Barn Owl Hit By Car and Left for Dead Treated at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center (VIDEO)

Posted on November 14, 2018November 14, 2018 by Monte Merrick

One of our biggest challenges at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center is the sheer enormity of the region that we serve. From the Oregon border to northern Mendocino county and from the Pacific Ocean to Weaverville, our region is more than double the size of each of the 9 smallest states in the union.

(scroll down for release photos and video!)

When we got the call that an owl was found on the side of the road in Smith River, about 100 miles north, right at the state line, we set into motion a dedicated group of volunteers to start the relay to bring the injured bird south to our clinic in Bayside.We routinely admit patients from all over the North Coast. Volunteers in Del Norte County met volunteers from Humboldt in Orick, between Patrick’s Point and Klamath, to hand off the owl. Just another day meeting the needs of wildlife in a territory larger than many states!

It turned out that the bird was a Barn Owl (Tyto alba) who’d likely been hit by a car. Although there is always some degree of guesswork to figure out what happened to our patients that caused their injuries, because the owl had been found on the side of the road, was suffering from severe dehydration, but was in relatively good body condition, had no broken bones, but was unable to fly, we deduced that the s/he’d been hit by a car. Often smaller owls and other birds who are hit by cars escape serious injury, suffering only a concussion that can still be debilitating for the first few days. Without treatment they will likely die, but with treatment they recover quickly. The degree of dehydration, suggested that the owl had been on the ground for at least a few days. If the owl hadn’t been seen, dehydration would have likely been the immediate cause of death. We treated with fluids and anti-inflammatory medicine.

[We need your help! Please donate today!]

For severely dehydrated patients, the most critical treatment we can give is fluids.

After fluids, medicines, warmth and a safe pace to recover are next on the list.

Within a couple of days, with continued fluid therapy, we were able to move the owl to an outside aviary, which would reduce stress and give us the opportunity to observe the bird’s recovery. With hydration restored and with a good appetite for the mice we offered, the owl’s health had improved quickly. After 6 days, we evaluated the owl for release.

When a patient recovers we have ways of analyzing their health. Sustained flight and ability to evade capture is definitely part of what we look for!

A small blood sample lets us know how things are going physiologically. In order to be released, a patient needs to have plenty of oxygen-transporting red blood cells!

The moment of release is always quite thrilling. After 6 days in care, this owl was ready to go back to Smith River!

Birds flying away is a very gratifying sight.

This Barn Owl’s rescue, treatment and release was the result of a dedicated team of staff and volunteers working across two counties and scores of miles. Every aspect of care, from the medicine to the gasoline spent in transport, was made possible by community support. In these difficult times, when so much needs our attention – elections, fire disasters and more – your gift, no matter the size, is critical to our survival. Please help. Contribute something today! Thank you!!!

photos/video: Bird Ally X/ Laura Corsiglia

Aleutians Falling Down Like Hail (in other words, we’re admitting a lot of Cackling Geese!)

Posted on November 2, 2018November 3, 2018 by Monte Merrick

Each Autumn, the common sadness of Summer’s end is brightened by the return to our region of many species of aquatic and semi-aquatic birds who find our temperate winters a good place to live away from breeding grounds further North or inland. Many ducks, loons, grebes, and shorebirds arrive here with the rains that turn meadows and mosses green again in a kind of second Spring.

One of the most visible of our winter neighbors is the Aleutian Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii). From when they depart in late April and early May bound for the Aleutian Islands to raise their young of the year, until they return in late September and early October, the meadows and pastures of the bottom lands of Humboldt and Del Norte counties can feel very empty. All winter we enjoy the splendor of their melodic high pitched voices as they rise and fall in flocks sometimes numbering in the thousands throughout our winter days.

The higher numbers in their populations is a relief. Aleutians were initially listed as endangered under the 1973 Endangered Species Act, but since their decline was reversed, they were taken of the list in 2001. In fact, their numbers have recovered to the point that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has given waterfowl hunters a special 16 day season late February through early March strictly for the purpose of hunting the geese who use private land in an effort to drive them off, just as tens of thousands of individuals are arriving from around the state in a pre-migration staging here on the North Coast. Pasture land in our region is dedicated to ranching and the geese are seen as direct competitors with beef cattle for grass.

