Wildlife Rescue Series!

Want to rescue animals? Then make sure you’ve got a whole team of professional rehabilitators backing you up! These are the folks (like Evie Jordan in Jane Ray’s Wildlife Rescue Series) who often have degrees in biology or related subjects, training in the examination, medication, treatment, and rehabilitation of wild animals, and tons of experience! They also have the resources and hospital space to take care of their patients once you’ve identified an animal in need.

So this post is all about helping you make a connection with a wildlife rehabilitation center close to you!

The best place to start is with your provincial/state or national rehabilitation network’s website. Begin by Googling “wildlife rehabilitation” plus your province’s or state’s name. Once you’re there, find the rehabilitation center closest to your community. Then make sure to keep the address and phone number in a safe, prominent place — maybe on your fridge or with the emergency numbers in your phone book — so you can find it easily when you need it.

If you can, drop by and visit, say hi to the staff, let them know you love animals and want to help. Most likely, they’ll be glad to know they’ve got some support in the community, and will be able to give you some information or directions on how best to help the animals around you.

Summer is a busy time at rehabilitation centers, though, so for now, you might want to check out their website for information, and wait until fall to pay a visit in person — unless, of course, you have an animal that needs help!

Here are a few websites to get you started (of course I’m partial to the ones closest to where I live!):

International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council–The mission of the IWRC is conserving and protecting wildlife and habitat through wildlife rehabilitation.

National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association–The NWRA is dedicated to improving and promoting the profession of wildlife rehabilitation and its contributions to preserving natural ecosystems.

Wildlife Rehabilitators Network of British Columbia–The mission of the WRNBC is to advocate for wildlife through appropriate action, legislation and education.

Wildlife Rescue Association of British Columbia–WRA cares for injured, orphaned and pollution-damaged wildlife, primarily in the Lower Mainland of BC.

Good luck, and click on “Comments” below to let me know how you did with your quest to find a wildlife rehab center near you!

-F.M.

Chances are, no one can stop it from coming, but there are lots of things you can do to make sure it doesn’t get you! Make it your mission this summer to be a West Nile Virus Warrior!

Here in BC, West Nile Virus still hasn’t hit. It’s come all the way across Canada and stopped at the Rocky Mountains. It’s crossed the United States and stopped at the Washington-BC border. Some say this is the year, and though they’ve been wrong before, it can never hurt to be ready to fight!

First of all, minimize your contact with mosquitoes! This means not hanging around swampy, marshy areas where they like to breed. Of course, if you’re camping, or in cottage country, or pretty much anywhere in Northern Ontario or the prairies through the summer, staying far away from mosquitoes might be impossible. So apart from that, my top five tips are:

1. Use insect repellents that contain DEET or other approved ingredients.
2. Mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk. If you can, stay indoors at these times.
3. Wear protective clothing during mosquito season (May to October). This includes long sleeves, pants and a hat.
4. Ask your parents to install screens on the doors and windows of your home, and check them frequently for holes!
5. Empty saucers under flower pots, change water in birdbaths, ponds and animal bowls often, drain pool covers and remove debris from your yard that collects water. Why? Mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water, and it takes only about four days for them to hatch. Even a saucer’s worth of water can act as a breeding ground!

Any other tips for Wildlife Rescue Series readers? Click on “Comments” below, and let us know!

The chances of survival for a sick, injured or pollution-damaged wild animal can be greatly increased by the response of the person who finds it — that could be you!

First of all, you’ll need your own Rescue Kit:

1. a clean, ventilated box that can be securely closed, or a cage or kennel with a solid floor
2. some old, clean towels and blankets
3. an electric heating pad
4. work gloves (to keep you safe!)

Line the box or cage with a soft, clean towel, have a second towel on hand for wrapping the animal, and keep another large towel aside for creating a drape to cover the box once the animal is inside.

When you find a sick or injured animal, wear your gloves and wrap the animal gently in a light-coloured towel, making sure to cover its head to reduce stress.

Place the animal in the lined container, releasing it from the wrap as you do so. Cover the box with the drape, and call your local wildlife rehabilitation centre for further instructions.

If it is after hours, keep the animal warm by placing the covered box on a heating pad on LOW. Do not touch or talk to the animal, or give it anything to eat or drink. Keep it in a room separate from your pets. The next morning, take the animal directly to your wildlife rehabilitator, knowing you’ve played your part in that animal’s rescue!

Things to Remember:

• Wild mammals and even birds can be dangerous, especially when cornered and injured. Call your local wildlife centre to discuss the situation and find out how to proceed safely!
• Stress is the biggest danger to wildlife in captivity. If you’re a compassionate person, you’ll want to pet and talk to the animal, but resist! Petting and being talked to are completely unnatural for a wild animal, and can be terrifying, or even fatal.
• The faster you can get the animal to a wildlife rehabilitation facility, the better its chances for survival.
• Do not try to treat the animal yourself! Professional rehabilitators have years of training, as well as access to appropriate diets, caging and medical care.
• If you can get an animal to a wildlife rehabilitation centre safely, you’ve done your part!

Bonzo called in a panic on Sunday. “Hey, bird lady! Help me! There’s a baby robin on my grass that fell out of its nest and I don’t know what to do? CALL ME!”

