All 6 Raccoons together

We did it!!!!!!!! And nobody got hurt!

Rocky and the Abileneians

I'm in the process of introducing the two different groups of raccoons that are living in 2 separate enclosures. Each group consists of 3 raccoons. One group is 12, 14 and 15 weeks old, the other group is from one litter and they are 9 weeks old.

I wasn't about to dump them all into one enclosure and hope for the best, so I figured I take the youngest of the older group, Rocky, and put her with the little ones...OMG. What a growling, barking, huffin and puffin! And as soon as I'm out of the door, Rocky cries bloody murder!

I have no experience with this, so I can't tell when it's all show or when it gets serious, so I've been sitting in the enclosure most of the day with a cup of coffee, sweating, observing, with the camera of course, and interfering when I thought it was going to get ugly.

I put a pool out, which the 3 youngest ones, the Abilenians, have not seen yet but it's familiar to Rocky. I figured it might be helpful to her to see something she knew.



and then I decided to let them meet:






Lena and Ian play-fighting

It'll take a while until all 6 get along, I can see that already, but I have all week to get the 3 older coons in with the little ones so we can work on the enclosure flooring next weekend, putting down these babies:

The Abilenian Raccoons Outdoors

The 3 Abilenians are now 9 weeks old and have moved permanently outside now.



They stay in the smaller enclosure right now until I have finished to lay out the new floor with the bricks I had delivered yesterday:



I'm still looking for a couple of volunteers to help me with this! Call me if you are local (at 968 - 4626) and have a couple of hours early in the morning before it gets too hot!

Once the large enclosure floor is finished, I will put all 6 raccoons together for the first time. I can't wait! Of course I will have the camera ready for that event!

Rocky, Sandra, Pumkin, orphaned raccoons are growing

The 3 girls are growing like weeds! All three are completely weaned now. Rocky, who had me worried a few times during the first couple of weeks, has refused the bottle for 3 days now and is starting to gain weight.

This weekend I am going to buy concrete slabs and will lay them out in the enclosure, so I can just hose it down and keep it cleaner. It's such a mess! Can't wait to just hose it down. The girls love to play with the spraying water..I'm considering buying a sprinkler just for them LOL.



The Abilenians are outside for the 3rd straight day and night now and are enjoying themselves climing! Movie will follow within the next days!

The Climbing Chihuahua Puppy

Coco's last girl is about to leave the nest. She is the trouble maker of the litter and is going to be quite a hand full lol:

Puppies and Birds

Above you see the 2 white winged doves, a mockingbird and a robin. The mockingbird was released this morning.

Below you see the last 3 of Coco's puppies. Coco and the other 3 puppies are already adopted out to their new homes. These other 3 will leave this Friday:

Wildlife Appreciation

Over the last hundred years, the western world has undergone a dramatic shift from a rural society to urban technology. Today the only experience most people have with animals is with their domestic pets.
	It is no wonder wildlife knowledge and appreciation has declined. Susceptible to misinformation on methods of husbandry, wildlife conservation, disease fact distortion - especially when sensationalized by the media - often disturb the public more than the abstract problems they are designed to alleviate.
Sensationalism, lack of proper education and extreme regulations spawn broad misunderstandings and complicates efforts to find remedies for genuine problems. The grossly limited fundamental nature of education by most state wildlife agencies is to simply tell the public not to feed wildlife, to secure their pet food and trash, and to not dare go near an animal - while they insure in their minds the animal is certainly diseased. This group, made fearful, will be the ones to call the state or pest control each time they see any wild animal near their home. They will shoot, trap, poison and harm at any opportunity. Their fear and actions result in wasted agency time, challenges for rehabilitators, harm to other innocent animals, and a new generation of people who will inherently also live in fear as a result of ignorance.
To the other extreme lies the belief among the common educators that the public actually caring for wild animals will incur improper feeding, possession and related such issues. Such issues will always exist and always have, for among the city-gone-rural population there will always be caring hearts and misguided intentions.
The caring group truly needs educated just as badly. Only proper education can provide any such knowledge. This group has not and will not comply, nor buy the all-out disease distorted brainwashing. This group must be made to understand the risks to the actual wild animal, the risk to their own domestic pets, and further - giving them opportunity in HOW to truly help wildlife will best serve them – and wildlife. These are people who can extend proper education, become volunteers for many various conservation groups, and even teach others in matters like backyard habitat creation, safety, and “nuisance” advice. With proper education comes the opportunity to merge these two groups into a new generation of citizens who appreciate and respect wild animals, who know the specific reasons why they should not trap and relocate, why they should not feed, what the TRUE risks are of possession, and much more. While every person can’t be educated as such, and every animal can’t be helped, for even one person or one animal, it can make ALL the difference in their world. Credit: http://www.sunchaserwildlife.com

The Dirty Robin

Here is a good example of how people that mean well and "rescue" a bird end up doing more harm than good.

This Robin was brought to me a few days ago by a lady who had picked up the baby at a park. She went online and found some fancy bird food recipes and mixed up some kind of soup of eggs and I don't know what.

She didn't get much into the bird but rather over it. She tried to clean it, but did not realize that feathers are very sensitive and complex structures that require careful handling. Damaged or missing feathers will prevent the bird from regulating it's body temperature and in this heat, that is very much necessary for survival.

So this is what the Robin looked like when I got it:



All feathers were glued and caked together and greasy. The picture doesn't bring it across very well. It was much worse than it looked like. Poor thing was totally stressed out, trembling, and in pain because those hardened feathers keep tucking on the already exposed skin.

I hated to stress out the bird even more, but I didn't have much of a choice. I ran some warm water and Dawn dish wash detergent and off we went. It took us quite a while, but we worked through all feathers as much as we could. Some came out right away. It was painful and painstaking for both of us!

The robin also pooped clear water, which was another big clue that whatever she got to eat was worth just that, clear water. I was fearing MBD (metabolic bone disease) because the bird was also kept inside for 3 days. That long without direct sunlight or a substitute light can be enough to do the damage.

But now, 3 days later, the Robin is outside and doing great. She still looks rather pathetic with her naked 'vulture' neck, but she can hold her own temp, the feathers don't hurt her anymore and hopefully the missing ones can come back.

There's no sign MBD and she's eating fine. Pheeeeeeeeeew! That was a close call!

Sad part is: I shouldn't have gotten the bird in the first place!

Why? Because a nest is not a safe homey place for a bird to grow up. It's an open invitation to predators such as hawks and cats. So the bird, as soon as it can get around, it'll get out of the nest. It'll try to fly but it doesn't always work yet.

So it can happen that a fledgling spends a few days on the ground where there is more room to hide. The parents will continue to feed their babies, but of course will fly away if people approach.

They see the apparently abandoned baby and literally steal it from their parents believing they are rescuing it.

PLEASE LEAVE BABY BIRDS ON THE GROUND ALONE!

Unless there is immediate danger of course. Then put the baby in a basked and hang it in the nearest tree out of direct sunlight.

It is a MYTH that mother bird won't take their babies back once humans have "messed" with it. Most birds are not capable of smelling and really don't care who touched the baby. Just give it back to it's parents!



Seeing that lady all proud of having 'rescued' the bird, I felt bad for bursting her bubbles and telling her that she did just about everything wrong that there was to do wrong. Just like I did way back, which led to the decision to become a wildlife rehabber. Took a mockingbird losing it's life to MBD, but it was not in vain.