The dates of this year’s waterfowl seasons are posted on our dry erase board at HWCC so that staff is aware of conditions that might threaten wild neighbors. We usually admit one or two geese per year who were shot but not killed or recovered, found near a road, or on the beach. Depending on the nature of the wounds, we’ve been able to treat and release several gunshot victims.

Since 2012, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/bird ally x has treated 66 Cackling Geese as of November 1, this year. In 2018 alone, so far we’ve treated 19 individuals, 10 in the last two weeks!

While it’s typical that we admit a few cackling Geese at this time of year, the numbers we’re treating this year are clearly spiking up! It’s ordinary for some of the young of the year to meet difficulty when completing their first migration from breeding grounds on the Yukon Delta, say, two thousand miles south to Northern California. All geese use a significant amount of their own muscle-mass to fuel their journey, which is conducted non-stop.

Upon arrival, nourishment is the first order of business. Only those birds who are in excellent condition can make the trip, and only those birds who, through luck, guidance, intelligence, instinct and timing, arrive and find immediate food will survive. Most cackling geese who we admit at this time of year are juveniles, often found on the regions beaches, rolled by the surf. It’s possible that they just couldn’t fly the last leg and resorted to paddling ashore. In any case, a young Cackling goose being rolled in the surf is not going to recover from this dilemma alone.

And that’s where our community comes in. People on the beaches, or in the parks, or even driving along the roads of our region will find geese in trouble, often doing what they can to capture and bring the goose to our clinic in Bayside. Other times people call us and we go out to find the goose. We don’t always find the wild goose on these chases, but usually we do.Upon admission each goose is given a physical exam and treated for many of the basic problems that all face. They are treated for both internal and external parasites, such as tapeworm and feather lice. While all while animals carry some parasites without a negative impact, a young bird starving death needs all of the calories s/he can get. We make sure to reduce the competition.

Usually each new goose patient we admit comes in cold and dehydrated. Stabilizing the patient is mostly a job for fluids and warmth. We take a small sample of blood of which a rudimentary analysis can let us know basic parameters such as total protein solids in the blood and percentage of red blood cells. This knowledge helps us plan the patient’s recovery, from housing to diet to any additional medications required.

HWCC/bax intern Brooke Brown (left) is learning from wildlife rehabilitator Lucinda Adamson on how to procure a blood sample from a newly admitted Cackling Goose patient.

After a day in a climate controlled environment, provided with a regular schedule of warmed fluids delivered orally, or intravenously or subcutaneously depending on the needs of the patient, often the debilitated geese will be ready to be housed outdoors with access to water. Eating, maintaining a consistently good body temperature and restored hydration are the main criteria for moving forward in treatment at this time. Until then though, it’s strictly indoors where caloric expenditure is kept as small as possible.

Rehabilitator Stephanie Owens gives a brand new Cackling Goose patient the first of series of hydration tube feedings. This method getting fluids into a patient is very reliable as long as the patient is awake and alert and can hold up their own head. Otherwise other routes of delivering fluid therapy are needed.
Warmed water is a critical part of our patient’s early treatment, just as a cup of hot tea would aid a lost hiker.

Our treatment board… if you can’t decipher it, it says that we have 5 Cackling Geese (CACK) in care, 3 housed outdoors in an aviary and 2 indoors in “room 3”.

Once stable and ready, the geese are moved to an outdoor aviary, housed together and left alone for longer periods of time between checks. It takes between two and three weeks for a cold, emaciated, dehydrated goose to recover well enough to be released. During that time we keep them well fed, in as stress-free of an environment as we can create, that still allows us to provide care. Slowly, yet really pretty quickly when you think about it, our patients go from cold, wet sandy and dangerously close to death to flying, strong and anxious to return to their wild lives! Healing and recovery are as common as life and just as wondrous.

Being housed with others of their kind is a comfort to animals in care who prefer flocks. Each on of these geese is helping the others recover.

It’s a wonderful feeling to step into the aviary with breakfast and see that someone is now string enough to fly. It’s just a matter of time now. Only the stress of captivity could cause anything to go wrong at this point.

With heat support, fluid therapy, medicines, food, and an environment built to encourage recovery, a time comes when we evaluate for release. Each goose is given an examination similar to the one they each received upon admission. The differences are astounding – a typical emaciated goose gains 300-400 grams in care – going from 900 at admission to 1200 or 1300 at release. Another look at their blood work is important. The presence of red blood cells in sufficient quantity indicates that the patient has a much improved oxygen carrying capacity, critical for strong, high altitude endurance flyers like Cackling Geese. As long as all of the parameters are met, the only thing left to do is take the patient out to the bottomlands and find a flock of geese… open the box and let nature take her course!

