To continue from the previous post, here are pictures of the doves that are growing up at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue. The 3 white-winged doves and one mourning dove are sharing the enclosure with 3 baby opossums and my bunny Max.
All critters are co-existing just fine:
Here is Mary, the oldest dove that keeps coming back to help care of the little ones:
(click on the picture to see a larger version of it!)
The mourning dove and her buddy, another white-winged dove:
And the smallest baby:
Down in the corner you can see Max, who has a way with birds!
Above him you see this squirrel house:
If you look inside, you won't see squirrels, but these 3 critters:
Ohoh, they saw us and think we are bringing them some food!
This is what they looked like when I got them with their eyes still closed. One didn't make it:
After successfully releasing Pumkin and Sandra, I put the Abilenians, Sara and Rocky in to the smaller enclosure and got to work on a drainage system that hooks into the sewer.
Thanks to Kelli, her husband and stepson as well as my husband, we got it all done! It was more work than I expected it to be, but it was sooooooooo worth it! It cut down the fly population by 90%!
Here is the drain before we put concrete around it:
The 5 coons are back in the enclosure now:
The 3 Abilenians playing with ice cubes:
And Rocky yawning and chillin':
A storm also brought me the first fall squirrel baby. Her name is Marsha and she was 17 grams when I got her. 3 days later she weighs 22 grams. This little lady has quite an appetite:
The storm also brought a few birds that needed help. This is Mary, she is a white winged dove and was released 2 weeks ago. But she hangs around and helps me feed the other baby doves:
I'm going to miss those 2 girls! But I couldn't have found a better place!
Judy, the property owner, had found Sandra when she was a baby and brought her to me to raise. She and Pumkin became sisters. Pumkin and Sandra are both 5 months old now and more than ready to move out into the big world.
So Judy offered her property right by a river in midst a heavily wooded area for a release place. She will continue to put food out for them and offer them a safe place to come to, if the world gets too scary out there, until they are ready to be on their own.
Thank you Judy, you are a doll! And thank you, Jackie, for driving me...again!
Animal cruelty is animal cruelty whether it is a wild animal or a domestic one. They ALL feel pain and suffering. Today The Raccoon Cabin received a 10 week old baby raccoon with burns on all four feet, melted whiskers, and burns on his nose and rear.
Mr. Clayton from Masters Service, a local pest control company, brought him in. He stated that, "another pest control company he believed to be called Critter Ridder was hired by a family to remove a mother and babies from their chimney". After harassing the animal family for an hour or so they still could not get the raccoon family out, so they decided to block the chimney and then lit a fire in the fire place to burn them alive!!!
The family claimed they did not know this horror was being done until it was too late. The mother and her babies were burned to death and left in the chimney. After the company left the family discovered one was still alive and certainly injured so they called Master Services and asked if they could please remove the injured baby.
Mr. Clayton said he removed the dead mother and other babies himself, caught this one and brought it to me, as I am a licensed local wildlife rehabilitator. I have worked with Mr. Clayton before and believe he is telling the truth that it was another company that torched and burned alive this mama and babies. I asked him for the name and address where this happened. He called his boss and was informed not to give me the information. They said they would call and ask the resident if they could release that information. As of Sunday, June 26th, I have not heard back from anyone.
This is an outrage and nothing more than animal cruelty! Pest control or not they need to be prosecuted for this horrid act. They are required to be trained to handle these situations better and could have. This is not the first time I have seen horrid acts like this from our local pest control companies, in fact that is how I became a rehabber. My husband saved 3 little raccoons when a pest control company was drowning them in a bucket of water and I could not find a rehabber to take them to as there are too few and those that do were all full. These inhumane acts are taking place everyday and MUST be stopped!!
Our little "Charcoal" is doing a somewhat better now, but infections can set in easily with burns, as well as lung problems due to smoke inhalation, so it is going to be a long recovery for him and require several trips back and forth to the vets office. He is currently on antibiotics and burn creams, we are praying this will be enough to get him through. Charcoal is also traumatized emotionally; he will never be the same. It will most likely be a difficult rehabbing situation from beginning to end.
I must ask "who is the varmint in this case"? Little Charcoal only wanted a warm, dry place to sleep and in short time the mama would have moved the family to the woods. The pest control people who cold-heartedly burn his mother and sibling to death in front of him should be charged and prosecuted. They collect a fee for their services; I volunteer my time and money to help the animals and this state, and should not have to deal with such inhumane treatment of citizen owned animals. -----------------------
Help us to bring this to the media's attention!! This cruelty must stop!!!!
Battle cry, urgent because Old news is not newsworthy to the media - below are numbers to contact and report this "raccoons burned alive" story. PLEASE! Everyone call and bombard the news desks about The Wildlife Rehabilitator who SAVED this baby who endured his mama, brothers and sisters being burned alive TRAPPED in a chimney deliberately by a pest control company.
* Janie is a professional every bit as much as the exterminator and deserves attention to what she has to deal with emotionally and financially from such inhumane, sadistic acts that laws should not allow.
* Use words like "his family", his mama, brothers, sisters (vs "litter mates")
* "If this is not illegal, it sure should be - NOW!" (be sure to mention that the animals were trapped (could not escape).
* Play the media's game, be as "sensationalistic" as they always are! horrific! outraged! beyond cruel....
Give them contact name -- Janie Oney contact # 281 804-8783
Hello: You have reached the Our County Animal Shelter. Due to the high volume of calls we have been receiving, please listen closely to the following options and choose the one that best describes you or your situation:
Press 1 if you have a 10-year-old dog and your 15-year-old son has suddenly become allergic and you need to find the dog a new home right away.
Press 2 if you are moving today and need to immediately place your 150 pound, 8-year-old dog.
Press 3 if you have three dogs, had a baby and want to get rid of your dogs because you are the only person in the world to have a baby and dogs at the same time.
Press 4 if you just got a brand new puppy and your old dog is having problems adjusting so you want to get rid of the old one right away.
Press 5 if your little puppy has grown up and is no longer small and cute and you want to trade it in for a new model.
Press 6 if you want an unpaid volunteer to come to your home TODAY and pick up the dog you no longer want.
Press 7 if you have been feeding and caring for a "stray" for the last three years, are moving and suddenly determine it's not your dog.
Press 8 if your dog is sick and needs a vet but you need the money for your vacation.
Press 9 if you are elderly and want to adopt a cute puppy who is not active and is going to outlive you.
Press 10 if your relative has died and you don't want to care for their elderly dog because it doesn't fit your lifestyle.
Press 14 if you are calling at 6 a.m. to make sure you wake me up before I have to go to work so you can drop a dog off on your way to work.
Press 15 to leave us an anonymous garbled message, letting us know you have left a dog in our yard in the middle of January, which is in fact, better than just leaving the dog with no message.
Press 16 if you are going to get angry because we are not going to take your dog that you have had for fifteen years, because it is not our responsibility.
Press 17 if you are going to threaten to take your ten year old dog to be euthanized because I won't take it.
Press 18 if you're going to get angry because the volunteers had the audacity to go on vacation and leave the dogs in care of a trusted volunteer who is not authorized to take your personal pet.
Press 19 if you want one of our PERFECTLY trained, housebroken, kid and cat friendly purebred dogs that we have an abundance of.
Press 20 if you want us to take your dog that has a slight aggression problem, i.e. has only bitten a few people and killed your neighbor's cats.
Press 21 if you have already called once and been told we don't take personal surrenders but thought you would get a different person this time with a different answer.
Press 22 if you want us to use space that would go to a stray to board your personal dog while you are on vacation, free of charge, of course.
Press 23 if it is Christmas Eve or Easter morning and you want me to deliver an eight week old puppy to your house by 6:30 am before your kids wake up.
Press 24 if you have bought your children a duckling, chick or baby bunny for Easter and it is now Christmas and no longer cute.
Press 25 if you want us to take your female dog who has already had ten litters, but we can't spay her because she is pregnant again and it is against your religion.
Press 26 if you're lying to make one of our younger volunteers feel bad and take your personal pet off your hands.
Press 27 if your cat is biting and not using the litter box because it is declawed, but you are not willing to accept the responsibility that the cat's behavior is altered because of your nice furniture.
Press 28 if your two year old male dog is marking all over your house but you just haven't gotten around to having him neutered.
Press 29 if you previously had an outdoor only dog and are calling because she is suddenly pregnant.
Press 30 if you have done "everything" to housebreak your dog and have had no success but you don't want to crate the dog because it is cruel.
Press 31 if you didn't listen to the message asking for an evening phone number and you left your work number when all volunteers are also working and you are angry because no one called you back.
Press 32 if you need a puppy immediately and cannot wait because today is your daughter's birthday and you forgot when she was born.
Press 33 if your dog's coat doesn't match your new furniture and you need a different color or breed.
Press 34 if your new love doesn't like your dog and you are too stupid to get rid of the new friend (who will dump you in the next month anyway) instead of the dog.
Press 35 if you went through all these 'options' and didn't hear enough. This press will connect you to the sounds of tears being shed by one of our volunteers who is holding a discarded old dog while the vet mercifully frees him from the grief of missing his family.
An hour ago it was feeding time. Sara is the only one drinking formula out of a bowl. The Abilenians still take the bottle and the 3 bigger ones don't care about formula anymore. They want real food.
But if you think that any of my six can so much as look at a bowl Sara has claimed as hers and get away with it, you are mistaken!
ALL 6 came running when Sara let out that growl spread eagled over her precious bowl, and tried to climb up my legs.
Now you have to picture this (thank goodness I didn't have the camera with me!):
I prefer to wear scrubs in this heat. They are so easy to wash and easy to put on with just a rubber band holding it up. But that rubber band could not withstand 6 raccoons!!!
Before I knew it I had my pants around my ankles (yes, I wore underwear!), struggling to keep my balance, hands full of bottles and a couple of raw eggs go flying everywhere, while my 6 are STILL trying to climb up my legs, holding on to my bare skin! I step on the edge of one of the metal bowls which flips up and over and splatters poo poo water all over us too with a big loud bang!
Sara however couldn't care less, she never even stopped drinking her formula.
No more shaving legs for at least a week for this scratching post...ouch!! lol
Now they are all chilling out on a shelf by a big piece of ice:
Sandy in front, Pumkin hugging the ice, Rocky sniffing the ice, Abilenians in the hammock and back, Sara between the board and screen.
I received a phone call yesterday from a local lady. Somebody gave her 2 baby sparrows. She said they are getting annoying in the house and the kids got tired playing with them.
I already had a bad feeling...kids playing with birds? I agreed to take them and asked her to please take the birds to my rescue.
A few minutes later I observed 4 kids of around 12 years of age walking down the street, jumping around, bending over every few feet to pick something up off the street.
Turned out these where the little sparrows trying to get away from the kids.
They handed me the birds and I took them inside to check them out.
Both where nearly starved to death, dehydrated, overheated and completely exhausted. They were just sitting there with their eyes closed, too weak to eat or drink.
They died less than an hour later.
I find this one of the most horrible animal cruelty issues, but in reality it was "just" ignorance, lack of knowledge, and the total absence of common sense. The outcome was the same. It caused these baby birds to die a horrible death.
So my advice is: Leave baby birds alone!!!!
If you have to intervene because you KNOW a bird is orphaned, place it in a box, call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, and DO NOT handle it. Birds are scared of people and playing and handling it will stress it out. I have seen many birds die of simple stress and it's not pretty.
