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Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
JEREMIAH 33:3 ESV
Wildlife rehabilitators get dozens and dozens of phone calls, texts, and messages online, often daily, about critters in crisis. Because there are so few rehabbers, the contacts come from miles and miles around, at all hours of the day and night. So be patient if you are calling a rehabber and it takes a little time to get through or get called back, especially in the busy baby season. Some rehabbers even take classes that deal with the volume and variety of calls because it can become so overwhelming.
Some calls result in an animal coming into rehab, and some don’t. Even if rehabbers don’t take in the particular animal, most will gladly take the time to provide information so rescuers can find appropriate help for their critter crisis. Season after season, the wide variety of calls that come in never fails to surprise me. Animals of every sort get themselves into all kinds of crazy situations, and there are so many compassionate people out there who want to help, even if only by calling a rehabber for advice.
Here is a sampling of the calls I have received over the past few seasons. Some are funny, some are poignant, some are informative, and I think all of them are interesting.
No Finger Snapping Allowed
Caller: Hello, I just pulled off the highway to rescue a snapping turtle. It was going to get hit by a car. Now what?
Me: Are you in a safe location, away from speeding traffic?
Caller: I’m well off the road. Can I drive this snapper to a better place and let it go?
Me: Well, first, keep your fingers away from it! And second, turtles need to be released as closely as possible to right where you rescue them. They do not do well transplanted elsewhere. They’re really nature’s homebodies, and they often die if you remove them from their home territory, because instead of settling in, they’ll keep trying to get back “home.”
Caller: No problem. I see a pond right near the spot where I picked up this turtle. It was probably trying to get there. Shall I take it over to the pond?
Me: Sure, but keep all your fingers while you do it! By the way, how’s the smell? Snappers can be quite pungent…
Caller: It’s terrible! But I love turtles. I can’t help stopping for them whenever I see them by the road.
Me: You and my husband both. He’s a self-appointed turtle crossing guard everywhere we go. Thanks for caring!
Holy Squirrel!
Caller: Hello, we have a little squirrel that keeps running around in our church. What should we do?
Me: Can you see it now? How big is it?
Caller: It’s out of sight at the moment; I think it left the building.
Me: How often does it “come to church,” and what does it do there?
Caller: Every now and then it reappears and runs around, usually upstairs in the church balcony.
Me: Maybe it’s getting in and out under the building’s eaves somehow. You need to find its point of entry, make sure there aren’t more young squirrels up there, and block off the opening. Try live trapping your squirrel and putting it outside if it keeps coming to church. Call again if you need more help. It sounds to me as if your “holy squirrel” loves being in the house of God!
Joining the “Pouch Pickers”
Caller: Hello, I just rescued a little baby opossum on the road. It was near its dead mother, but I don’t see any others.
Me: Did you check inside the mother’s pouch for more?
Caller: I did! But there was “nobody home.” This is the only one, and Mom isn’t playing possum.
Me: Did you know this officially makes you a “pouch picker”?
Caller: What on earth is that?
Me: Google “pouch picking” sometime, which is a real thing lots of people do in the spring whenever they see a dead opossum on the road. These people keep rescue supplies in their car and check every dead opossum they drive by, rescuing the babies. Pouch pickers are determined people, believe me. I think you just joined them.
Caller: I guess I did, even though it’s my first time. I just knew I had to stop the car…
Me: It turns out that you live right near one of my rehab friends. I’m too full of raccoon kits to take an opossum, but we can check with this other rehabber. Your little baby should be with others of its own kind. We’ll find it a place.
Caller: That sounds good!
Me: Thanks for caring enough to rescue it. Some of the tiny “pinkie” opossums people find are hard to save, but many older ones can be raised and released successfully. You’re giving this one a good chance at life!
Help! “He” Just Laid Two Eggs!
Caller: Hello, remember when I called you about that baby bird last year and told you I thought it died? Well, it didn’t. We kept it all winter, being careful not to make a pet out of it. We were sure it was a boy, and we really were going to release it this spring! But “he” just laid two eggs on the bottom of the cage, and now we don’t know what to do!
Me: So “he” didn’t die after all, and “he” just laid two eggs? Apparently, this bird has taken you by surprise twice now. Let me call the songbird rehabber who has a federal permit and find out what to do next. I’m glad you want to do the right thing and release it now. I’ll get back to you.
Dive-Bombings Delay Grocery Shoppers
Animal worker: Hey, one of us got a call from that grocery store in town. There’s a sea gull dive-bombing customers at the door and wreaking havoc in the parking lot. Every agency that the manager has called says they can’t touch the bird since it’s a federally protected species. Got any ideas?
