The intake total for the year stands at: 1279
Lots of activity again this week - nest moves, trapped animals, injured animals, baby animals, injured baby animals - you get the picture. The process continues, a major holiday notwithstanding...
More and more baby birds and mammals are streaming in. In addition to the doves, quail, mockingbirds etc., we also got in another round tailed ground squirrel who had been attacked by a family dog. A fairly uncommon intake was a baby ladder-backed woodpecker that was simply "FOG" (found on the ground) and brought to our window. And a tiny baby gold finch was also brought in for rehabbing and eventual release.
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In addition to the usual babies, Peggy Cole and Tony Sola relayed another baby bald eagle down from the Springerville area. What was even more unusual was this bird was from a previously undiscovered nest! When AZG&F finally found it, there was another fledgling in the nest being tended by the parents. At first, it was thought that the little(?) bird had a broken wing, but our own super diagnostician Jan Miller suspected pelvic involvement. When fresh X-rays were taken (he had his own film when he arrived!), it was found that the wing was fine, but a fractured pelvis was revealed! Due to the proximity of critical nerves serving the kidneys, pinning is ill-advised so cage rest will be the order of the day.
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Last week ace Rescue & Transport volunteer Carl Price drove several hundred miles north and west to recover several animals from around the state. One of his recoveries was this gila monster from the Kingman area. It presented some apparent jaw/facial trauma that would be consistent with an encounter with an ATV or other vehicle. He also had his own X-rays, but as Dr. Orr pointed out, since each small facet of the GM's body structure has its own little bone, they are difficult to read properly. We are going to try to get him to a local dentist who will attempt to get more definitive X-rays using maxillofacial radiology techniques.
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An interesting little (and I mean "little!) GHO arrived last week. Not only is this bird diminutive, but he has no evidence of ear tufts on his oddly flat head, and one eye is smaller than the other. All this points to either some strange early trauma or possibly some sort of genetic abnormality. His progress is being monitored carefully as he progresses through the rehab process to see if any of these symptoms portend long term problems that might affect his prognosis.
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The Research & Conservation squad has been working with a federal power provider (WAPA) in removing several raven nests from potentially dangerous situations. Almost a dozen nests have so far been removed and over 20 baby ravens of various ages have been salvaged. The increased orphan care burden is hard to over-estimate!
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Once again, Merial and Animal Health Services have donated a large quantity of West Nile Virus vaccine with which we inoculate our collection of Education birds. This is done each year to prevent an outbreak of this disease which could devastate the education side of the facility. Our thanks again to Merial and Animal Health Services for this wonderful donation!
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Happy to be free again.
Each year, lots of people set out traps for cats that roam their neighborhoods. Unfortunately, even Have-a-Heart live traps are not species specific and often other species are caught, sometimes producing a call to Liberty to "do something" about the trapped skunk, raccoon, badger, or in this recent case, a ring-tailed cat. A gentleman brought the trap with the enclosed animal to our intake window for us to empty and return. As there was no sign that the little cat was injured, he was taken out of the trap and immediately released, much to his delight!
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2 comments:
This was one of the best updates ever! Could you post the contact information for the vaccine donator so that we can write them thank-you notes? Tracey
Thanks for the kind words!
The contact for Merial is Amy Lent at amy.lent@merial.com
She might enjoy hearing from people!
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