Proper housing for all our patients of myriad species is the foundation of the care we provide. Our aviaries are critical for the care that we provide.

A small amount of blood is drawn one last time.

An open box!

And take to the sky…

And then the young goose, on his second chance (thanks to your support!) joins in the flock and is our patient no more.

We don’t know exactly why we’re admitting so many more Cackling Geese this year compared to other years. It’s a mystery that may take a while ti understand, a few years before a more clear pattern emerges. What we do know is that we have commitment to be here each and every door for them and for all of our region’s wildlife in trouble. It’s been a hard year. And we need your help more than ever. Please donate and help us give innocent injured animals a second chance. Thank You!!!

all photos: Laura Corsiglia and bird ally x

When the door is open, freedom is restored.

Posted on October 16, 2018October 16, 2018 by Monte Merrick

If you follow wildlife rehabilitation on social media or other locations you might see all kinds of release techniques. From throwing eagles into the air to tipping over a box and dumping its passenger out. At Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, we take a different approach. After selecting a release location as near to the patient’s original rescue location as prudent or possible, we set the transport vessel down, open the lid or door to an unobstructed avenue of escape and step back. At this moment, our patient ceases to be our patient. They are released from care and all the decision-making about their destiny is restored to them and their true autonomy. In other words, they leave the box when they are good and ready.

We waited for six minutes for this young female Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis) to emerge from her carrier and re-enter the dune world a few hundred feet from where she was first found, a few days before trapped in an outbuilding in Fairhaven. Uninjured, we took her back to a nearby location to release her. Six minutes is a long time when you’re stuck in traffic, but it’s nothing when you’re returning a wild neighbor to her home.BAX staff carefully places the carrier down so that our skunk patient can exit with ease once the lid is open.

So we patiently waited for our former patient to emerge, with one check to make sure that she is okay and not tangled in the bedding that’s also in the box. Eventually our young patient steps out of the box of her own free will (she begins to leave the box at 5:48) and then quickly makes her way to cover and then (out of view of the camera) up and over the dune along a trail that the we hadn’t noticed before she used it.

Rescuing wild animals who are injured, orphaned or otherwise caught in one of the myriad traps our human-built world has created, providing appropriate treatment, and releasing those who fully recover back to their wild and free lives is how we spend every single day of the year at HWCC/bax. But not without your support. We are in the middle of crucial fundraiser right now to help recover the costs of our incredibly busy year. We need to raise $10,000 by the end of October, in order to pay our rent and other critical bills! As of the 15th we aren’t even halfway there, which is cuaseing us some concern! Please help if you can! Donate today! Every little bit helps!

photos/video: Bird Ally X/Lucinda Adamson

Last American Wigeons from Klamath Basin Botulism Outbreak Released!

Posted on October 13, 2018October 14, 2018 by Monte Merrick

As we described in past posts, in the middle of August, staff at the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge, which straddles the state line between California and Oregon, discovered an outbreak of avian botulism that was killing ducks by the hundreds. Managed by BAX co-directors January Bill and Marie Travers, and working with Refuge staff, our response successfully treated and released 297 ducks and shorebirds. The last three ducks in care, each American Wigeons (Mareca americana) were transferred to Humboldt Wildlife Care Center because they weren’t ready for release and could take advantage of our seabird and diving duck pools.

[Our goal of $10,000 by October 31 has not been met! In fact, we are far from it. Our resources are emptied after a busy baby season. Thank you to everyone who has contributed during this drive. We need your help. If you want to donate now, click here ]

After a week in our pool, each duck was ready for freedom. Fortunately, at the nearby Arcata Marsh, there are hundreds of overwintering Wigeons with plentiful food available. It’s possible these three wigeons would have made it to Humboldt Bay this Winter anyway.

In any case, after a brush with death by botulism, a lifesaving trip through our rapidly manifested “Duck Hospital” set up near the Lava Beds, followed by some time spent in our pools, gaining weight, improving feather condition, restoring red blood cells, and gaining strength, these Wigeons returned to their wild and free lives, healthy and ready for a winter of easier times.

The first American Wigeon was released several days before the other two. She made short work out of getting hid in the vegetation of the pond.

