5/16/12 - Four Barn Swallows

Students at Rains ISD found these displaced Barn Swallows near the school. We typically deal with mammals, and are not set up to handle birds for an extended period. We made sure the little Barn Swallows were well-fed and hydrated and then transported them to Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Hutchins, Texas on 5/17/12

www.rogerswildlife.org/

 

5/16/12 - Deer fawn - 1st of the season

May and June are typically fawn season. Normally the peak is around the end of May. We close out April knowing we'll soon start getting injured/orphaned/abandoned fawn calls.

A word on deer: The doe will typically place the fawn in a secluded area, leave to graze and then come back to pick up the fawn. We get calls every year from well-meaning folks who find a fawn lying down in some brush or in deep leaves. The folks assume the fawn is abandoned or something happened to the doe. If you run across this scenario, leave the fawn alone (unless it is in obvious, immediate danger or if it appears extremely gaunt from malnutrition or dehydrated). Several hours may pass, but the doe will return to collect the fawn. If the fawn is still alone by dark, it may be time to step in

Here's a case where a person did everything right. Obviously mom wasn't going to return and the deer was in danger from dogs in the immediate area.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Noble, who works Rains County called us today. A local man reported that a very young fawn had showed up in his yard. The man left the fawn alone for several hours, hoping its mother would show up and find it. When it became obvious that mom wasn't coming, and that dogs in the area were taking a keen interest in the fawn, the man stepped in and captured the fawn and called GW Noble. GW Noble asked if we had room for a fawn. Of course we did.

Meet Lilly.

5/16/12 Baby male raccoon - "Bandet"

People who take the time to get involved and do the right thing are our kind of folks. None of these animals would be here if someone hadn't taken the time to give a darn and take their valuable time to get these critters to us. This story involves an entire family.

Monica C called the DFW Wildlife Coalition and reported that she had found a baby male raccoon in Rowlett. All the numbers DFW gave Monica were dead ends - the rehabilitators Monica called were full, didn't work with raccoons, were out of town or were busy with their jobs. Very understandable. The last number Monica had was ours. We're busy, but we don't turn away animals.

Monica reported that she had found a baby male raccoon near a creek. The raccoon was wet and cold, very hungry and pretty badly dehydrated - talk about your perfect storm of bad things for a baby. Monica and her daughters Audrey and Lindsey did everything they could do until they could get this baby to us. Audrey and Lindsey named him Bandet with an "e". Bandet it is! Monica fed Bandet and got as much hydration into him as she could - I don't think he would've survived otherwise.

Our daughter Katie and I went to meet Monica at a church off of I-30 near Rockwall. Monica ended up using way more than her allotted lunch break from work, but wanted to see that Bandet got the care he needed. I hydrated Bandet with an injection of lactated ringers, gave him some Fox Valley formula (expensive and worth every penny) then it was load and go time.

After a few days on a very intense feeding schedule, constant sub-cutaneous hydration and a warm place to stay, it was clear that Bandet was beginning to turn the corner.

During all this, Monica's husband Jeff was out of town. Jeff got to hear about Bandet every day by phone and email, but by the time Jeff got back in town, Bandet had already come to Circle P. A couple of weekends after Bandet came to us, Jeff, Monica, Lindsey and Audrey came out for an afternoon. Jeff got to meet Bandet for the first time and the rest of the family got to see our little operation. Katie even demonstrated her technique for riding a wild hog - (Phoebe the wild hog from a previous post is quite large now and thinks Katie was put on this earth to be her best friend). 

Bandet is a little Alpha Male. He knows what he wants and he makes it happen. Bandet is all over the cage, climbing this and testing that. Annoy him and he'll crouch down, open his mouth and let out a growl that will make you think twice about putting your hand near him. Let our dogs get too close for his comfort and he will spit and hiss until he runs them off - including the Rhodesian Ridgeback. Get Bandet started playing and he will wear you out and still want more long after you're tired and ready to go to bed. Look in the dictionary under "thrive" and you'll see Bandet's photo - he had so far to come and he's done more than we ever thought possible. Once he passed the quarantine stage, we put Bandet's cage next to the two females. They made friends. One day Teresa had the idea that Bandet might stimulate the two little females who are slightly behind in their physical coordination and development - sure enough, within a few hours, he had both girls playing and fighting with him. Before the day was out, Bandet had them climbing the sides of the cage and then had them hanging upside down from the ceiling. Good job Bandet.

