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This isn't much of a pet post, but more ...ANIMAL PHOTOS  which I think PIers will enjoy too.I'm currently a new student at Lees-McRae and they have an animal rehab facility that works with it. Wildlife rehab majors and minors have to take the rehab course which is 2 semesters and then they can do an intensive summer clinical. After you do that, you can opt to be a mentor, someone who will teach the new folks coming in the next fall. Hopefully, I'll be doing all of that but as of now, I've only been here since August. The goal here obviously is to take in injured wild animals and release them after they get better. If they cannot be, homes will be found for them but if their quality of life is poor, they will be euthed. A few of them are turned into animal ambassadors here, education animals to be used at shows, schools, etc. While the 1st semester here is learning about animals and how to take care of 'em, the spring course focuses more on education and we'll be presenting animals to an elementary school. I've followed my mentors to two local fairs so far and..it is an interesting experience in dealing with people. Enough talk... (I wish waffleimages allowed huge images, only resized after like photobucket.)  Songbird room, where we noticed a robin having a problematic eye. One of the mentors checking it out, and..another robin escaping in the background.  This was back in august, getting towards the fall, aka squirrel season. We all thought they were cute and dawww we wanna feed them! No..no, not anymore. not after that many.  Assessing EaSO(eastern screech owl) flight skillz. We had a bunch of em up for release and we were testing to see if they could fly well enough.  Haha  Sometimes they dont land where you want them to  Trying to get back into their nest box  Well, we released em anyway. About 9? in total, including 2 ambassador owls. Unfortunately, one of them, Jake came back a few weeks later, found emaciated, completely broken wing, and filled with maggots, under a car. ...he's alive and well now.  Avery county fair  Hanging out in Norbits cage on the weekend. Norbit is a groundhog runt from the summer, something with the liver. Another ambassador.  weekend means doing more menial chores..  Pack of baby opossums, let me show you one. They came in younger than that, and had to be tubefed. Opossums arent good at sucking on nipples, so you have a stick a really long tube down their throat into the stomach. This one eats on its own now.  classic!  Those baby squirrels you saw earlier got older. I dont actually know if those are the same squirrels, there were a billion of em in the mammal room  This is Nelson, another ambassador. One of my favourite guys to chill with, loves being pet. http://img.waffleimages.com/7c88f2a...7d1dcaa9/16.jpg DEAD ANIMAL HERE. During our physical exam class, where we used past animals to learn how to exam live ones. this poor guy had a fractured skull http://img.waffleimages.com/e1800ab...0f714d05/17.jpg DEAD ANIMAL HERE. This guy was all sorts of fk'd up with a broken wing and infected leg filled with maggots. He was put down.  This nonreleasable EaSOs adorableness comes from the fact that he is blind.  Nina, our director, showing off Cloudfeather, a partially albino RTH  We released a normal hawk that day, I believe it was toeman, he was missing a talon  And of course he proceeded to fly to the trees and hang upside down for about 10 minutes.  The opossums got older again!  We had a falconer come in to talk about his hobby. He plans to breed harris hawks. I am a billion times jealous and want to get into falconry.  Here we have Nelson the crow and Zeus the falcon at the annual Punkin Fair.  We brought along our new EaSO ambassador who apparently hates life, up in front is Miss Rosie, a 'possom ambass. Shes the sweetest thing but garners comments like THAT THING IS DISGUSTING. What I've learned at fairs. Kids AND adults do not listen to you when you tell them you can't pet an animal. Lets pet the falcon anyway and cause injury to the handler!   New patient, a nighthawk. Has to be forcefed because they cannot eat sitting still.  Another recent patient, barred owl who had eye problems. Hes getting better  Class on how to handle raptors on the glove. It went well with some, not so well with others.  A comparison of our blindie from earlier and one who can see. Crazy defense mechanisms!  This is Barry the barred owl. hes missing a wing and sounds like a monkey  this is Sasquatch, a Great horned owl..who may look majestic but  is so not.  big baby  Its okay we still love you sassy. we bother her because shes an imprinted bird who is very used to people, please dont touch owls or poke them with pointy objects I think thats enough photos! They span from late august to last week. If people are interested, Ill post more photos of what we take in but since its almost winter, the center is very slow right now. Its spring and summer that become crazy work and cute baby animals. We still have a lot of animals like box turtles, swifts, bluejays...
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| # ? Nov 02, 2009 20:35 |
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| # ? Nov 22, 2009 10:53 |
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Great photos! That must be an awesome experience I'd love to see more pictures if you have them!
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| # ? Nov 02, 2009 20:45 |
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This is great. The deflated great horned owl made me laugh. More pictures please!
