Laurens Wildlife Rescue

 
…which is much-needed, after 52 intakes in April and 39 in May, some of whom have just been released.

Helletseat and Tubolard have been released, although Helletseat showed up this morning with a massively swollen arm, so she’s caged again while she gets a round of antibiotics.  Looks like she fought with another squirrel and got bitten…

The oldest possum has been released; the younger two are growing apace and should be releasable in another couple of months.  Right now they’re about large hamster size, maybe a little bigger.
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This lady's on her own now.
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These babies have another couple of months before release.
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Two of the three recently released wood ducks.
The wood ducks have been released. There’s a new protocol that calls for them to be released at a younger age than I’m used to, so we tried the new release guidelines for these babies. I’m of the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” school, but the earlier release is supposed to be better for the ducks, so…we’ll see…
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Three of four blue jays nearly ready for release.
The bluebird, cardinal, wrens and mockers from the last update have all been released and replaced in the flight pen by four blue jays, three new mockers and a robin. The robin came in as an older nestling but within a week was ready for the flight pen. Robins are the largest thrushes, in the same family as bluebirds, so she’s a big ol’ fledgling!
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Two of three mockers nearing release.
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Robin on intake.
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A few days later...
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In the flight pen after a cool bath in the water dish.
The turkey is still doing well, but there’s no established protocol for his release—if you’ll recall, I mentioned last update that they generally don’t survive in rehab, so I’ve even called the National Wild Turkey Federation for advice, which they couldn’t offer. They were as surprised as I am that the little guy’s still with us! So…I’m making it up as I go along with this one. Should be interesting…No pix of him, as the older he gets the more he freaks at human presence. I don’t want him doing something stupid and potentially fatal because I just had to snap a pic.
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We had a downy GHO come in; the second-youngest GHO I’ve ever seen. Look at her downy little head!  She’s now with Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends.
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I also had two nestling barn swallows come in over the weekend. There had been three; the third sibling was already dead when the finder saw these two. Sadly, the smaller of the two took a sudden turn for the worse Sunday evening and was dead within two hours.  The survivor seems to be doing well, but so did his sibling before she checked out, so I’m a bit paranoid about him now.
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In the “too cute to believe” category, we have this downy screech owl, who came in with an open fracture on his left leg. It was an old break, as the exposed bone was already black, indicating that it had lost its blood supply. His foot dangled limply, signaling possible nerve damage, so I really wasn’t overly optimistic when I took him to Smalley’s the next day, even though the little rascal had a voracious appetite.
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I’ve said it previously, but it bears repeating: I have the world’s best vets. Shelley Baumann looked at this cute little baby, examined the break and decided to x-ray just to see how much damage had been done. It was a clean break, so  Shelley decided to anesthetize the screech, clip the dead end of the bone, pop it back into the skin and set it. Young Chester (those of you too young to remember Gunsmoke won’t get that at all) came through the procedure with flying colors and within 12 hours was moving the toes on that broken leg. Within two days he was gripping weakly; within a week he was perching on a soft makeshift perch sitting in the bottom of his cage and throwing temper tantrums when he didn’t get what he wanted when he wanted it.
Normally, Chester would have already been transferred to Steve Hicks, but since he’s still under vet care, he’s with me until Shelley gives the go-ahead for transfer. Steve’s getting daily updates, and we’re all tickled to death at Chester’s progress.

This is a point I’ve made previously, too: what we do, we do for the animals. There’s no room for ego; ego can result in the death of an otherwise releasable animal.  Yeah, we’re proud of what we do and we celebrate our successes, because those few successes make up for the vast numbers of animals we couldn’t save. But ego? No. If anyone gets into wildlife rehab for the “cool” factor, the ego-boosting element, they won’t last long. It’s hard to be egotistical when you’re chasing a vulture with a broken wing through a muddy hog lot or when you get in that deer mauled beyond belief who doesn’t even make it to the vet for humane euthanasia, or when you realize that the animals you release have a 70+% attrition rate during their first year of life--and the people who aren’t in this because the best interest of the animal comes first simply won’t last. Their fragile little egos will be destroyed.