Drive by Duckling Drop Off

I was praising the day as "a day where I did not get any new animals in" too early! Not that I am complaining, not at all, since it was nobody else than our very own Stephenville Police Department who called and asked me if I could and would take care of some baby ducklings that somebody dropped off.

I know why I want to grow old in this town. I don't know of any other place where police officers care about the little critters too. They actually dropped those babies off at my place. Kudos!!!

A couple of the ducklings look exhausted and I hope they make it. Here's a first picture:


This morning I decided that most of the animals I had here don't need to be caged anymore and that cottontails and doves and starlings and ducklings shouldn't have a problem getting along, so I turned them all loose in the enclosure. Here is what happened:

Cottontails

The 4 babies are thriving marvelously!

Frank, you will be missed

Stephenville loses officer, friend

By AMANDA KIMBLE
Staff Writer
amanda.kimble@empiretribune.com

Published: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 11:07 AM CDT

The Stephenville Police Department and area residents were devastated Tuesday by the loss of an officer.

Animal Control Officer Frank Morecock, 61, died of an apparent heart attack.


According to Penny Hallmark, public safety secretary for the department, and close friend of Morecock, said he first joined the department in March 1996.


Police Chief Roy Halsell said Morecock was greatly respected as an individual and also respected for his knowledge in his field. Halsell said Morecock was a great asset to the department.

“Within the department there was a great respect for Frank,” Halsell said. “There was respect for his animal control knowledge as well as his work ethic. There was also great respect for him as an individual.”

Hallmark also said Morecock had a personality that everyone loved.

“He was always upbeat and never said a bad word about anything or anyone,” Hallmark said. “He would always come into work early just so we could talk before his shift started.”

Hallmark said in doing his job, Morecock was doing what he knew and loved.

“He was very good at his job,” Hallmark said. “He loved animals and had great knowledge when it came to animals.”

In addition to more than a decade of serving the local community as an animal control officer, Morecock was also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

Morecock was born on March 1, 1947 in Richmond, VA and married his dear friend of many years, Debbie Phelps Roberts, on Sept. 1, 2007 in Stephenville.

Visitation will he held from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at Stephenville Funeral Home. Funeral Services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Valley Grove Baptist Church in Stephenville.

Those wanting to pay respect to Morecock’s life and career are encouraged to do so by making a monetary contribution to the Erath County Humane Society.

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On a personal note:

I have known and worked with Frank the past 7 years. I never forget his face when he stood in front of my door after hours or on weekends, when the shelter was closed, with tears in his eyes and a half dead kitten or puppy in his hand, asking me to try to save it. That happened quite a bit.

Frank had my uttermost respect. He was a hero to me. Always there when I needed him for any animal-related situation. He went the extra mile for the critters. I miss him already.

Rest in Peace, Frank.

Newborn Pug Puppy and 4 Cottontail Rabbits

My neighbor's 14 year old son came over last night. His pug had puppies and all but one had died, and momma didn't want to have anything to do with the remaining pup. If he could borrow a baby bottle from me.

I said sure, gave him one and told him to come back if there are any problems.

10 Minutes later he comes with this tiny tiny puppy and the huge human baby bottle where the nipple is bigger than the head, looking at me flabbergasted and asking "can you show me how to do that??". LOOOOOOOL

I check out the puppy, it was cold, lifeless, blue tongue, pheeeeeew. I asked him if he wants to leave the puppy with me I'll try my best. He agreed and I warmed the pup up, discovered quite a few antbites too, poor thing, and while I was at it anyways, I tubefed him, because he was too weak to suckle.

We did that every 2 hours. After 5 hours he peed for the first time and this morning he is pink and warm and full and happy it seems:

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4 Cottontails and tube-feeding

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The 4 orphaned Cottontails:

Mallard Ducklings, Starlings, Squirrels, Puppies, Kittens

A Starling named Howdy Doody. I have him for 3 weeks now. He's quite a character lol:

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The 2 (out of 16) surviving Mallard Ducklings, now 1 week old and doing great:

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Other news:



The Chihuahua Beagle mix puppies had to be euthanized due to severe mange mites infection. I had accidently thought that those were ant bites, but when they didn't get better I had the pups checked out and the diagnosis was not good.

