Currently at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue

Currently residing at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue:

Ian:



Annie:



Sara:



6 Squirrels:







Lulu and her 3 puppies:

Rocky, Abi, Lena, raccoons, are released

Today was the big day! I had planned to release 4 of the 6 raccoons that have grown up at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue.

I know that I had to keep Ian and Annie, because they still depend on their bottle, but I thought Sara, the little wild one that I was never able to even touch, would be ready too.

But it turned out this morning that she was not, demanded her formula too, so it was Rocky, Abi and Lena. I also took the 3 opossums along for release, since they were ready too.

Once we arrived at the soft release place and I let the girls out of their crate, I had sworn to myself that if they climb the tree, they can stay. If they however climb my leg, they come back home with me.

And it was Rocky who ended up making it real hard for me. She had lost sight of Abi and Lena, who were climbing up high in the trees, and she got scared and kept wanting up on my arm. I decided to take her back home with me.

But once Abi came back down the tree to check out the food Judy, the property owner, had put out for them, Rocky took off with her exploring and I was all but forgotten! Which was just fine by me. We observed them for a while and when I was satisfied that the girls were in good hands, Mother Nature AND Judy, I left with one laughing and one crying eye!

Of course I took plenty of pictures and put together a movie:




MissDolittle (me) and Rocky


Saying good-bye to Rocky








Rocky


Lena


Abi waves good-bye

Six Raccoons got new Toys

Opossums and Squirrels

Getting fuller here. Today, Sleepy, a little girl from Forth Worth joined the bunch.
Thank you Peyton, for taking such good care of her!





Opossums:

6 weeks ago:


Today:








A few more days and we are ready to be released!

Pink Squirrels

It is that time again; the second litters of squirrels of the year are coming in:

2009 in Numbers so far

• 24 squirrels
• 19 cottontails
• 34 opossums
• 1 beaver
• 10 raccoons
• 3 foxes
• 37 kittens/cats
• 15 puppies/dogs
• 60 birds

-------------------------

• = 203 animals

(45 died or where euthanized, 90% of those cottontails and birds)

I went through 45 lbs of KMR (yes pounds!), 10 lbs of Esbilac, 6000 mealworms, 1000 crickets, a few hundred lbs of dog and cat food, 5 lbs of bird seeds, 30 lbs of hard shelled nuts, 5 bales of hay, 200 lbs of cat litter, 200 lbs of detergant, 50 bottles of bleach, tons of other supplies such as building material, towels, blankets, stuffed animals, toys, chewies, fresh produce, fresh meat, eggs, leave alone the electricity for heating lamps, heating pads, washing and drying, heating up the formula, the water bill went through the roof..

Sometimes I wonder why we rehabbers are not getting publicly funded. After all, we do provide a service to the community. Laws prohibit the general public to possess certain wildlife in most cases, but they do not support the ones that are at the end of the line feeding those critters.

That needs to change!

Orphaned Raccoons learn how to catch Crickets

Yep, the coonie gang at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue is at it again. They are growing like weeds and are learning to fish, catch crickets, and all the fun stuff raccoons do. Once they have learned everything and are old enough, they will be released back into the wild.

For more information on orphaned raccoons or other injured or orphaned wildlife, please go to www.rainbowwildlife.com and join our pets and wildlife forum at www.petsandwildlifeforum.com To stay updated about the orphaned raccoons at the RWR, subscribe to our blog at http://rainbowwildlife.blogspot.com/

Sleeping Time at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue

The raccoons like to squeeze into the space between the fly screen and the hardware cloth and camo net and end up in the funniest positions!

Mary and Mo are 2 white winged doves that were raised and released here at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue. But they are sticking around. Mary helps me raise other little doves and watches over them on the outside once released. Most of them left, but not Mary: