 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  It's time to properly introduce Thomas (right) & Theodore (left). They are Wild Turkeys Iand have been coming to WTS for about 10 months. Once last summer they brought 2 females, but they never brought them back. Over the winter they'll sometimes turn up with a whole rafter of turkeys. Very often they com ewith 2 other males. Though T&T are looking more mature as their faces get redder, these other males appear to be a bit more mature as they have the floppy snord, or whatever it is called, that hangs over their beak. Sometimes these strangers are a bit mean to T&T. At that point I go out and toss some seed and they all run away, but then T&T turn and run back to me, as seen in this picture! So cute! Today ther snow was up to their thighs. I don't know how the heck they find food in the winter, though they are very good scratching the ground for food! You can tell who is who by the different shape of hteir beards. Thomas' is almost a diamond shape. Theo's is really long and curves to the right. Theo often stands on his. Such a weird thing, a turkey beard!  |  CategoriesAll |
