surgery, Chevie went to Older Daughter’s house to recover.  At first she could only lie on her side.  She had to be syringe fed.  Pretty soon she was able to sit up with help.  Then she could sit up on her own and eat on her own.  Finally she started trying to walk.  The day she “ran” through Older Daughter’s house, Older knew she was ready for adoption.

Of course, only a very special person could be the adopter of sweet little Chevie.  There were extra questions for this adoption in addition to the ones on the application.  If my daughters believe someone is good enough to adopt Chevie then I believe they are good enough, too.  And that special adopter has been found.  My daughters have been receiving updates since her adoption.  Sounds like this little gal is getting the royal treatment.  I only have one picture from the new home, but the adopter said that Chevie slept with him the very first night, right under his chin, purring away.   I cannot tell you how that warms my heart!

 

Playing with one of her many new toys

 

Have a great week!

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Raccoons

There is a slow progression at Wild Angels.  Animals are in outdoor enclosures.  They are learning to feed themselves and are having almost no contact with Older Daughter at this point.  These are the things that get them ready to be released.   Because there are really no new happenings at Wild Angels, I’ll just update you on a couple of the raccoons on the property.  The first report is a sad one.  One of the raccoon babies has died.  Unfortunately, we believe this little one was destined to perish from the very beginning.  She was small for her age all along, but the real worry was that she just wasn’t growing.  The others far surpassed her in size and weight.  In Nature, this would have been one of the kits that didn’t survive.  If we knew the numbers of baby wildlife that do not survive in the wild it would shock us all.  Older Daughter and I talked about it and we always tell each other the same thing.  Animals live in the moment.  They do not fret about the future.  This little girl was happy and playful right up until she started showing signs of slowing down.  But once she started to decline, she was gone within 24 hours (which is a blessing). 

The other story is about that wobbly momma raccoon who brings her babies to Older Daughter’s yard to eat.  I’ve reported about this mom and two kits several times this year.  Today’s story is a little different however.   Ms Wobbly Raccoon will come into the yard to eat even if Older Daughter is somewhere outside and Ms Wobbly can see her.  But the kits stay back until Older goes inside and then they join mom for some food.  Well the other day, Older was outside and she saw Ms Wobbly moving towards the food.  She saw that the babies were close behind her and had not noticed that Older was outside.  So Older froze.  She stood statue-still and mom wobbled on up to the food with her babies right behind her.  The babies had not a clue that a human was standing so close to them.  Older had her phone out to snap some pics.   The family got close enough that Older could have reached out to touch them.  She didn’t move a muscle.  In the first pic, you see Momma look up at Older Daughter with a baby right behind her.  In the second pic, the baby has suddenly noticed Older and has raised up on hind legs to stare at her.  When the babies realized something was up, they ran away and into the woods line.  It actually spooked Momma Wobbly and she ran with them.  SO cute!

 

 

Good stuff!