Wildlife Wednesday – Influx

There has been a flurry of wildlife activity at Wild Angels.  Let’s see . . .  where to start.

There are three baby raccoons at Wild Angels.  Two little babies were in someone’s yard.  The person put them in a box at the base of a tree.  He left them there overnight with the hope that the mom raccoon would come for them.  They were still there the next morning.  When Older Daughter received them, they were very cold and dehydrated.  They had probably been orphaned for a while.  Their eyes were already open; nonetheless, they were receptive to being handled by Older Daughter.  She warmed them and got them rehydrated and was then able to start feeding them formula. The little girl struggled with a weepy eye for a few days but is doing better now.  Here they are:  eating, playing, and sleeping in a ball.

 

 

 

Just yesterday, they started learning about water.

 

 

This little boy and little girl are on their way to good health.

 

Then Older got a call from someone who’d had a baby raccoon in their home for three weeks before contacting Wild Angels.  It appears that they were hoping to make a pet of her.  Then, of course, they discovered that she was very destructive and didn’t make a good pet at all.  They had been feeding her “anything she wanted,” but fortunately she was not in bad shape.  However, if there is any message we’d love to get out to people it’s that wild animals shouldn’t be taken as pets.

 

The little raccoon had been in someone’s home for three weeks with the intention of having it become a “pet.”  This next addition to Older’s group of spring babies had been in its home for a month.  But this time the circumstances were very different.  A young man contacted Wild Angels about a baby opossum.  He had taken it in when he hit the mother while driving.   He actually went back to see if he’d killed her.  He discovered that mom and all but two of the babies were dead.  He took those two home and one died shortly thereafter.   He was actually trying to do everything right.  He researched online for an appropriate homemade formula and for a while the little opossum was doing alright.  But then she stopped eating and he started trying to find help.  He found Wild Angels and contacted Older Daughter.  The little opossum was severely underweight when Older received her.  The man was truly concerned and had tried to do the right thing.  Bringing the opossum to a wildlife rehabber was the perfect “right thing” to do.

 

 

The problem, of course, is that both the raccoon and the opossum were allowed to develop relationships with humans that are not in those animals’ best interests.  Older will have to work hard to make sure these two little animals revert back to their “wilder” selves.

 

The final two little animals that I’ll introduce you to are tiny and mostly bald (with a little bit of fuzz), and can only hold their heads up for a few seconds at a time.   These two little creatures were found by Older herself.  She was at a state park with some friends and just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  She discovered two tiny birds lying on the end of a slide.  Of course, she tried to find a nest.  But there was simply no nest to be found.  She was really worried about one of the two anyway because it didn’t even have the strength to hold itself upright.

 

 

She and her friends rushed back to fix food and an appropriate container for the baby birds.  She warmed them and then started feeding them.  I’ve probably mentioned here before that baby birds must be fed every 20 minutes initially.  [This is from sun-up to sun-down.]  Over days, that eventually goes to every 30 minutes and then 45 minutes and so on.  It is nearly impossible for anyone to keep this schedule.  Luckily each feeding only takes about one minute.  Older found it promising that in only a very short time, the two little birds showed signs of gaining strength.  They have been with Older now for four days and they are doing really well.  Unfortunately, birds can show no signs of distress and just die without warning.  Older knows this is a possibility.  But she will give it her best shot.  (She is pretty confident that these are starling babies.)

 

 

 

So all day long with birds and mammals; then up in the middle of the night for mammal baby feedings.  I don’t know how she does it.  But I’m glad she does.

 

One final note.  Older wishes that more and more people would learn to get abandoned wildlife babies to wildlife rehabbers.  They really should never be thought of as pets.  And she also wishes that more people would stop and check dead opossums for possible (still living) babies in the pouch.

 

Comments

[Cynthia]

The babies are so cute! Hope they all stay well. Plz let oldest know I made a donation for the babies today. Stay safe & well.
Cynthia

[Virginia Wells]

We feed the wild raccoons here in the back yard every night but never try to touch them. Right now a baby lives under our back deck - he or she must have lost it's mother because it never learned to dip the food so we started leaving a bowl of water along side the food. The baby birds are so sweet - sure hope they make it and live -Older is a miracle worker to save so many wild things.

[Andrea and the Celestial Kitties]

they are awfully cute! I don't understand why anyone would think they'd make good pets though! I hope they revert to happy wild babies easily!

Friends, Wild Angels, Chrystal's daughter, receives no funding at all from anyone. Except those of us who donate via their facebook page! So if you can, please help!

And oh boy, I hope you've all heard about the Chrystal's Birthday Package Party by now! We're trying to send Wish List items and donations for Chrystal's Birthday, which is THIS week! Check here for more details: https://celestialkitties.blogspot.com/2021/05/weird-and-wordy-wednesday-and-wild-idea.html Please do what you can to make this a wonderful time for a wonderful lady!

[madeline]

it's wonderful what you do but I don't see how you keep up the pace.

[John Bellen]

Quite a lot going on at Wild Angels. I don't think we have a wildlife rehabber in my town or district, so what would happen if I found some animals in need, I don't want to think about.