Raccoons Raring to Re-enter the Real (video and photos)

Posted on October 9, 2015October 9, 2015 by Monte Merrick

[Help support our efforts to raise healthy, wild orphans and also prevent disruptions to wild families in the first place. Please contribute to our Fall campaign today. Every donation helps!]

Each year at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, we can expect to treat a certain number of orphaned raccoons (Procyon lotor). Although we engage in outreach to promote humane solutions to denning mother raccoons, trying to keep wild families together, the simple fact is that several times each Spring and Summer we admit small groups of raccoon babies whose mothers have been either shot or trapped and “relocated” (illegal and inhumane, usually results in the death of the mother and, unless they are found and taken to a wildlife rehabilitator, the death of her babies that remain). On average we raise 20 to 30 raccoon babies at our Northern California clinic every season. This year we’ve had 25 (19 right now!) babies in care.

Although caring for orphaned raccoons is a common task for wildlife rehabilitators across the continent, it’s a very specialized skill, requiring experience, commitment, financial resources and appropriate housing. Without a mother who will show them the ways of the world, orphaned raccoons in care must learn to hunt, forage, climb, fish in rivers and most importantly remain wild and “untamed.” One of the cutest animals, people often try to raise raccoons as pets. This is never a good idea. Raccoons are wild animals, not pets, and deserve their freedom as much we deserve ours.

At BAX/HWCC we put a lot of effort into making sure the raccoons we care for eat the most natural and nutritionally complete diet we can provide. We place great emphasis on keeping a solid barrier between them and us, their care providers. Their survical depends on their fear of humans. An orphaned raccoon’s best shot at a happy life depends on all of these elements.

After four months in care, we just recently released the first 6 youngsters who were ready to begin their lives back in the wild. Check out the video and the photos – watch wild raccoons enter the wild for the first time since they lost their mama…

The first whiff of freedom (and a real river!)

Over the river and into the woods, to Grandmother’s house they go.

Just a few steps from the cloaking device that mother Earth provides all her children…

Taken with a zoom lens, one last view before these youngsters ‘disappear’ into the real world!

As with all we do, it’s your support that makes it possible. Thank YOU!

all photos: BAX/Laura Corsiglia; video BAX/Matt Gunn

Osprey Returned to the Wild! (with pictures!)

Posted on October 7, 2015October 7, 2015 by Monte Merrick

Over the Summer BAX/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center has been treating two Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), one of whom came from Red Bluff and the other from Modesto. (read more about their care here)

A fire swept through an Osprey nest in Red Bluff, CA, a small city in the far northern end of the Sacramento Valley. One adult and one nearly fledged (ready to leave nest) chick were rescued and taken to Tehama Wild Care. After stabilizing the birds their only injuries appeard to be the singed feathers both had suffered. Feathers of course are a critical component of any bird’s health and well-being. Feathers make flight possible. Feathers allow hot-blooded birds to maintain a stable temperature (normal for most birds is between 103 and 106 degrees!). Unhealthy or damaged feathers could cause life-threatening challenges. Early in care, the young bird died, while the adult did well. Still the adult was very stressed by captivity and would dive in a threatening manner toward her human caregivers!

Soon after we admitted another Osprey chick who had been found out of her nest as a very small bird and hand-raised by our colleagues at Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center, near Modesto. This young bird now needed time in an aviary to be able to develop flight skills and also be monitored for appropriate behavior and fear of humans. Fortunately for her, we had an adult in care and good housing for the job so the young bird was sent north. The two birds quickly bonded, assuming a kind of parent/chick relationship. We knew then that the prognosis for a happy outcome was good.

After 5 weeks in an aviary together, gaining weight and strength, developing flight and eating a lot of fish ($ = fish!) we were able to determine that their feather conditon was adequate to be released – no good would come from more time in the aviary, with the layer of stress caused by captivity factored in, and the need for the young bird to learn real world skills that her new surrogate mother could teach her in the wild. Strong and healthy and sick of us, it was time for them to go.

