This unusually warm winter affects not only humans, but wildlife too. Because more lakes and ponds are remaining open, the swans haven't all migrated yet, choosing to stay if the water isn't frozen. This means the lead poisoned swans are more likely to be noticed and brought to us. Although we currently only have one lead poisoned patient in right now, I'm expecting more will soon join it...
Every winter we get in many bats, like the big brown bat pictured above. They usually are hibernating in a building and wake up early d/t warm house temperatures or are woken up when people find them. It takes a LOT of energy to come out of hibernation, so these guys usually come to us very thin. We fatten them up, and then release them into a gated cave that is known to have a large hibernaculum of big brown bats; we hope they fly into the cave, join the others and re-enter sleep until spring...
