 Maxie in his nest The baby animals have started arriving at Wild Things! But before I start mentioning a bunch of new characters, I wanted to give a few updates on patients in this post. As previously mentioned, Maxie made a very fine nest for himself in a watering can hanging on my house! I don't think this is his main nest, but he certainly uses it from time to time and it looks very cozy inside! He regularly comes by for snacks, as seen in the pictures below. He has become quite wild and just usually takes a nut and runs for it!    Runty! Runty, seen here with his one snaggletooth hanging out, has had some dental work in the past two weeks. After his teeth and nasal sinuses started getting infected, he had all his incisors taken out. Ouch! Many thanks to Dr. Spindel of Animal Ark Veterinary Hospital in Baldwinsville, NY for performing this surgery. The goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to return healed animals to the wild. However, sometimes, despite our best efforts, animals end up unreleasable, like Runty. Though some advocate for euthanizing all unreleasable animals, I believe in many cases they can be used as educational animals and can be given a good life with the proper housing, companionship (of their same species) and enrichment. This is my goal for Runt. His teeth were so screwy, and the vet found that both upper and lower jaws were a bit screwy as well, so it was for the best to have this operation performed. He still has his molars and in time he should learn to use them to eat nuts. For now he is happily slurping down delicious squirrel-shakes made out of nuts, veggies, applesauce, and other goodies! He is fighting some infection post-surgery, but is doing very well and is much more active than pre-surgery. Below are some pictures of him playing with a new toy: a pink octopus.  me & Peter say goodbye Peter finally was able to be released to the Wild Woods! He overwintered here while his injuries healed and was super strong and ready to go. Everyone will miss him :)  Peter leaves WTS And what else has been going on as winter turns to spring? Many wild things have been using the Wild Things brush-piles built by volunteers in the Wild Woods (left), and all the squirrels came out in the early spring, despite the snow...   The turkeys have been visiting. And now that the snow has melted, they have been displaying and gobbling to all the little turkey hens. They are so handsome!    And, of course, LilMo, is back and is nursing her 2010 babies!  LilMo grabs a peanut Add Comment  Goodmorning Peter! Goodmorning Peter! This is how I find Peter most mornings. Somehow he finds a hole in his double layer bedding, crawls inside and uses it as a cozy sleeping bag! Peter is doing really well. He is walking as if he didn't have a massively funkily-healed back leg, eating as if he still had all his canine teeth, and his tummy bed-sores are all healed as well (thank you Joshua for helping shave his belly!). Plus, after getting a bit chubby, he is down to 4.6kg from 5.5kg, so he's lost about 2lbs and is running around quite fast with his svelte new form! Below is a picture of him helping me prepare breakfast for all the Wild Things patients.  Peter helps prepare breakfast for other patients  Donation from HSUS 'Coats for Cubs' And look what else arrived at Wild Thing: a box full of donated fur pieces thanks to the Humane Society of the United State's Coats for Cubs program! Fur hats from 5th Avenue furriers, fur collars, stoles, and even a chain of Pine Martins linked together to be worn around the shoulders. These will be such a comfort to all the little babies soon to come to WTS this spring and summer. A big thank you to all who donate to this program!  Max's home I found where Max the squirrel has made his home... in this watering can hanging from the side of my house (I stuck it up there for the winter)! I'm so proud of his innovation and he has stuffed it full of all the toilet paper I gave him (see posts below), and other cozy things that he has come across. I was wondering how he always appeared so soon after I open the back doors...I thought he might be living in the drainpipe, but no, the watering can! :) He still comes by for breakfast as well (see picture below). In other news, Runty is doing well. Tomorrow I am going to try to cut his teeth after trying a new sedative. Stay tuned....  Help yourself to cashews Maxie! |  CategoriesAll |
