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To civilians who may have been puzzled by the wildlife crowd’s tossed-off references to peefas, modos or mice cubes, here is a beginner’s guide to Rehabberspeak. Birds abbreviations slang wildliferehabilitators' I once went through a short illustration phase. Why is there a photo of Captain Kirk on a bird blog?
Even the most touchy-feely, circle-of-lifey, we’re-all-one-with-nature wildliferehabilitators hate them. Because whenever I encounter one of these insects I’m either trying to avoid it or kill it, not take a picture of it, and this was the only uncopywrited photo I could find. Sort of like flat flies when you squish them.
Today’s post is written by Monte Merrick, wildliferehabilitator and co-director of the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/bird ally x in Arcata, CA. I happened to work at that facility, for International Bird Rescue at the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center , part of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
This week’s guest blog was written by Linda Hufford, who has been a wildliferehabilitator specializing in raptors for over twenty years. She runs Birds of Texas Rehabilitation Center in Austin County, Texas. Penalties would be swift and severe for any type of violation, including huge fines and immediate removal.
Sentient people recoil at the idea of leg-hold traps, those medieval–torture devices which cause so much pain and suffering before their victims eventually die, are killed, or (very occasionally) are rescued. My very first rescue was a House Sparrow caught in a glue trap,” says Donna Osburn, a wildliferehabilitator in Kentucky.
Neighbor B’s cats are constantly on neighbor A’s property, urinating and defecating all over her garden, spreading disease, maiming and killing the birds who flock to her feeders. Neighbor A’s private property and peace of mind are both suffering because of the cats, which are killing government-protected species. What can she do?
Wildliferehabilitators constantly receive lost racing pigeons who are starving, riddled with lice, and suffering from coccidia, trichinosis, or worms. I doubt anyone would want to begin their wedded life or celebrate the memory of a loved one by killing one or more gentle, lovely birds, however unintentionally.
When using a regular hospital cage, the wildliferehabilitator reaches in, picks up the bird, transfers him to another cage, cleans the original one, then returns the bird. You open the door and they either freak and flail, which could lead to self-injury; or they freak and try to kill you, which could lead to rehabber injury. “I
She can land on a transformer once then, the next time, be killed when she brushes up against the jumper wire. Jayne Neville, a former wildliferehabilitator specializing in songbirds, moved from Connecticut to Florida and immediately began making the acquaintance of all the birds in the area. It’s not.
“We had a call one morning about a snake and a hawk,” says Tom Sweets, the executive director and chief rescuer of the Key West Wildlife Center , located at the very tip of Florida. The snake was wrapped firmly around the hawk’s tail, neck, and wings, and had enough strength to immobilize the bird but not to kill him.
My work as a wildliferehabilitator over the past forty-five years has allowed me a unique perspective on a disturbing trend. Consider this: ninety percent of birds treated at wildlife centers are admitted as a result of human interactions that have nothing to do with “nature.”
I asked a group of wildliferehabilitators: “What are some of the Worst Bird Myths? s and “Kill me now!”s. An injured or orphaned bird must be taken to a wildliferehabilitator as soon as humanly possible, or they will have little chance of surviving. Feel free to vent!”. s, “Gaaahh!”s No, no, no. Probably not.
Years ago, I became a wildlife volunteer and advocate because of a cat who caught a bird. The wildlife center was an hour away if I was lucky. That was my first trip to California Wildlife Center. I’d rescued birds before, but this time I had to face the wildlife center with a personal connection to the carnage.
This post is from Lisa Beth Acton, a wildliferehabilitator in Accord, NY. Lisa brings her to all kinds of gatherings to spread the word of wildlife (see Xena’s Facebook page ). They were not aware of wildlife laws, and thought they could raise and release them. This summer Lisa raised three orphaned Common Ravens.
Of all the billions of things that keep wildliferehabilitators from sleeping at night, public releases are one of the big ones. One of the area’s resident hawks had recently been killed by a car (“I know this,” said Lisa, “because I’m the one they called to pick him up”), which left a possible territorial spot open for a young one.
Alex, who publishes the bird and wildlife blog Birdland West , wants to share sincere feelings about a species near and dear to the hearts of many of us… I’m new to birding, and I’ve lived in urban areas for many years where the bird population is mainly crows and pigeons. It was still alive.
In responding to Suzie’s post defending wildliferehabilitation I began to think again about the areas in which animal rights and animal welfare overlap with the field of conservation, and the ways in which they don’t. Not from an environmental perspective but from a “don’t you like animals?” ” one.
Even as a veteran wildliferehabilitator, I could scarcely believe the sight before me. But in birds they eat living tissue, and once they are internal will kill the patient. Six years after her horrific injury and survival she was found ¼ mile from the lightning strike, but this time she had been hit by a car and killed.
This blog was written by Sherry Turner Teas, a rehabber in Chattanooga, Tennessee: It started out as a normal day for a wildliferehabilitator here in Tennessee – giving medicine, cleaning cages, and feeding baby birds. It took her several minutes to kill and eat it. I am terrified of spiders.
She doesn’t use pesticides, she loves the local wildlife, and she does everything a good pet owner should do. So: Nina is beating herself up over the fact that her dog, who is a pet and thus not a part of nature, has killed a wild creature – and people try to make her feel better by telling her their cats do it all the time.
Mites will eventually kill the bird. Even if you do not see an obvious wound, cat or dog saliva, which is full of nasty bacteria, can still get into a bird’s eyes/orifices and will eventually kill the bird; it will just die more slowly and painfully. *Baby bird found on ground, something is wrong, seems injured.
Solid food would have killed him, as he’d have used up the last of his fading energy trying to digest it. It was lucky for the hawk, who was so emaciated he probably wouldn’t have lasted the night. He was a small male, six or seven months old, and obviously not a skilled hunter.
When I see a band I imagine something slipping beneath it and trapping the bird, I’ve seen photos of birds with so many bands it looks like they’re wearing stockings, and then there’s the awful story of Violet , whose band eventually killed her. And to prove it, there’s The Queen.
Award-winning free-lance science journalist Nicola Jones , most noted for her work on climate change and environmental issues, ventured into the book world with a picture book on the wildliferehabilitation efforts for one of North America’s most endangered bird species, the Northern Spotted Owl.
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