Thick with duckweed and other food, the Arcata Marsh proved her a soft landing at release.

About thirty feet away scores of wintering Wigeons make use of the Marsh as well.

Providing a hiding place for our patients lowers their captivity-caused stress and helps them focus on recovering. This female Wigeon lurks behind her blind, hoping to avoid capture.

Of course, when that capture is intended for healing and release, we take liberties that ordinarily would be unethical, handling and housing without consent.

Rudimentary blood analysis will provide data that confirms our impression that she is ready for release. Here a small sample is collected to be given a ride in the centrifuge so that we can measure percentage of red blood cells – as the carriers of oxygen through the body, they are critical for all aspects of life. We can also get indications of possible unseen infections and other maladies which can affect total protein solids in the plasma that is separated from the red blood cells, which we also measure.

Here we examine a previously swollen foot to see if the problem has resolved well enough that she will be fine in her natural environment. The answer was yes!

About a week after being transferred from Tulelake, the two last Wigeons were released in to the same pond as the first Wigeon. Each bird is her own person and does what she wants. The first Wigeon we released dove for cover in the vegetation, this one flew as quickly away as she could.

The third Wigeon swam away, accompanied by a Mallard who we’d also treated at HWCC and released that day.

The Arcata Marsh is one of the gems of our neck of the woods. Knowing that these birds are making there way with quality food available and in the freely-chosen company of their kind after their long ordeal is very relieving. The habitat of our home is not just for show. It’s the actual living place of our wild neighbors. It’s our home too. Our wild neighbors aren’t just like some new family who recently moved here from Atlanta but who will soon be moving to Seattle. They are our kin. We have the same needs. Our shared home is worth loving and respecting.

HWCC volunteer Katharine (l) and 2018 Intern Desiree Vang (r) are displaying the typical expressions worn by members of their species who are experiencing fulfilling joy. Warm smiles. Successful releases of our wild patients are like that.

The challenge of 2018, so far the busiest year in HWCC history, has been at times a joy and at other times deeply stressful. The avian botulism outbreak in the Lower Klamath Basin, a region that is just on the other side of Shasta, just up the Klamath River, was difficult but also very fulfilling – launching a successful emergency wildlife response is a very gratifying experience. The privilege of doing our work is something no wildlife rehabilitator takes for granted. So far in 2018 we’ve met every challenge but the financial one. We need your help. In the midst of these ever greater demands, our resources aren’t merely not growing to meet them, but are shrinking. The world is full of demands for support, pleas for generosity. The world is in upheaval right now. We know, we work on the front lines of the devastation. And the only thing that keeps us here, keeps our pools functioning, keeps our facility’s rent paid, keeps our phone on, keeps our care improving, keeps our reach expanding, is you. Please donate today. We need your help. Thank you!

photos: Laura Corsiglia/Bird Ally X

After Being Ensnared by Derelict Fishing Gear, a Young Gull’s Second Chance.

Posted on October 6, 2018October 7, 2018 by Monte Merrick

Over the Fall and Winter months, as young gulls disperse from the rocky shorelines where they were raised and develop into mature gulls who by simple circumstance learn to use the unnatural resources that human cities and towns provide, at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, we see a dramatic rise in gulls admitted for care – from birds that have been hit by cars somewhere along US101 as it delivers a steady stream, thousands daily, of cars and trucks close to Eureka’s gull-rich waterfront, to gulls found poisoned by rodenticide and other toxins and, of course, the common killer of so many marine and terrestrial wild animals, derelict fishing gear.

From the the drifting and sunken ghost nets and traps of the open sea to the tangles of mono-filament that cling to the branches of trees along nearly ever river in the land, derelict fishing gear kills an unknowably large number of animals. While the numbers of animals killed around the world by derelict fishing gear may never be known, we can measure the money lost when a “fishery” is impacted, and we can know that, as an example, their are over 85,000 lost lobster and crab traps ghost-fishing right now in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

[We interrupt this story to remind you that we are currently in the busiest year of HWCC history, with nearly a thousand patients, from Barn Owls to Raccoons, already treated. This is the most financially challenging year of our existence and we need your help. Please donate today! Thank you!! ]

In a world so polluted it makes sense that we routinely admit patients who’ve been ensnared in derelect fishing gear.