Since we don't have the funds to cover the treatment, the puppies were humanely euthanized.

It was not an easy week at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue, but life goes on and we need to concentrate on the babies that are making it!

All Posts and Updates HERE!

All new posts and updates will be shown at the Puppyeducation Blog from now on!

It is easier for me to keep it all in one place.

All Posts and Updates HERE!

All new posts and updates will be shown at the Puppyeducation Blog from now on!

It is easier for me to keep it all in one place.

Critter Newsletter for June 2008

June 2008 was a pretty quiet month at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue, but still partially heartbreaking as well. More about that after a few words.

For those who have not heard it yet, I did receive my wildlife rehabilitation permit. FINALLY! I now can take in all small mammals except endangered species, fawns, foxes, or coyotes. I decided against skunks for obvious reasons.

Future plans include local as well as online fundraisers in order to build more outside enclosures. At the moment I have only one enclosure which is 10 x 10 x 10. I need at least 2 more of the same size, so I can accept more animals.

I can't take in any raccoons for example, because I can hardly put them together with the squirrels and the birds. I need different enclosures for them. Opossums and rabbits need a place to grow up too.

However, funding is tight at the moment, so I am hoping to get some local stores to pitch in with materials that they might not need anymore, such as damaged merchandise, and hopefully some physical help as well.

Once the material is available, maybe a sports team or a school class or such would have a good time doing something good for the animals and have the opportunity to learn how to build something with their own hands. I would like to see winners in every corner.

We are also looking for people that want to help out with these fundraiser events. I personally do not have the time (nor the guts to be honest) to go to the stores and ask directly for free stuff.

So, somebody who has good people skills is urgently needed at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue, which is also a registered non-profit organization with a Board of Directors. Since we are brand-new, this too is still in the early development phase and we consider adding new directors as they present themselves.

But enough about the technical stuff, here are the critters:

Ducklings (www.rainbowwildlife.com)

The arrival of the month had to be 16 little mallard ducklings from the Tarleton Campus. Animal Control was called to remove the newly hatched ducklings and upon his arrival, the mother took off never to be seen again.

Unfortunately due to stress and hours without heat, only 2 ducklings survived the entire ordeal. They are doing great and hopefully they will grow up so they can be released back to the wild.

Birds (www.rainbowwildlife.com)

2 Purple Martins, a Mourning Dove, a Pigeon, a Chimney Swift, and a couple of sparrows made their way through here as well. For most of them it was just a short holding period, since I do not have a bird permit.

Purple Martin

However, the Starling is not protected and legal for me to raise, so I did exactly that.

I named him (her?) Howdy Doody! He's quite a character and growing way to fast!

Squirrels (www.squirrel-rescue.com)

I released 4 squirrels this month and have one little boy left. I named him Jesse. He the meanest squirrel I ever had!!! He attacks the syringe before he "allows" it to feed him, hehe.

Jesse, the mean squirrel

Puppies (www.puppyeducation.com)

The shelter received a litter of 4 puppies that look like a mix between a Chihuahua and a Beagle. 2 of the pups died. I named the 2 survivors Dinky and Slinky:

I will put them up for adoption in another week or 2 on petfinder.com.

Check our PuppyBlog for daily updates including movies!

Kittens (www.kittenbaby.com)

3 orphaned kittens from 3 different litters have found their way to our little rescue. One just came in this morning, a little Siamese. But he is in very bad shape and I have serious doubts that he'll survive, but then again...kittens and their 9 lives have surprised me more than once!

Pets

last but not least, my own pets: the Great Danes Olliver and Olivia, the Yellow Labradors Honey and Butters, our Senior Chihuahua/Cocker Mix Sandy, and the 4 cats.

We had some fun at the lake with the dogs after the rabies quarantine was finally over. You can watch the movie HERE.

Also watch the Great Danes babysitting the Chihuahua Mix Pups, it's hillarious!

Other Notes

I want to say THANK YOU to all you good folks who lent a helping hand this month. Some of you donated some money, some of you sent me milkreplacer and other needed items from my Wishlist, and some of you donated time and ideas!

I apologize if this newsletter looks kindof funny. I'm using a new script which is not quite perfected yet!

I hope ya'll have a great summer and remember: KEEP YOUR PETS COOL TOO!