[Fall Fundraiser: Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center need your support! Summer bills must be paid. Winter maintenance must be done. Food and medicine for patients must be purchased. Utilities too! Without you we cannot keep our doors open, ready to accept into care all native California wildlife, orphaned or injured by the impact of our towns, our highways, our trash, our reckless disregard for our wild neighbors. Please contribute today. Any amount helps. Please give what you can.]

Yesterday, BAX co-director Laura Corsiglia and volunteer Bonnie MacRaith took the two birds on the long drive back to Red Bluff, back to adult’s home place and with her new kid in tow.

After returning to Humboldt, Bonnie stopped in at the clinic – this had been her first wild release… her eyes welling up, she reported the joy of seeing the adult fly out over the Sacramento River, and the youngster, who had come out of the carrier first and stood looking about, leaping into flight right behind her and following out across the river and into the sky and into perfect wild freedom.

Another open door to a wild and free future!

Juvenile Osprey wonders what to do with the wide open possibilities.

The adult Osprey seemed to know exactly where she was and what she wanted. Out of the carrier and into the sky!

And the youngster followed close behind…

The last glimpse! Good luck fishing!

As is always the case, our work is possible because of mutual aid between wildlife rehabilitators, help from agencies like the US Fish and Wildlife Service and CA Dept of Fish and Wildlife, and most importantly, your support. Your donations pay for everything we do! Food, medicine, appropriate housing – all of the critical elements to these birds’ happy outcome is the direct result of your donation. We are a very small organization with a huge task to do. Please give what you can today!

All photos: BAX/Laura Corsiglia

Gray Fox is Free!

Posted on October 4, 2015October 4, 2015 by Monte Merrick

Early September, during a Sunday morning shift, this Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) was brought to Humboldt Wildlife Care Center with her head caught in a hard plastic cup. Her rescuer, a traveler passing through, was able to catch and restrain her, locate us on the internet and walk her over. He and his companions brought her in just past 10am. (read more of her first day in care here)

Over the course of her treatment (read about her time in care here) she rebounded quickly. Although at first we worried that the trauma to her ears was too severe for her to be returned to the wild, soon she was alert, ears up, wounds healing quickly and snarling mad!

We kept our hands and eyes off her as much as we could during her course of treatment, balancing her need for wild privacy with our need to monitor her recovery.

On a diet of fish, thawed rats, eggs and occasional car-killed pigeons, her weight shot up from 2000 grams to 2700 grams (4 1/2 pounds to 6 pounds – a big gain for a small animal!). Her agility and energy increased dramatically as well. (see photos below!)

After nearly a month in care, her wounds were healed, her fur growing back in nicely, and her body strong and lithe. It was time for her to be released. She couldn’t have agreed more.

In the Gray fox’ housing to catch for her release examination

Flying fox? No, just anxious to be free.

Nabbed!

In the net for less than a minute, this is still a stressful moment for all concerned.

Onto the exam table for a look at her condition.

Bird Ally X/HWCC volunteer staffperson, Stephanie Owens, restrains our patient. Her job is to protect both patient and examiner. 6 pounds of fury can bite pretty hard!

Hard to believe how quickly her condition improved. Her ears are nearly perfect now. Compare with the next photo of her on admission day!

Raw, flattened by who knows how long in that cup, and infested with fly larvae (maggots) we were worried her ears would not heal well enough for her to hunt again. Thankfully she made a full recovery! (photo: BAX/Heather Freitas)

At the release site, close to where she was rescued. Freedom’s just a box top away!

Buh-bye! Our favorite moment in the care of any patient!

The last glimpse we had before she disappeared into the Wild.

This Gray fox was a dramatic patient. She exemplified all the frustration and all of the reward of caring for injured and orphaned wild animals. Her injury was caused by something easily prevented. Reckless and irresponsible action by humans in society, one little piece of litter in a world full of toxins, traumas, challenges and threats nearly ended the life of this fox. But with accessible care available for her, and a dedicated staff, she was able to be treated successfully and returned to her wild and free life. Although the causes are the same for most of our patients, not all are so lucky. Most aren’t.