At the end of last week, just as staff was completing tasks and closing for the day, we received a call from the person working at the Interpretive Center at the Arcata Marsh. A gull entangled in fishing line was stuck on an island in the middle of Klopp Lake, the last big pond at the Marsh. Accessible only by boat, clinic staff got permission from the Arcata Environmental Services Office to put a boat in the lake. We are careful to get permission for rescues such as these – the people of Arcata enjoy the marsh and protect it. With permission, now if someone who saw our team paddling out to an island to “harass” wildlife reported us to the city, the city would already know.

Our clinic staff that day, Stephanie Owens, wildlife rehabilitator and Ruth Mock, volunteer coordinator, then sprang into action. Here’s Ruth’s description

“Stephanie and I drove to her house and stopped by to grab [Stephanie’s partner] Damian, from his work on the way. We loaded three kayaks up on two cars and deployed to the marsh. We were able to quickly get to the middle island and find the gull. Damian stayed in a kayak to block any attempt for the gull to flee into the water and to start cutting the lines that he was caught in. Stephanie and I cut off what we could just to free him and found a hook through his feathers. It wouldn’t budge. We got him boxed and sent him off with Damian to get him secured and calm in the car while we quickly removed the remaining line to prevent other entrapments from happening. On the exam table, we saw that the hook was a treble hook and was entangled in the shafts of the feathers only.”

HWCC/bax staff rehabilitator, Stephanie Owens at the scene of the rescue.

Our latest wildlife rescuing recruit, Damian, ferries the gull back to the mainland.

Part of what was removed – a ‘cute’ little device with it’s ghost fishing days now behind it.

The young Western Gull (Larus occidentalis) was in fairly good shape. Neither the fishing line nor the hooks had caused any significant injury. Constriction wounds caused by tightly wound fishing line, not mention the damage hooks can do, especially when swallowed, can make these cases especially heartbreaking. The gull did have several deep cuts, or lacerations, on the top of his head, which we cleaned and closed. These cuts were possibly caused by other gulls, who were reported to be pecking at him while he was trapped.

After a day inside, the gull was moved to our specially-built gull aviary (we also house Pelicans and Cormorants in this aviary, when necessary. We call it the PGC Aviary)

After five days in care, the gulls wounds on his head were healing well, and his weight had climbed to a healthier number. His flight, which had been impaired only by his initial exhaustion, was in excellent form. It was time for him to return to HUmboldt Bay and wild freedom.

Released at the Arcata Marsh, the young bird wastes no time getting out of the box.

Just a short stroll…

…to his favorite watering hole

And then goodbye…

Another gull, wild and free, with a second chance…

Over the last 7 years, BAX has worked hard to build HWCC into a facility for the injured and orphaned wildlife of our region that could provide high quality care as well as be a place to develop and train future wildlife rehabilitators for the enormous challenges, environmental and societal, that everyone, including our wild neighbors, will be facing in the coming decades. We’ve come a long way on very little. Our staff is currently the best we’ve ever had and our facility is able to meet the needs of almost all of our patients, but we still have a lot of work to do! Without your support none of our new capacity would have been possible, and without ongoing support, we won’t be able to sustain what we have, let alone improve on our work.

This gull is the recipient of our last 7 years of work. His second chance was provided by the skilled team that your support ensures is here, at the ready. Thank you for keeping our work alive! Thank you for your support. Please donate today.

all photos: Bird Ally X

Video! Pelican, Chickadees, Raccoons and Finches, plus an important plea for help

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Monte Merrick

We’re at that time of year again when our coffers are depleted by our annual wild baby season, exacerbated this year by our record setting caseload! Nearly 1000 wild neighbors cared for already and still 3 months to go before the year ends! We need your help! Our goal: $10,000 by Halloween! Donate here if you already know you want to help, otherwise check out these videos presenting various patients from this very busy Summer…

Also, BAX is still in the middle of an avian botulism outbreak response at the Lower Klamath Basin Wildlife Refuge! Please help us meet the costs of caring for hundreds of impacted waterfowl there! Nearly 300 birds successfully treated and released so far!

Young Pileated Woodpecker Rejoins Her Family

Posted on September 25, 2018October 2, 2018 by Monte Merrick

Pileated woodpeckers (Hylatomus pileatus) are a common species of our region, but not a very common patient at all. In fact we’ve only treated 3 of these large, vocal woodpeckers in the last 7 years.

