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Every year for 6 years, as a phone-volunteer for Wildlife Response Inc in VA, I had to try to suss out whether a particular animal NEEDED to be taken in for rehab.
There's one special class of caller:
the "do-gooders", who rather than keep their dam*ed cat indoors during Spring nesting & fledging, or again in fall during the 2nd small-mammal breeding peak, they want the nest of bunnies in their yard removed. Or they want the soon-to-fledge robins removed from their porch eave. Or the pair of mockingbirds taken out of their garden, nest, eggs, parents, & all.
Well, guess what? - rehabbers have more than enuf injured, ill, & orphaned animals that they MUST care for, already, & catering to Ur convenience so that U can continue to let the cat roam at large isn't part of our purpose, as rehabbers.
If U're willing to let yer cat kill uncounted numbers of a broad spectrum of wild species, don't ask rehabbers to soothe yer conscience. :--\ Man up, admit that making the local wildlife into disposable chew-toys for yer cat's amusement is Ur actual intention, & don't waste our time, trying to persuade us to remove healthy animals that represent less than 0.5% of the many animals yer cat kills, every year.
for any animal species, there's a checklist to determine who needs to come in, & who needs to be put back with Mom, be replaced in their nest, or simply released in a safe area, near where they were found.
If U find a fledged bird who's not fully-flighted, it's simple - put the baby on a branch in a leafed-out tree or shrub, at least 6-ft off the ground, & watch - 99 times of 100, the parents will be by within 20-mins to feed them.
Cottontails are out of the nest but still nursing when they reach tennis-ball size; Mom tracks them down for feedings. Don't bring 'em in.
Healthy fawns are left by Mom for hours, as she grazes - fawns lying contentedly are not "orphans"; orphans wander bleating with hunger, or are found lying beside a doe's corpse, usually on a roadside.
Obv, fishing-line entanglements, fish-hooks, window-strikes, road injuries, etc, must come in.
for more info:
Wildlife SOS - Hope for Wildlife
- terry
.
Every year for 6 years, as a phone-volunteer for Wildlife Response Inc in VA, I had to try to suss out whether a particular animal NEEDED to be taken in for rehab.
There's one special class of caller:
the "do-gooders", who rather than keep their dam*ed cat indoors during Spring nesting & fledging, or again in fall during the 2nd small-mammal breeding peak, they want the nest of bunnies in their yard removed. Or they want the soon-to-fledge robins removed from their porch eave. Or the pair of mockingbirds taken out of their garden, nest, eggs, parents, & all.
Well, guess what? - rehabbers have more than enuf injured, ill, & orphaned animals that they MUST care for, already, & catering to Ur convenience so that U can continue to let the cat roam at large isn't part of our purpose, as rehabbers.
If U're willing to let yer cat kill uncounted numbers of a broad spectrum of wild species, don't ask rehabbers to soothe yer conscience. :--\ Man up, admit that making the local wildlife into disposable chew-toys for yer cat's amusement is Ur actual intention, & don't waste our time, trying to persuade us to remove healthy animals that represent less than 0.5% of the many animals yer cat kills, every year.
for any animal species, there's a checklist to determine who needs to come in, & who needs to be put back with Mom, be replaced in their nest, or simply released in a safe area, near where they were found.
If U find a fledged bird who's not fully-flighted, it's simple - put the baby on a branch in a leafed-out tree or shrub, at least 6-ft off the ground, & watch - 99 times of 100, the parents will be by within 20-mins to feed them.
Cottontails are out of the nest but still nursing when they reach tennis-ball size; Mom tracks them down for feedings. Don't bring 'em in.
Healthy fawns are left by Mom for hours, as she grazes - fawns lying contentedly are not "orphans"; orphans wander bleating with hunger, or are found lying beside a doe's corpse, usually on a roadside.
Obv, fishing-line entanglements, fish-hooks, window-strikes, road injuries, etc, must come in.
for more info:
Wildlife SOS - Hope for Wildlife
- terry
.
