We have a newbie at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue! Annie is a 10 weeks old raccoon that has been living with a family in a house since she was found at the age of 1 week. She has never seen another raccoon or even was outside for long.
It is my job now to get her used to her own kind and more independent of humans, so they all can be eventually released back into the wild.
Here a couple of funny snapshots I took yesterday. This is where most of the raccoons sleep at night. It's too hot up there during the day hours:
I have received many baby birds this year that have been fed the wrong stuff in the wrong way and as a result, the bird died.
In order to prevent that, I have made a short video on how to mix up the right baby bird food from dry kitten chow.
There are variations to it, for example you can use dog food too if you don't have kittenfood handy, or use calcium powder instead of cuttle bone, and it's ok to leave out the bird vitamins if you don't have any at the moment.
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