This young Woodpecker was found struggling on the ground. The person who found her was reluctant to intervene since he knew the parents were still around. He’d been watching over the previous week her early flights and learning to forage with her family. But when she was unable to maintain her perch on a nearby stump and fell to the ground, he knew she was in trouble. He scooped her into a box and brought her to Humboldt Wildlife Care Center.

Once she arrived at our facility, we found a relatively healthy young bird, slightly thin, who was unable to stand very well. Her left shoulder was swollen. We suspected that she’d collided with something. We started her on a mild anti-inflammatory and pain relieving medicine and offered her a dish of mealworms. We hoped the swelling alone was the problem, and considered that she may have also fractured her left coracoid, a bone that is part of every bird’s shoulder, which allows for flight. It’s developed far beyond the coracoid in mammals and other vertebrates. In either case, the prognosis for a full recovery was good, but a coracoid fracture would take longer to heal.’

Fortunately, the swelling in her shoulder resolved within a few days. After 4 days in care, she’d gained some weight, about 40 grams, and was trying to fly. We moved her to an outdoor aviary, where she demonstrated that her wings worked just fine.

Inside our large outdoor aviary, the young Pileated Woodpecker perches as high as she can get, out of reach of her human caregivers.

At her capture to be evaluated for release, after 7 days in care, her flight was strong and direct – exactly as a Pileated Woodpecker’s should be!

We took her back to where she was first seen. The kind man who found her met us there so he could see her release. HWCC intern Desiree Vang opens the box. Our former patient wastes no time putting distance between herself and her “captors”!

She immediately flew to the stump where she was found. It was obvious, that she recognized her old stomping grounds, – now that she’s two months old and all grown up!

After re-orienting herself to freedom she flew off into the woods – in a direction that her rescuer had seen her parents go just a few hours before. We’re confident that she was able to reunite with them for more time spent learning how to be an adult Pileated Woodpecker.

A last glimpse of this remarkable bird of the Northwest forests.

Right now, we are in the middle of the busiest year HWCC has ever had. We’ve cared for more songbird babies such as barn swallows and house finches, hatchling to release, than any other year. We’ve treated more skunks and opossums too. In the middle of it all, we’ve still provided care for individuals like this young Pileated Woodpecker, and others, who’ve run afoul of the buildings and machineries of the human-built world. We need your help paying for this year’s expenses more than we ever have. Your donation will go directly to the treatment and care for all our patients. It will also help us begin the repairs we need to make so that we’ll be ready for whatever this coming winter, and then next year bring our way. Thank you for being there for us in the past. We need you now and in the future too! Please donate today. Thank you!

all photos Laura Corsiglia/bird ally x

Rescued! The Luckiest Unlucky Raccoon Ever!

Posted on September 21, 2018September 23, 2018 by Monte Merrick

We take calls at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center every day regarding a wild animal in trouble somehow. Often we can help over the phone, but sometimes we have to go to the scene. Last Tuesday, a phone call came in just after we finished morning tasks, such as feeding all our patients and cleaning their housing. The caller was distraught: a raccoon had gotten stuck in their warehouse. Somehow he was trapped behind a structural member of the building and the siding. Unsure what to expect, we sent two of our interns Lindsey Miller and Bekah Kline, over to see what they could do. After arriving Lindsey texted this photo:

Trapped at the bottom of a corroded post, unable to climb back the way he came and no way to move forward, if his paws hadn’t been visible it is doubtful that anyone would have ever found this guy. This predicament would have killed him.

The building’s owner drilled into the steel post above where the raccoon was trapped to gain access.

It took less than an hour to make an opening large enough to free the raccoon.

Once the hole was large enough, Lindsey pulled the raccoon up out of his jam.

She and Bekah secured the rescued Raccoon for transport back to HWCC/bax for an evaluation. At this point we hope that he will be in good health, able to be released right away.

The raccoon was uninjured. We offered him some snacks and observed him for a few hours to make sure that he was able to properly use his limbs and was fully capable to return to his free life.

Very near to the warehouse where he was rescued there was a suitable release site. Raccoons live everywhere that we do. Industrial areas, residential neighborhoods, mountain retreats… Raccoons are truly one of our most common wild neighbors, with whom we share so much, including a habit of misadventure.