Thanks to your support, we are able to be here 7 days a week, every day of the year. Dedicated volunteers, very limited paid staff, and our Bayside clinic – we don’t have much by way of resources, but we make the most of what we’ve got! Your donation goes a very long way in keeping us going and making sure that the North Coast has a place for injured and orphaned wild neighbors to be treated – treated for injuries and treated with the respect that all wild animals deserve. As Henry Thoreau elegantly wrote, “All good things are wild and free.”

all photos: Bird Ally X/Laura Corsiglia except where noted.

Rescued Gray Fox Recovering Well

Posted on September 28, 2015September 28, 2015 by Monte Merrick

3 weeks ago, a Gray fox was brought to our clinic with a hard plastic cup stuck on her head (read story here). Her ears were badly wounded by the cup, flattened to her head, and rubbed raw and furless with open sores. Her wounds and ears were filled with maggots (fly larvae). She was also extremely thin. ,After removing the cup, she was given antibiotics for a week and fed an easy to digest diet of canned cat food mixed with salmon oil and egg.

She is now recovering well. Her wounds are nearly healed, fur is growing back in and she’s eating lots of food that is perfect for a fox – rats, birds, some insects and vegetables – and well on her way to being released back to her free and wild life.

Here’s a short clip taken immediately before performing last week’s weekly check-up exam.

Thank you for your support. Your donation goes directly to the care of all our patients, from this Fox whose luck has turned around, to the dozen Common Murres in care and the two dozen orphaned racccons. Want to help? Click on the donate button! Every little bit helps! Thank you!

Gray Fox Rescued!

Posted on September 6, 2015September 7, 2015 by Monte Merrick

This morning at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center we had just finished bringing food to all our patients, we’d administered the medications and had settled into our morning meeting to discuss the day’s tasks and to update volunteers on our cases, when in walked four people carrying a fox.

Now, people walking in with an injured wild animal is a pretty normal occurrence at a wildlife hospital, but an adult Gray fox with a bright red cup around her face looking somewhat like a veterinary cone isn’t ordinary.

The folks who brought her in had been camped in a vacant lot behind a local trailer park. One of them, a young man who said his name was Pocket Trash, was able to catch her as she ran. He told how he’d nearly had her, but she got away, and how he strategized his next move, putting himself where she was headed, and how once caught, she calmed down and allowed herself to be carried, limply, as they made their way to our clinic.

It was quite a story, but a familiar one to any who has tried to capture an injured wild animal. Success is always surprising and Pocket Trash, who didn’t want to use his “government name,” was still amazed that he’d actually caught her.

Upon examination, the first task was to get the cup off. She had deep cuts, mostly healed over, around her neck – most of her head was covered and we had no way of knowing what lurked beneath.

What we found after geting the cup off!

After getting the cup off, it was obvious that she’d spent a long time in this predicament. Her ears were flattened to her head, rubbed raw and furless, and in the final insult, her inner ears were filled with hundreds of maggots.

Needless to say, we went to work clearing the maggots out.

Cleaning maggots (fly larvae) from the Gray Fox’s ears. This work can test your gag-reflex!

Her wounds, although serious, do not appear to be life-threatening. We treated her with a mild pain reliever and antibiotics. She’s very thin. Right now she’s resting more comfortably with an easy to digest diet of fish, eggs and canned cat food. She’s not out of the woods yet, but thanks to the quick and good action of Pocket Trash, she is out of the trailer park and out of the cup.

And thanks to you, we are here, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, to provide care for injured and orphaned wild animals. Your support gives people who’ve found an animal in serious trouble, like this fox, a place that can help. Please support us during our late Summer fundraising appeal. Thank you for being a part of this life-saving work!

After treatment, now healing can begin.

[The second week of our Late Summer fundraising drive begins tomorrow. Please help us reach our goal of $3000 by September 15! We’re almost halfway there!]

all photos: Bird Ally X

Help us meet our End of Summer goals, get Pelican Dreams on DVD

Posted on September 6, 2015September 6, 2015 by Monte Merrick

As part of our End of Summer campaign, we have a limited number of DVDs available as a special thank you when you contribute $100 or more!