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| # ? Nov 02, 2009 21:18 |
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'hes missing a wing and sounds like a monkey' That is the funniest thing I've read all day. Well done. Great post.
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| # ? Nov 02, 2009 21:53 |
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These photos are awesome! Thanks for sharing them!
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| # ? Nov 02, 2009 21:59 |
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Malalol posted:I think thats enough photos! THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH PHOTOS!!  But seriously, these are fantastic. My boyfriend and I are huge raptor nerds, so this was a real treat. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!
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| # ? Nov 02, 2009 22:21 |
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Malalol posted:
This bird is the best bird. I loves him.
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| # ? Nov 02, 2009 23:27 |
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I'm a big raptor fan so I was pretty OMG when I came here. So many redtails. I also love corvids so having Nelson and Gypsy around rocks. Its fun to give them treats, I gave them both a pistachio and Nelson was very skilled in cracking it. He held it and his beak hit the area right between the meat and shell half to open it while Gypsy struggled forever. Nelson eventually finished his, stole Gypsys and I had to get another nut(opened this time) for gypsy. Here are photos from tonight, night time shift.  Tubing an easo fluid, probably ringer solution from the amount of it.  Zeus was getting new jesses today, he was not happy. We new kids havent heard him scream before! No photos of that, I had to birdywrap him in a towel Kinda freaky to hear him breathe so heavily when stressed! We have a duck. I dont actually know whats wrong with the fella  This guy is HAMMERTIME, a baby box turtle. woops sorry for the rotated pic. He was brought in by a mother who found her kid smashing this guy with a hammer. yeah. he has spinal injuries and couldnt move his back legs.  Wooka Wooka the yellow shafted flicker and Pinocchio the yellow bellied sapsucker. Ambassadors and recent new friends.  Lefty, a poofy fat tailess blue jay ambass who LOVES to talk. if you come near him he'll start yapping and cheeping and making noises at you. And you have to talk back. Booboo is a recent addition from someone, and missing half a face/eye  yellow billed cuckoos fk yea I love these guys. someone taped up some new names for them on the cage, coco and puff. alright...   Buncha swifts that can't fly. I heard that they''ll have to be put down if they dont get it. Also heard tonight that Nina took home some cedar waxwings we had at the center, gave em a better light and they are perching now. so we will try that for these guys? Right now they just look like windup toys with their wing flapping.  Gypsy. Her face is looking more grown up and feathery crow-like.. the rest of her..not so much. Nelsons peeking in like, wut. ...his beak is looking a bit long  Lakoda, a mississippi kite ambass. She was recently brought to meet other kites and..they actually got along, so she is not imprinted. So we are seeing if we can release her now instead.  Zeus with some new jesses and not looking happy  Mara, her left eye is messed up and dead.  we caught mice again! they and babies will be used for mice school, seeing if easos can catch em.  And for the ones that get bored.. He took the dryer lint(gross laundry here), wrapped it around an antler(for squirrels to chew) and doused it in hand sanitizer to use as a torch. ...............
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 01:22 |
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I just have to say that I am intensely jealous that you get to chill with opossums. That is all.
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 02:49 |
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You are now my HERO. I'm outside of Raleigh, can I just come be your shadow?
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 03:00 |
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Sneaky Monkey posted:This bird is the best bird. I loves him. Quoting dis. I love your job.
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 03:42 |
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Aw man. Making me miss my old job at one of these places. Miss my raccoonies.  Possums are the best critters ever.
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 03:53 |
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The birds in this thread are beautiful, the killers as well as the songbirds. In general, how are their chances for survival after being rehabbed?
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 03:56 |
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Nannypea posted:You are now my HERO. I'm outside of Raleigh, can I just come be your shadow? Pick me up in Burlington on your way over. I've always wanted to do stuff with raptors (been interested in trying falconry, but probably never will  )
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 04:36 |
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This thread is awesome. I've always wanted to do something similar but never heard of an actual institute that trains for this sort of thing, or at least no where that I've lived..!
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 04:47 |
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You guys can always come by and tour the place. Its not that big of a center though...I'm in Banner Elk, allll the way on the TN border. Chasie posted:The birds in this thread are beautiful, the killers as well as the songbirds. I'm not so sure, the animals *should* be good as new after release as long as they remain wild. A few of criteria for release are making sure they can function(fly/climb/etc), have that fear of people, and proper place or time(not in the dead of winter or middle of a road) Stickbug posted:This thread is awesome. I've always wanted to do something similar but never heard of an actual institute that trains for this sort of thing, or at least no where that I've lived..! This school is great, I dont think theres any other place like it nearby with a rehab center on campus Malalol fucked around with this message at Nov 03, 2009 around 04:51 |
| # ? Nov 03, 2009 04:49 |
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I volunteered at a wildlife center over the summer for a couple of months, and was going to make a thread about it. Good thing you did first, because your pictures are much nicer If people would like, though, I could contribute some of mine as. These really are fantastic, and makes me miss my job.