LIndsey, after releasing the Raccoon she’d helped rescue. Wildlife rehabilitation interns get a pretty remarkable view of the world, not one that many see. Interns, volunteers, staff – all of us spend a lot of our lives looking, or trying hard to look, at the world through the eyes of our patients. We learn to see that the wild is always here, always near. We learn that at our very core of minerals and cells, we are wild too. It’s a simple fact that’s right here to be seen, and raccoons are just the ones to point it out.

Freed from a certain death, thanks to the compassion and the actions of the people who found him, our lucky unlucky Raccoon patient disappeared back into the wilds of Eureka’s first ward, just a few blocks from where he’d been found.

Your support makes rescues like these possible. Not all of our patients are cut out of steel traps, but each of them faced a certain death, caused in nearly every single case by some human invention, were it not for the generous donations you make, that keep our doors opened and telephone turned on. Thank you! And if you’d like to support our work, just click on the donate button! Your gift goes directly to the care of our patients, and efforts to prevent injuries in the first place. Thank you!!

all photos: Bird Ally X

Mule Deer Fawns Released! (Pictures!!)

Posted on September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 by Monte Merrick

Fawn calls are the most difficult. When a compassionate person stumbles across a fawn bedded down near a road, or near a construction site, or some other hazard created by people, and with no doe in sight, it can be very hard to think they should just leave the fawn alone. If they call us, we can usually discover through questions and conversation the situation and determine if the fawn needs care. Convincing a concerned person to put a fawn back in what clearly looks like an unprotected location can be challenging, even though in many cases that is exactly what the fawn and the fawn’s mother need. Often however, there is no way to put the fawn back. The caller got the fawn from someone who got the fawn from someone, or a dog dragged the fawn to the porch and no one knows from where, or the person has had the fawn at their house for many days and now the mother is no longer nearby – in these situations, it often means a perfectly healthy family is broken up, but there is nothing we can do but raise the fawn as an orphan. But no matter how difficult these calls can be, the worst is when it is clearly obvious that the fawn needs help. The worst are when the fawn is lying next to her mother, who is dead, hit by a car or a truck.

[Our fawns are all Black-tailed Deer, a subspecies of Mule Deer, the deer of the West]

Fawns who are truly orphaned seem to be traumatized when they arrive at our facility. Sometimes it can take two days before the fawn will express any interest in a bottle of milk-replacer. Convincing a traumatized fawn to take a bottle of milk is the same task as consoling a heartbroken child, so that he can eat, sleep, and resume his life. In a way it forces the wildlife care provider to form a bond with the newly admitted fawn, an idea that is at the very opposite of wildlife rehabilitation. Keeping wild patients wild, with a healthy fear of people, is as important a piece of our work as providing a proper diet and treating wounds. So warily, we proceed with fawn care.

As soon as a young fawn takes a bottle of milk (in our case, goat milk donated by local goat-keepers – and lots of it! hundreds of gallons! thank you!) we discontinue contact and start to use a bottle rack that puts a barrier between us and our patient. Once a fawn accepts a bottle in a bottle rack, he is ready to join in with our “herd” – the fawns we already have in care who are housed outdoors, and who we rarely see during the four months it takes to wean them from milk to vegetation. But those two days of close contact early on, while the fawn puts them behind her, the care provider cannot forget what it feels like to have a young deer close, who suddenly decides to accept your care and your bottle and drinks hungrily after barely moving from her corner in 48 hours.

[Please help us pay for the expenses of our busiest year ever. Your donation goes directly to the care of our injured and orphaned wild patients. Please, donate today! Thank you!]

In contact only with other fawns, over a period of months our patients are gradually weaned from milk on to vegetation, “browse” we call it, that staff and volunteers collect each day. Young deer eat a lot of leaves! Toward the end of their stay with us this year, we were collecting several wheelbarrow loads each day!

Once weaned and when we are certain that they are eating enough each day to thrive, and their spots are fading fast, we look up from our hectic summer days and see that, yes, indeed it is turning autumnal and a deer release is imminent.

One fawn per crate, each is brought to the release site. We are lucky that a good release site, protected against hunting and full of choice deer habitat is remote but not that far from our clinic. A nearby pond, forest and meadow, and the presence of a deer herd make this a great spot for our youngsters to begin their second chance at wild freedom!

It’s a great moment when the crate’s door is opened and your patient immediately puts distance between you and her!

Once safely away, a newly released fawn stops to consider the change of scenery.

Another fawn bolts for the cover of the trees.

