more wildlife center, then onto the raptor center!

WHEW!!! it is INSANELY busy at the wildlife center! WHAT A BLAST!!!

Speaking of squirrels (see pic above;), I had a lot of sad cases while I was at the wildlife center, but probably the saddest cases involved squirrels. I had admitted two squirrels, a red squirrel and a grey squirrel, from different people, where the finders had found the squirrels as babies and instead of bring them to us, had "raised them".

First, these squirrels were incredibly lucky to have survived being raised by non-licensed rehabbers; most die from diarrhea due to a bad diet, such as dog milk replacer. At the center, we use a special squirrel formula, special medications, and techniques.

Second, since these squirrels were raised by non-rehabbers they were severely habituated and slightly imprinted. These squirrels had no fear of people. They would run up and down us while we tried to transfer them to cages, jumping off our heads and running around the room. You cannot release a squirrel that's going to run up and down people at the park. It's dangerous.

Making these guys "re-wild" is not an option as they were adults and had been raised since they were little. There is no hope at that point, unfortunately. Other than having no fear of people, these guys were healthy; my stupid bleeding heart was grasping at straws and i tried setting each one up in their own housing while i could try to contact zoos to see if they had a squirrel exhibit.

The grey squirrel turned how to be not only habituated but also aggressive, biting my glove when handled. No zoo keeper is going to want to get mauled whenever they enter an exhibit. The red squirrel was literlly going insane in his large outdoor pen; he could not mentally handle being in captivity, and even if i found him a HUGE exhibit, he would also run up and down the keepers which isn't safe and not a good example for the public.

So I was forced to euthanize two healthy adult squirrels because people were either trying to help, or thought they were cute---either way, they were not responsible and did not seek out the appropriate resources when they came across these guys. It's a sad situation that happens all too often.

Sorry--i'll get off my soap box now:)

So now i'm at the raptor center!!! I've come on at an odd time, i'm told, as they have a companion bird rotation going on at the same time...so far i've...
-performed an endoscopic exploratory on a LIVE (but anesthetized) quail
-went birdwatching (for the first time--quite fun!)
-went to the zoo
-observed a surgery to repair a humerus of a red-tailed hawk

hopefully i'll get to see more surgeries as i hope to learn a lot about avian orthopedics.

ok, i'm finally done:) thanks for reading:) and SEE YOU AT GRADUATION WHICH IS IN 2 WEEKS!! AHHHHHHH!!

this is a box turtle we found while bird watching...he has a transmitter glued to his shell and some red paint so the scientist who is tracking him can find him a bit easier...very cool!