The Pelican Dreams DVD has over an hour of extra features!

Released in 2014, we are excited to announce that Pelican Dreams, the latest documentary by award-winning filmmaker, Judy Irving (The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill) is now on DVD.

Centered around the story of “Gigi” – a very young (4 months old!!) female Brown Pelican who landed on the Golden Gate Bridge one afternoon in August 2008, the film follows her rescue and rehabilitation. Brought to International Bird Rescue in Fairfield, California the story is helped along by “Gigi’s” primary caregiver (BAX/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center’s co-director, Monte Merrick). As the Pelican’s primary caregiver, the film spends some time with him, as well as wife and partner and fellow co-director, Laura Corsiglia.

The film took over 6 years to make and includes footage from Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center rescue work, and uses footage shot in Crescent City Harbor by Arcata’s own Ishan Vernallis (Medicine Baul).

Thanks to Judy Irving and Pelican Media, we can offer these as a special thank you for contributions of $100 or more! Become a member!

Thank you for being a part of this life-saving work!

Young Raven thinks, “Outside the box!”

Posted on September 5, 2015September 5, 2015 by Monte Merrick

During the last week of August, on an evening walk along Clam Beach, a McKinleyville resident saw a dark clump of seaweed at the surf line. As he got closer, he thought, “No, those are feathers.” And then at last, “those feathers are breathing!”

The young Raven (Corvus corax) was thoroughly soaked, immobilized by hypothermia (very low body temperature).

Fortunately, since it was late in the day, Lynda Stockton, who runs the stranding hotline for the North Coast Marine Mammal Center in Crescent City was nearby. Lynda, also of McKinleyville, regularly walks the beaches of Humboldt County, checking on stranded Seals and Sea lions that have been called in by the public. In her beach work, Lynda often finds struggling seabirds, bringing them to Humboldt Wildlife Care Center when she does.

Lynda took the bird back to her house for the evening. She told us, “he was totally down, unresponsive, soaking wet, only breathing.” Lynda kept him (we don’t actually know the sex of the bird) warm through the night and brought him to our Bayside clinic in the morning.

Raven gets full exam prior to release.

At the inital exam, 12 hours after being pulled from the surf, the Raven’s body temperature was back to normal, but still he was unsteady on his feet – we discovered that the bird was molting in a fresh set of feathers and that he was a young, no more than a year old.

Residual neurological problems after such a close brush with death are normal. We provided fluids, vitamins, a dose of a mild pain relieving/ anti-inflammatory drug and a healthy diet of fish, fruit, seed and insects. Within a day, the Raven was standing normally and ready for an outside aviary.

Checking feathers and wing function at his release evaluation.

After four days we gave another complete exam. Lynda Stockton was able to be on hand. She was astonished at his recovery.

Six days later we released the Raven, hopefully wiser now, back to his habitat. We invited to Lynda to join us. She called him Edgar. We called him free.

Lynda Stockton of the North Coast Marine Mammal Center (right) and Elissa Blair, Bird Ally X staff member, let the Raven out of the box back at Clam Beach.

Get me out of here!

[Right now we are striving to meet our Summer busy season expenses. Any thing helps. Please donate what you can, $5, $25, $50, $250, $500 or more! Thank you for your support!]

The young bird swept away from the beach area and back toward the trees across the highway, an area know for Raven families.

In only seconds, the Raven put some considerable distance between his rescuers and his future!

Somewhere over there… a young Raven tells his friends and families an amazing story of life, close calls, and what a cage means. Chilling!

Our last glimpse

Working together with other environmental and wildlife welfare organizations is an important part of meeting our mission. We are grateful to call the good people who operate the North Coast Marine Mammal Center our friends and colleagues. They help us get our job done!

And of course, we are grateful to you, for providing the resources we need to meet our mission, of protecting the wild and caring for the injured and orphaned wild animals of the beautiful Redwood Nation.

Thank you for being a part of this life-saving work!