 Bandet practices getting his creep on in my camo chair.

 Eat and grow, eat and grow

The little stuffed bear was a donation from Audrey and Lindsey. It has been Bandet's constant companion. When Bandet first came, he was smaller than the bear!

4/24/12 Two baby raccoons

A veterinary office in Forney, Texas had two baby raccoons turned in. We were contacted and took the babies home. Both are healthy and growing like little weeds. Both of these little girls have a bright outlook. These girls are slightly behind on their motor skills and physical development, so we have added some physical therapy to help them get up to speed getting around and climbing - so far, their progress is good. We hope to move these little ladies to the pre-release pen by the end of June.

4/24/12 - Four baby raccoons

Val at Cross Timbers alerted us to four baby raccoons that had come in. A homeowner in the metroplex had an adult raccoon in his attic. Local animal control removed the adult and relocated her. The next day, the homeowner heard screaming coming from his attic and went to investigate. Turns out the adult was a mother and had a litter of four babies she was nursing.

We took the babies back to the Circle P and they have become a huge part of the family. All are well into adolescent stage now and are doing great. They have moved from quarantine through three larger indoor cages and finally into the outdoor pre-release cage (We moved Mama Coon to another cage to facilitate these coons).  The four play and fight non-stop.

They are named Willie, Si, Becky and Todd. Willie and Si are named after two of our favorite characters on Duck Dynasty. Becky was named because Teresa liked the name and Todd was our twelve year-old daughter's idea.

Evil never sleeps! 

3/26/12 - Baby raccoons.

We took possession of two baby raccoons from The Mother Ship (Cross Timbers Wildlife Ranch in Terrell, TX - the permit holder under who's authority we operate). These two were very young and their survival was very much in doubt from the get-go.

If coons are less than a week old or weigh less than about 125-130 grams, they normally don't have good outcomes.

Regardless, we're fighters and as my dad used to say 'don't know what quit looks like'. We fed and cared for these two babies literally around the clock - every two hours. Both seemed to be thriving. Both gained weight. We even went against our unwritten rule about giving names until we're sure the animal has a good chance of survival. Then one Tuesday, Teresa was feeding the little male (Tommy)- he seemed to aspirate formula, then coughed hard and died. The next day the little female (Amy) did the exact same thing.

This really took the wind out of our sails. Then Teresa and I talked it over; in the end we reminded ourselves of what we knew all along - we always fight the best fight we can, but some are beyond our control and sometimes we're going to lose the fight.

Lord, give us the strength to change the things we can and the wisdom to accept the things we cannot change. We're still working on that part about accepting things we
 can't change. But Lord, we're trying.

How do you mend, a broken... turtle?

We had a turtle come in that had obviously been hit by a car (see photo with tire marks on it). The turtle's shell was fractured top and bottom and had pieces missing from the side.

We did some research and saw that vets and reptile rehab places use fiberglass to make a permanent prosthetic shell. We pretty much only do wild mammal rehab, but the turtle appeared to be healthy other than the shell problem, so we figured we'd try. We cleaned up the wound and got the bleeding stopped. Then cleaned up the shell, got rid of jagged pieces that would cut or abrade his innards. After that, a light coat of resin topped with two layers of fiberglass cloth. Once dry, sanded it smooth. The turtle was last seen crawling into our stock tank and swimming away under his own power.


Sorry for the blood, but this photo was taken upon initial assessment:

See the tire track (dark colored area at the top right)?

Good as new!

Within a couple of days, we got a call from DFW Wildlife Coalition. Another car-struck turtle had been found. We met the Melanie, who rescued the turtle, in at a location in Wills Point, Texas. This turtle was in much better shape. JB Weld fixed a minor crack in the shell and within twenty-four hours, the latest turtle was released in our pond.