Another fawn turns to assess the danger her caregivers pose…

Six fawns were released!

After this fawn reached the pond he stopped to cautiously consider us.

Zoomed in, it’s easy to see that this guy just doesn’t trust us, even though we delivered him over 200 bottles of milk and scores of wheelbarrow loads of leaves. His mistrust is a terrific sign of our success!

Nothing brings smiles to HWCC/bax volunteers faces like giving our wild neighbors in need a second chance at freedom!

A healthy, independent wild youngster rushing to meet her own destiny on nature’s terms… this is always the best view to be had.

Providing a safe and healthy environment for our wild orphaned patients is a critical part of meeting our mission. Requirements are skill, experience, dedication, hard work and the resources to get it done. We bring what we can to the task, but without your support, your generosity, it would be for nothing. Thank you for making our work possible! Please contribute something today. Each gift matters in the lives of our wild neighbors.

All photos: Bird Ally X

One last picture:

This fawn, burned in the Carr Fire near Redding in July was brought to HWCC/bax for treatment. Sadly, after several days in care, this brave youngster succumbed to her injuries. She tried hard. We’ll always remember her.

Five Orphaned Raccoons Return to the Wild (photos!)

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Monte Merrick

Even in a world in turmoil, some things remain constant. One of those things is the time needed for baby raccoons to reach an age where we feel their ready for independence. Our most typical orphaned raccoon patient is admitted at the time when they’ve started to become vocal (which is how they’re found) which is right before their eyes open, somewhere around 200 to 250 grams. By the time they’ve grown to 350-400 grams their eyes open. After 6 more weeks of milk and slowly introduced natural food items, as they are weaned from milk-replacer, the babies are fierce, active, alert, and extremely curious – like any bright toddler.

(check out other raccoon stories on our website! http://birdallyx.net/tag/northern-raccoon/ )

In order to reduce the potentially fatal stress of captivity (no one likes their freedom taken!) as well as ensure that each youngster maintains her wild spirit, at this point, we handle them very infrequently. This also ensures that all keep a healthy fear of humans, who, let’s face it, have a poor track record with all things wild and free.

Raccoon orphans typically start coming in to Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/bax in early May… and 16 weeks later, in early September, those who were first admitted are ready for release.

Weight checks on raccoons who are nearing release can be challenging! Here HWCC rehabilitator Lucinda Adamson holds a young raccoon gently but firmly while intern Tabytha Sheeley (facing away) assists with identification.

Once weaned, all of our orphaned raccoons are moved to a 14 day weight check. The reduction in handling does them a world of good!

Raccoons who are ready to go wait for their ride to the release site.

At the release site: tentative faces peer out. Caution in the face of novelty is the hallmark of being wild!

And curiosity eventually overpowers! There’s a whole wide world to explore and raccoons, intelligent, investigative and irrepressible, soon leave the familiar crates for the limitless cosmos.

One by one, the five raccoons emerge from their transport carriers, the last box that will ever contain them!

Some elements of the natural world – rock, river, insect, leaf – are familiar to the youngsters. Our raccoon housing is built to introduce wild orphans to many of the the resources they’ll use once they’re independent and free.

In this group of raccoons, two are siblings, but all five have been housed together since they were first weaned. Raccoons form bonds – bonds of family, bonds of friendship – just like many of us.

Soon, they all start to look across the river to the ever widening world.

They cross the river together.

HWCC/bax volunteer Skylr Lopez (right) and intern Tabytha Sheeley watch the young raccoons move farther and farther away. Like sending our kids off to college, releasing our patients after four months of providing their care is a joy that is tinged with sadness.

Five raccoons facing their future, not looking back.

We often say that we raise wild orphans – but we don’t really. We provide milk-replacer at the appointed hour for those who would still be nursing – we feed insects on a tight schedule to baby birds who cannot feed themselves. We keep their housing clean. We keep them physically healthy. But teaching them to be adults of their kind is something each orphan patient must do for herself. Each baby is given housing in which he can learn safely. We don’t teach them anything. We provide the setting for them to make discoveries. In fact it is the orphan wild animals in our care who do the teaching. Everything that we know about their needs, we learned from them.

Their teaching and your support are what make successful raccoons like these five possible. So far in 2018 we’ve treated over 900 wild animals – our busiest year in HWCC history! Your support is needed now more than ever! Thank you!

all photos (Laura Corsiglia/Bird Ally X)