(All photos: Laura Corsiglia/BAX)

Your support matters.

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Monte Merrick

Your support makes our work possible. Thank you for helping us give injured and orphaned wild animals a second chance.

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Late Summer, and We Need Your Help!

Posted on September 1, 2015September 1, 2015 by Monte Merrick

Our summer bills are piling up, our babies need food and we need you! Want to help wild animals in our region? Donate today!

It was four years ago this week that Bird Ally X teamed with Humboldt Wildlife Care Center to rescue over 50 fish waste contaminated juvenile Brown Pelicans found at the public fish cleaning stations at Crescent City and Shelter Cover, on California’s beautiful and rugged Redwood Coast.

What began as an emergency response developed into a permanent partnership, with Bird Ally X and HWCC merging into one organization. This began an intense period of infrastructure building. We’ve added seabird pools, a pelican aviary, a raptor aviary, raccoon housing, other small mammal housing, a waterfowl aviary, renovated our songbird aviary, and more!

We have a permanent full time staff and our clinic is open regular hours every day of the year. These are substantial improvements. Because of these improvements, with these our organization is now a member of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, and we stand more ready to help in the event of an oil spill in our region.

We have advocated for our wild neighbors, promoting co-existence and working with communities and policy makers to reduce the injuries that our society heaps upon the wild and natural world. We have treated nearly 5000 wild animals in these last four years. In short, it has been a period of exponential growth and advancement – none of which would have been possible without your support.

And we still need your support. We rely on your donations to accomplish all that we do. You make it happen. You buy the baby formula. You buy the frozen fish, the frozen rats, that the meat eaters we treat must have. You pay for the electricity that keeps our incubators and pool pumps running. You purchase the medicine. You pay for the gasoline that takes our education team and wild ambassadors to schools all over Humboldt County. You provide the eggs we feed our raccoons. Without your support we wouldn’t have the water for the zucchini patch that all of the omnivores we treat rely on – raccoon babies, skunk babies, and baby opossums. You even pay for the tortilla chips and salsa that we provide for our volunteers, many of whom come in for full day shifts.

Your support is needed now to help us catch up on our summer expenses (water bill! food bill! electric bill!) and prepare for winter and the return of seabirds to our region as well as the season when we can improve and repair housing after the wild babies in our care are old enough and ready to be released.

… and also caring for the wild babies still in our care! Right now we have 23 orphaned raccoons, many of whom will be with us for another couple of months, learning to hunt, forage, and provide for themselves before they will ready for return to the wild. Help us provide the natural diet that they need to learn to be the best raccoons they can!
Raccoon formula keeps the young orphans moving forward. Still, mom would be a lot better, so we work hard to keep wild families together!
After weekly exam, young raccoons are returned to their freshly stocked housing, fish, vegetables, rodents, insects and more!

As soon as staff returns these youngsters to their housing, they get as far from us as they can.

All photos: Bird Ally X

Barntini 2015 was a Blast! Thank You!

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Monte Merrick

The second annual Barntini! was a terrific time with an awesome turnout! Thank you to everyone (individuals and businesses, listed below) who contributed to the food, the drink, and the silent art auction! Thank you to the band, Silver Hammer, for keeping the Beatles vibe happy and strong all night! And thank you to all those who volunteered their time to make this big party happen! And thank you especially to all who came out to have fun and support the work of the Jacoby Creek Land Trust and Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center. See you at next year’s Barntini!

barntini 2015 - 10 barntini 2015 - 02

Thank you to everyone who donated food, drink, art and more!

Bien Padre
Bonnie MacRaith
Brett Shuler Catering
Casa Lindra
Coast Seafoods
Cypress Grove
Dutch and Dewey’s
Eureka Natural Foods
Fieldbrook Winery
Gretchen Schuster
Gus Clark
Humboldt Distillery
Ken Griggs Homemade Beer
Laura Corsiglia
Linda Parkinson
Moonstone Crossing Winery
North Coast Co-op
Patricia Sennot
Six Rivers Brewery
Tomaso’s Specialty Food
Wildberries
Willow Creek Farms