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)

Wild at Heart

Posted on July 9, 2016July 9, 2016 by Monte Merrick

A volunteer feeds young Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) on the verge of taking their first flight from our fledging box into the bright songbird aviary just beyond the screen. (photo: Laura Corsiglia /BAX)

Right now, our wildlife clinic, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, has nearly 100 patients in care. Ranging from a dozen Cliff Swallows, each from a nest somehow destroyed, to an Osprey whose feathers were badly singed by a nest fire near Weaverville; – from 23 orphaned young Raccoons to the 3 chipmunks found in a garage after their mother was killed by a trap.

We need your help! Want to help buy the formula, the fish, the supplies, the water, the electricity and more that we need? Click here to make a contribution through paypal, or send a check! Thank you!!!

Every day our phone rings dozens of times with calls from our neighbors near and far who’ve had an encounter, a conflict, or a question about a wild animal they just saw. Most people who call want to find help for an animal in need. Not every one who calls is a friend of the wild.

We give each caller the best we have, to advocate for the wild. The situation could be anything. It may be an animal in a trap, desperate for release and it is our task to make sure this is done, or it may be that there’s a nest with just hatched babies that someone wants to remove, or someone 80 miles away may have found an orphan who needs stabilizing care as soon as possible, and we are the closest facility.

Each call is that animal’s last shot at another chance. And sometimes we fail.

Sometimes the person calling doesn’t want to let the opossum out of the trap and the line goes dead. We call back and there is no answer. And we have nearly one hundred patients in care. Maybe we can’t save this opossum, but we do have other mouths to feed. So we move forward, carrying the phone in our pocket.

Summer is a remarkable season for a wildlife rehabilitation clinic. For many others, it’s a time of relaxation and outdoor enjoyment. For us, our hours are long; the tasks are hard. Still, the joys of seeing our patients mature into capable juveniles and adults are immeasurable. And the slow, silent changes the work makes in us – day in, day out – minute by minute – year by year – are endlessly surprising. We might expect to rise in the morning and find leaves growing from our hair, or certain desires to back into our musky dens and rest our chins on our forepaws through the night.

We do a pretty good job raising fierce little wild raccoons who we are certain are ready to be free in the wild universe at their release. We have good raccoon feeding protocols, and we watch them closely for success. We keep the intelligent and inqusitive young explorers as apart from us as we can, so that they might always prefer a field we don’t dominate. We give them the best schooling we can on where the food is, and why climbing is important. We keep them safe until keeping them causes them harm. It takes about 4 months, usually. Over 80% of the orphaned raccoon we treat make it. When they don’t survive, they are usually very young.

Last week, we lost a little guy, a male raccoon, small enough to hold in your hand. He went suddenly. In the course of a few hours on a weekend afternoon, he went from seemingly healthy to dead. His eyes had been open about ten days. Once his death was confirmed, we opened him to learn why. There were no clues. Just small raccoon ribs making a beautiful tiny cavern for his pink lungs and there, right against his spine, his wee raccoon heart. From his ancestral past to his guard hairs and whiskers to his utter core he was a beautiful raccoon, all wild, all fierce…

Our clinic is a small one. There are bigger facilities in other parts of the state, all over the world. We treat about 1200 patients each year and we help resolve the conflicts that may be saving a few thousand more from becoming injured that time, that day.

We operate on a quarter-acre of land alongside Jacoby Creek on the edge of Humboldt Bay. Our ‘campus’ consists of a double-wide mobile unit with thoughtful and frugal recovery enclosures for a variety of species, built in manner of homestead outbuildings on our very meager budget. Yet we are one of the points of congress between the built world and the wild.

Our clinic is a portal between the human and the wild that operates every day of the year. Our daily proximity to the wild, in the form of her orphaned and injured children, exposes caregivers, makes us more wild. Here at the center of the Redwood Coast, on the edge of our great Western Sea, under the sky and standing on ground that has seen thousands of years joy and sorrow, beauty and tragedy – suffered the losses of forests, of people, of species, of stability, here we are, now, alive, breathing, dreaming, and striving to help those for whom there would be nothing if we weren’t here.

We are one of the small hearts you’ll find at the center of everything.

PLEASE HELP. Your contribution goes directly toward our mission.

Young Common Murres in Care

Posted on August 22, 2015August 22, 2015 by Monte Merrick

For Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, natural conditions (i.e., deep, cold nutrient rich water) are excellent for seabirds, many of whom we rarely meet. Even the Common Murre (Uria aalge), a species with a breeding population well over a million in the Northeast Pacific ocean, is not so commonly seen after all, except by ocean-going anglers and others aboard vessels.