Me: I was at that store the other day and didn’t get hit in the head by a sharp beak, but next time I go grocery shopping I’ll be especially careful! I can put you in touch with a new bird expert not far from here who has a permit for rehabbing birds and waterfowl. I’m sure she’d know whom to contact for help—maybe the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Animal worker: The store needs to contact somebody to find relief for some very scared shoppers! It’s a little bad for business. We’ll contact this bird person and pass the information on to the store.
When my daughter and I went grocery shopping the next day, a “sea gull intervention” crew was up on the store’s roof. I hope they had been brought in as the result of a call to that bird expert for advice. Maybe the sea gull had a nest of eggs or had hatched babies up there. I’m not sure what steps the crew took to solve the problem, but by the time we got out of the store, things seemed considerably quieter in the skies above the parking lot. Customers no longer needed to fear a dive-bombing gull.
Kits or Cats?
Caller: Hello, I have two five-week-old kits here with upper respiratory issues, and they really need a foster mom to bottle-feed them! I work and don’t have time.
Me: Okay, what happened to the mother raccoon? Was she hit by a car? What else can you tell me?
Caller: No, these are kitten kits. You know, the cat kind.
Me: Oh, I love the cat kind of kits! But I’m sorry; I can’t take them. The state asks rehabbers never to mix wildlife care with domestic foster animals. Let me give you the number of the local animal shelter.
Raccoons or Kids?
Caller: Hello, there are four baby raccoons in my kids’ tree house, and I want them out. I put up that tree house for my kids, not for raccoons!
Me: I can understand that. Any idea if the mother raccoon is around? It would be best if she moved the babies out herself.
Caller: I don’t think she’s alive. There was a dead raccoon just down the road, although I don’t know for sure if it was the mom.
Me: We need to make sure the raccoons are really orphaned. Is there any way you could watch for the mom to come back for a night?
A baby-faced raccoon visitor
Caller: I have a woods camera I could set up to see if any big raccoons go in or out of the tree house at night. Would that help?
Me: That’s brilliant! Do it! Thanks for caring enough to make sure the mom is really gone.
The next day…
Caller: No momma raccoon climbed into the tree house at all, and the babies are screaming with hunger.
Me: Bring them in; they’re orphaned. Looks as if I’ll have another Ringtail Gang on my hands!
This caller was really clever about using a woods camera to check if momma raccoon was still around. Setting up a camera in an unobtrusive spot is an excellent way to figure out whether wildlife babies are truly orphaned. It can prevent a person’s “kidnapping” them from a temporarily absent mother, whose life would then be in danger from mastitis.
Cats Plus Raccoons
Caller: Hello, my outdoor cat gave birth to kittens not long ago, and now there’s a little raccoon coming into the yard and nursing from her belly every day. What should I do?
Me: Wow, if that raccoon kit is coming right into your yard, hungry enough to nurse off your cat, it’s probably an orphan. That must be some kind of mother cat to adopt a raccoon!
Caller: She’s a great mom. But I’m a little worried about that raccoon staying around or maybe even hurting the kittens as it gets bigger.
Me: It’s smart to be cautious, with distemper and raccoon roundworm and the like. It’s better for both cats and raccoon to get the raccoon to a rehabber and let it grow up with its own kind for eventual release. I’m full of raccoon kits already, but let me give you another rehabber’s number who has room.
A Deep Well
Caller: Hello, there’s a skunk stuck down in my window well that can’t get out. I don’t want to get too close and get sprayed…
Me: Right you are! You won’t want to scare or startle the skunk, or you’ll be wearing a new fragrance! But skunks get stuck in window wells a lot.
Caller: What can I do to help it?
Me: Take a piece of plywood, a ladder, or even a sturdy log, and angle it down in there. Then back up quickly! The skunk will climb out on its own once you’ve left the area.
Caller: I never thought of that! Seems like a simple solution; I’ll give it a try.
Later that day…
Caller: The plan was successful, and all without nasty skunk spray spurting everywhere. Thank you for the idea!
Me: You’re welcome. What a relief for both skunk and human!
An Entry for Every Season
Finally and inevitably, every year my Lion’s Den phone call/contact notebook has the same entry, made around the same date, just as spring folds into summer and the wildlife rehabbing season kicks into high gear. It goes like this:
Me: Far too many phone calls/contacts are coming in every day now to keep up with writing them all down. No time! I need to go feed the bottle babies… again!