It may be of interest to some readers to know that Bonzo (the Great), one of my best friends literally since birth (our mothers went to school together and got pregnant at almost exactly the same time … coincidence? we think not!), is the primary real-life model for the character of Amy in Jane Ray’s Wildlife Rescue Series. Except Amy is a little more buxom than Bonzo is.

Bonzo’s going to kill me for that.

So I came home to find that message on my voicemail, along with a second, even more despairing one:

“Buffi! [That’s me.] CALL ME! I’ve been attacked! I picked the baby robin up in a towel so I wouldn’t touch it so the parents wouldn’t reject it, and tried to put it back in the nest, and the parents attacked me! They’re evil! I freaked out and left the baby in the grass. Now one of the psycho parents has hopped down to the other end of the yard, and the baby went with it. It can’t fly! It’ll never get back into the nest! Buffi, call me! CALL…” BEEP.

I called.

And here’s what I said:

“Bonz, turn to your Flory’s Files, girlfriend! Everything you need to know about rescuing a baby bird is right there at the back of Crow Medicine!” Okay, I was a bit more helpful than that.
And now, here’s EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RESCUING A BABY BIRD:

Wild bird babies should be with their parents. Animal parents do a much better job of raising their young than humans can (so don’t think you’ve just found a new pet!). If you find a nestling:

1. Try to locate the nest, and gently place the bird in it. Be gentle, but don’t worry about touching the baby with your bare hands. It’s a myth that bird parents will reject a baby handled by humans. (However, mammals are a very different story!)

2. Watch for the parent. If the parent does not return within two hours, the baby may be orphaned. If the parents attack, as they did with Bonzo, try to understand that they’re just doing their job–trying to protect the fallen baby and the babies still in the nest. Don’t attack back, but if it helps, do what Bonzo did, and put on a hat and sunglasses to protect yourself from pecks and scratches.

3. If the baby appears to be orphaned, call your nearest wildlife rescue centre for further instructions (you have the number posted near your phone, right?).

4. If the nest has been destroyed, fashion a makeshift nest for your baby bird and call your wildlife centre for help.

5. If you can’t locate the nest, contact your wildlife centre and take the baby bird there. Use a small, lined box with breathing holes poked into the lid. The baby cannot survive without its parents and will need the help of a professional rehabilitator.

Next post: How to tell a nestling from a fledgling, and what to do if you find a fledgling!

If you’ve already read Crow Medicine, then you know bugs and the stuff that kills them play a pretty big part in the story. If you haven’t, then I’m not going to spoil the surprises!

But here’s some great news for anybody who’s ever worried about what exactly that huge list of chemicals on your mosquito repellent actually means and whether or not they’re good for you and your animals at home.

Back in 1996, a company called EcoSMART Technologies Inc. contacted the University of British Columbia (UBC) with a research problem for them to solve (lucky ducks!). “They had this product that killed insects but they didn’t understand how or why it was working,” says Dr. Murray Isman at UBC.

Dr. Isman and his researchers tested the products and developed them for use as insect repellents. They also came up with ideas for the future, including using similar products for agricultural purposes.

EcoSMART’s new product line contains essential oils of rosemary, clove, thyme and peppermint — all things you can find in an aromatherapy store! The products will be available at American Wal-Mart stores this spring (okay, I can’t believe I named the W-store in this blog, but hey, if they’re the only ones carrying this stuff, then they get the mention!). No word yet as to when they’ll be available in Canada, but you can count on me to let you know!

- Flory Morales

If you, like Flory Morales, have a photographic memory for just about anything you’ve seen or read; if you’d rather be researching and surfing the Web than wasting your time playing Clue; and if you can argue either side of a debate and still win your case … baby, this blog’s for you!

In January of 2007, University of Victoria professor Maneesha Deckha launched a course called “Animals, Culture and the Law,” to help students explore how our attitudes toward animals have shaped the ways they are protected under the law — or not. [See http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/tip.php?date=22012007]

Currently under Canadian law, animals are considered property. Yep, same as your lawnmower or your car. And that’s just “owned” animals, companions like your cat or dog, or livestock on a farm. Unowned animals, such as the harp seals hunted here by the millions every spring, experience even less protection under the law.

Our previous federal (Liberal) government was working toward amending cruelty-to-animal provisions within the Criminal Code so that animals would no longer be considered property. A change like that would have meant more charges laid, and more prosecutions, in cruelty cases involving animals. Score one for the animals … almost.

See, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government scrapped the proposals, leaving animals with the same inadequate protections they’ve endured since the 1800s. Score one for the politicians, the lobbyists and the industrialists who make their money off the backs of animal suffering.

UVic joins Ryerson University in Toronto in training law students to examine the issues surrounding legal protection and rights for animals — issues that parallel those experienced by women and Native peoples through history. Law students with a grounding in these issues may work as animal rights lawyers, or as counsel with organizations dedicated to protecting animals and advancing their welfare. They may also find their way to the inside track, working as policy-makers to change the laws themselves … for the better.

Flory has yet to declare what type of law she wants to practise, but if she sticks close to Jane Ray, it’s likely animals will be part of the picture. As the girls head into their final year of high school in Gaia Wild, which I’m writing now, I’m thinking about what happens next — for Jane, for Amy, for Flory — after school, after graduation. If Flory heads over the water to Vancouver Island to study law at the University of Victoria, what happens to the intrepid threesome? To afternoons at the Shack? To animal rescue in Cedar’s Ridge?

What happens next?