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 05:49 |
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Nannypea posted:You are now my HERO. I'm outside of Raleigh, can I just come be your shadow? Or you could just volunteer here instead. They used to be Piedmont Wildlife Center, then they closed the clinic for funding reasons, now it's been reopened under the auspices of a different organization run by some of the same people (the ones who were horrified that the board closed down the clinic to begin with, I guess). I volunteered there before I moved out of the area, and it had some nice folks doing good work. After I left, I believe they became more selective about what species they accepted. I don't know the details, and I don't know what the policy is now, under new management. But, you'd still get to work at rehabbing injured wildlife, and get to see a lot of different animals. I recall them having a beaver once when I was there (he lived some portion of his time in a big, plastic tub full of water), as well as a couple of owls, some snakes, a few hawks, and the usual assortment of squirrels, songbirds, mice, box turtles, and snappers. I think the vet even sewed up an injured bullfrog once.
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 06:21 |
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Those owls are gorgeous.
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| # ? Nov 03, 2009 14:15 |
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Well, this was awesome. I love all of the neat birds, especially the tiny owls.
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| # ? Nov 04, 2009 02:54 |
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How did you get the yb cuckoos? I am just curious because they seem like such secretive birds. I hear them often but have only glimpsed them a few times.
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| # ? Nov 04, 2009 03:50 |
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razz posted:How did you get the yb cuckoos? I am just curious because they seem like such secretive birds. I hear them often but have only glimpsed them a few times. One was from Raleigh, one from asheville. Transferred to us so they can be released together. They didn't fly well enough and never got better over time to migrate. I think theyre going to a permanent place in Tenn Aquarium.
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| # ? Nov 04, 2009 12:22 |
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This weeks class has just been weighing and checking up on our animal ambassadors. Brittany showing off our Saw whet owl to the class. This ones named Hamlet. Sawwhets as a defense tend to stay perfectly still. We have another sawwhet, Nod who is a bit..damaged in the head and couldn't give less a hoot about staying still.  Giving Tobias a beak trim with the dremel. Obviously very important to keep the bird restrained while doing it.  Into the birdy burrito you go Stryker! This is my favouritest pic ever.  Hes a beautiful bird and. A drat wild unhappy one.  This poor ducky hybrid? came in today with poisoning I think. Using charcoal to treat the fella.  Cutie teal. Remember Barry the owl? He had to be restrained too for weighing and checkup and boy, he sounded like a pitiful wailing puppy x fire truck. Not exaggerating. It was hard not to feel bad for the old man.
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| # ? Nov 06, 2009 22:58 |
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Love the pics. The bird burrito is the greatest ever, poor guy
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 02:59 |
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Aww. this entire thread makes me nostalgic for my time working with raptors as a kid. (Same deal you guys do, but most of ours came to us permanently due to extensive injuries or human imprinting. With the exception of a few snakes and two iguanas we were exclusively raptors and bats.) What's the policy on holding the larger birds? I remember in New Mexico you needed an actual license to hold the big guys.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 06:53 |
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Mucktron posted:What's the policy on holding the larger birds? I remember in New Mexico you needed an actual license to hold the big guys. We need federal and state permits to hold birds, for both rehabbing and using as education animals. Yesterday was the annual Pine straw collecting + spaghetti dinner at Ninas (our director). She has her own center at her house for holding animals, including a bobcat that came in last summer as a kitty.  Its not a kitten anymore and it is ANGRY  But still cute because theyre so tiny.  And we are giving it live rodents to get it to kill but its.... kinda just playing with them. I love mice/rats I have shots of it throwing the mouse up in the air too That barred owl I posted earlier with eye problems? Hes better now and a beastly flyer.  and possibly demonic. anyways, we said a prayer for him and released him outside. Good luck owl!  No rest even on a fun day. Some folks brought in a vulture and he had a broken leg from a gunshot wound probably. This is the first time I've encountered vulture smell and vomit. ................... uncool. Caused a lot of dry heaving for some
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 16:46 |
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You have an amazing and wonderful job. Thanks for posting the pictures.
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| # ? Nov 22, 2009 04:08 |
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Please post more! One of my hobbies as a girl was "rescuing" animals. Considering that I did manage to actually rescue quite a few, I think that's a good thing. The little girl in me envies your current opportunities. It's got me thinking that I should start volunteering some of my time.
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| # ? Nov 22, 2009 05:29 |
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