Common Murres spend their lives on the open ocean coming to land only during the nesting season, when they lay eggs and raise their young on sea stacks and rocky cliffs – Devil’s Slide just south of San Francisco, the Marin Headlands, on sea stacks and rocky cliffs all the way to Alaska, including Flatiron Rock just off Trinidad, Humboldt County and Castle Rock near Crescent City at the Oregon border in Del Norte.

A periodic physical examination makes certain our young Common Murre patients are developing into healthy young adults.

While their wild salt lives may be a mystery to those who stay ashore, unfortunately Common Murres are all too familiar with human action, especially when it comes to ocean health. Common Murres are regular victims of oil pollution, derelict fishing gear, overfishing, agricultural runoff which can produce harmful algal blooms that coat prey fish in poison, and of course, the general industrialization of the sea.

Because of these threats, Common Murres are regularly admitted into the many (but too few!) wildlife care facilities that are found along the Pacific Coast.

Humboldt Wildlife Care Center is no exception. Each year approximately 3% of our patients (roughly 30 birds) are admitted for care. Half of these, typically, are juvenile birds who have become separated from their parents before they were ready. In our seabird pool right now we are caring for 6 juveniles and 1 adult.

Common Murres are colony nesters who enjoy the proximity of their cohorts.

Unlike many birds (e.g., pelicans, albatross) who are nearly full grown when they leave their nest, Murre chicks leap from their rocky colonies weeks before they can fly. The chicks are led to sea by their fathers, who continue their care, feeding them and showing the young birds how to dive for fish. Fathers and young congregate in large feeding areas off the coast.

Chicks and fathers recognize each other by call, with voices that are evolved to resonate across waves and wind. Should the father be injured or killed, or a large vessel plow through the feeding area, scattering the birds, it is possible the chick will be orphaned or unable to survive alone. How often this happens, we don’t know. What we do know is that when an orphaned youngster makes it to the beach – usually weak, cold and exhausted – if found, we can raise them in our specially prepared saline pool and release them when they are able to fend for themselves.

For this year’s Murre chicks, fate has provided an adult Murre, whose prognosis for recovery is very good, and who for now has the role of surrogate parent, or at least favorite aunt or uncle. The presence of this adult bird greatly reduces the stress of the youngsters. We hope the benefit is mutual.

As always, your support makes our work possible. Each Common Murre chick eats a little over a pound of fish a day. After 6 weeks in care that’s about 50 pounds. With 7 Murres, you can see how quickly our fish bill adds up! Keeping salt pools for the young birds takes resources too! Thank you for your support! If you would like to contribute to their care, please click on the donate link. Your tax-deductible support goes directly to the rescue, treatment and release of injured and orphaned wildlife on the North coast and beyond! Thank you for being a part of this life saving work!

(All photos: Laura Corsiglia/BAX)

Mallard Mothers Want Your Help.

Posted on May 11, 2015May 11, 2015 by Monte Merrick

Helping Wild Mothers on Mother’s Day (and every day)

mallard 2015 - 2

This year’s Mallard babies at HWCC. We have two dozen mallard babies in care already!

Every year wildlife rehabilitation facilities admit huge numbers of orphaned ducklings for care. In California, Mallard ducklings top the list annually for numbers brought in to our state’s permitted rehabilitators. This amounts to tens of thousands of young Mallards each year who are raised by people instead of their mothers. The number of ducklings who die without being found is unknowably large.

The most common cause of separation is the death of their mother. Often, Mallard nests are far from water, safely hidden. But the journey to a pond, stream or river bottom that a mother duck must lead her babies on is fraught with hazards, and human activity is the most dangerous.

Automobiles and dogs are the primary reason the mallard ducklings are brought to our facility on Humboldt Bay. Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, because of our rural location, sees far fewer ducklings than facilities in San Francisco, Sacramento or the Los Angeles area, but still we get over two dozen each year.

So how can you help? There are many ways!

• See Wild Animals: Wild animals of all species need to be able to move from one area to another. Our complex of roads and highways makes simply getting around the world a life threatening activity. Watch out for wild animals. Don’t hit them with your car!

• Contain and Control Your Pets: Wild animals have natural rights to live and thrive on Mother Earth. Be a responsible pet owner and don’t allow dogs and cats to roam unattended. The fawn your dog brings back to the porch, or the ducklings who are orphaned when your dog attacks the mother, songbird babies left behind from your house cat’s carnage would have fared much better if left to live and learn form their mothers.

• Share the Wonder of Nature: Wild nature, of which we are a part, is a beautiful mystery. Happiness depends on our participation in this wonder. Wild animals have better chances when they are loved and respected by the humans who share their world. Be sure to love from an appropriate distance, though!

• Help Wild Animals Caught in Society’s Traps: If you see a wild animal in trouble, call us! 707 822 8839 If you have a conflict with a wild animal, call us! If you have time, volunteer with us! If you have money, help us pay for our wild patient’s care. The injuries that our human world causes to wildlife is OUR problem. Help us fix it!

Juvenile Mallards in our specially built Waterfowl Aviary enjoy their duckweed!

Thank you for a being of our lifesaving work!

Two gulls together.

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Monte Merrick

Two Western gulls, one adult and one who’d hatched this year, were in care for most of July and August. If life hadn’t thrown each of them a curve ball they may have never met.

Thank you everyone, our August fundraising drive is over! But it’s not too late to help push us over $5000. Your donation goes directly to the Rescue and Rehabilitation of the North Coast’s injured and orphaned wild animals as well as humane solutions to keep wild families together and the use non-lethal methods to resolve human/wildlife conflicts. Thank you for donating today!

As they come out of the box, a brown/gray juvenile Western Gull meets beach sand for the first time while a white adult scrambles toward freedom.

The young bird was found on a rock off the coast of Crescent City. Typically, this would be where you might find a gull fresh from the egg. Western Gulls rear their young on the seastacks and remote headlands all along the California coast. Less than two weeks old, the bird still had hatchling feathers. We offered him fish and safety and as soon as s/he began to fly, the company of other gulls.

The adorable nature of hatchling gulls can sometimes test the resolve of professional caregivers. “Please can I keep him?” says the smitten rehabilitator. “No!” says Mother Earth, and she quotes Henry David Thoreau, “All good things are wild and free!”

Four weeks after the hatchling Gull was admitted, an adult Western Gull was brought to our clinic who was unable to fly. Upon admission we discovered the bird’s right ulna was fractured near the wrist. As with our arms, the wings of all birds have a shoulder, a humerus between shoulder and elbow, and from elbow to wrist, two bones in parallel, the radius and the ulna.

If you have to break a wing, this sort of fracture is among the easiest to treat. The uninjured radius serves as the perfect splint to stabilize its partner, the ulna, while it heals. The fracture being close to the wrist did cause some concern, but the chances for a full recovery seemed good. We immobilized the wing and checked its progress periodically.

One of the remarkable things about birds compared to mammals is the speed that they heal – a broken bone in a mammal can take 6 weeks or longer to mend, while most fractures in birds are stable after 12-14 days! This gull was no different and after 13 days the break had healed and the stabilizing wrap was removed.

In our aviary, wing fractured healed, the adult Western Gull shows off some skills.

At this same time, the young Gull, fully grown, with flight feathers in (no more cute spots!) was ready to be housed with the adult birds in care. While the adult re-conditioned for flight, the fledgling was discovering flight for the first time.

While trying to catch the adult for an examination, the youngster insisted on being included.

Within two weeks, the youngster was following the adult around the aviary, mimicking flight and asking to be fed, and the adult was flying with grace and agility, as a gull should.

Releasing a young orphaned bird is a challenge. Although our young patient was able to recognize appropriate food and forage independently, it is still preferable that young birds have adult guidance. Now that our adult patient was fully recovered, it was a fortunate coincidence that we were able to send our youngster out into wild freedom with an older bird.

The adult sprang from the carrier into flight and never looked back…

Circling the area after release, the young Western Gull demonstrates his flight skills.

We took both Gulls down to North Jetty on the Samoa peninsula. The adult burst from the carrier and off across the water. Meanwhile the young Gull took some time to become acquainted with freedom. Soon anothe youngster came by and eventually both took off together – free, wild and at the beginning of a hopefully long career.

Beautiful new feathers holding up a beautiful new bird.

A colleague is discovered.

Our former patient with a new friend explore the possibilities of endless wild freedom!

Your support makes success stories like these possible and gives injured and orphaned wild animals a much deserved second chance. Thank you for being a part of this life-saving work.

Thank you for your donation.

(all photos: Laura Corsiglia/Bird Ally X)