people keep talking about how mantis shrimps can or cannot see multiple colors but can we talk about how fucking violent they are
Like dude
What the fuck
I did animal care at a zoo with a peacock mantis shrimp that had been donated because a hobbyist originally put the mantis shrimp in an aquarium with several very large and aggressive predatory fish and the mantis shrimp murdered them all within 24 hours.
The tone difference in foraging guides between native plants and invasive plants is literally so funny to read
Terry imma need examples
Foraging guide entry on native plants: Make sure you only take a small amount from a well-established patch. Leave some for the wildlife, and yourself next year! Please get involved in land restoration programs to protect this plant for the future :)
Foraging guide entry for Japanese Knotweed: RIP RIP TEAR KILL REND DESTROY EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT E V I S C E R A T E EAT EAT EAT EAT
It’s similar for wildlife.
Brochure about native fish: Remember to only fish for approved species at the appropriate time of year and only with a license and correct fishing gear. These rules exist to make sure we don’t damage local fish populations and these amazing animals can be around for future generations!
Brochure about invasive lionfish: You can kill them with a SPEAR, you can kill them with a HOOK, you can kill them with your BARE HANDS (but watch out for the spines)…did we mention the flesh of this spicy devil fish is DELICIOUS?? Do your part for the environment and CONSUME THE PROBLEMSRIC LION OF THE SEA.
This is the funniest thing I have ever seen. If I were a professor I would pin this to my office door.
LOL
There were like 30 seconds where I was like, “Ah the joke is that Orcas are technically the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family–this is a joke about the whale making false claims about its whale heritage on an admissions form, hence why its lawyer is also a dolphin.” And then I realized, “Oh. KILLER whale.”
THIS ^^^ was my exact thought process
I don’t know if there’s any truth to this whatsoever but I think I remember reading somewhere that “killer whale” is a mistranslation and it’s supposed to be “killer of whales” or “whale killer” because orcas do in fact prey on everything up to and including freakin’ adult blue whales.
I once had a neighbor who was thoroughly convinced their indoor/outdoor cat never strayed further than a couple houses around. As proof, she put a GPS tracker and little camera on her cat. 24 hours later she had the proof she didn’t want. Her cat went as far as a mile away, into the nearby woods where their were coyotes and other predators that would a snack of her cat. Her cat crossed the interstate several times, went to a construction site, and various other places that had me surprised her cat was still alive.
The following week was full of them building a catio and enriching their home. The cat became an indoor cat and chilled out very happily in the catio. They spent the summer harness and leash training their cat as well.
Oh, and the cat killed over a dozen birds and didn’t eat any of them in the single day my owner tracked them with the camera and GPS. They had been going out daily for over a year. Imagine a cat killing 12 birds a day, everyday, for just a year. That devastates the local bird population and leads to the extinction of entire species.
Enrich your home, install a catio, get a few cat trees/towers, play with your cat, and they’ll live long healthy lives. No worries about some random person killing them with poison or shooting them, no worries about them getting hit by a car, no worries about destroying the local ecosystem. My cats are 17 and 15 years old, 100% indoors their entire lives, and they’re happy.
Oh and since avian flu aka bird flu is spreading, please remember that it kills animals that eat the contaminated meat. That means if a cat kills an infected bird and eats it, they will get sick and die.
sorry if i’m being a party pooper but because rabies is apparently the new joke on here ??? please remember that rabies has an almost 100% fatality rate after symptoms develop so if you’re bitten or scratched by an animal that you aren’t 100% sure is vaccinated then GO TO A DOCTOR. it’s not a joke. really.
You’re being kind when you say “almost 100% fatality”. What people need to hear is: if you get to develop rabies symptoms, you’re dead. If you get heavytreatment after developping symptoms, you still need a miracle. Like, a real miracle, you should enter some religion if you escape that.
ALSO, I don’t want people feeling confident about petting stray/wild animals because there’s a vaccine available, either. I’ll explain why from my own experience (I’m not a doctor).
I got bitten by a wild tamarin once, on the pulp of my index finger. It drew blood, there are many wild animals in the area (tamarins, possums, bats, foxes) and it isn’t that uncommon to hear about 1 or 2 rabies cases every now and again (a puppy we gave to a friend got it, for instance), so I went to an ambulatory immediately.
Because I was bitten in an ultrasensitive area, I needed fast treatment. But it was also a small area, so the usual thing they do - inject the vaccine in the place - wasn’t a choice. They told me they’d divide the shot in 5 small ones, and inject me all over my body, so the antidote would get to my entire system fast.
Please stop for a moment and think that the disease is so worrysomethat they’d rather needle me all over than to give me one shot and wait until it spread through my system.
Then they said that, okay, but there was a catch first. I needed to take an antiallergic shot. “Why?” “Because the virus is devastating, and as the vaccine is made from it, but weakened (like almost every vaccine) it will still create a reaction, and it’s a strong one, and it’s veru common for people to have strong allergic reactions to it.” YOU HAVE TO TAKE AN ANTIALLERGIC SHOT IN ORDER TO TAKE THE VACCINE COZ THE VACCINE COULD POTENTIALLY MAKE YOU REALLY SICK
ALSO IT WASN’T JUST “A LITTLE ANTIALLERGIC SHOT”
IT WAS ONE OF THESE FUCKERS HERE.
It was OBVIOUSLY dripped in my body and not injected because HAHAHAHA. Truth be told I was an adult already and I’m tall so I have a lot of mass but STILL.
So after I had taken the antiallegic and was starting to feel drowsy (as a side effect of it) the doctor came with the 5 shots.
- One in each buttock
- One in each thigh
- One in my left arm
They all stung like a bitch and I usually don’t care about shots.
“Okay so can I go home now?”
“No, we have to keep you under observation for 2h so we’re SURE the vaccine won’t give you any reaction.”
BINCH I WAS GIVEN A BUTTLOAD OF MEDICINE BUT THERE WAS STILL A RISK.
I slept through the two hours and then was liberated to go home. My legs, butt, and left arm hurt all over, like I had been punched there, for a few days. I also had a fever (not feverish, a fever)
BUT DID YOU THINK IT WAS OVER?
WRONG!!!
I had to take fourreinforcement shots in the next month, one a week, so I could be positively be considered immunized.Every time I took a shot, my arm would swell and hurt like it’d been hit, and when night came I’d have a fever. Because that’s how fucking strong the vaccine is, BECAUSE THAT’S HOW VICIOUS THE VIRUS IS.
So yeah. DO NOT PUT YOURSELF IN RISK, GODDAMNIT. Rabies is a rare condition all over, THANK GOD, and 1 confirmed case can be already considered a surge and a reason for mass campaigning, AND FOR A REASON.
If you like messing with stray/wild animals, don’t go picking them up and be extra careful. Or just, like, DON’T- call a vet or an authority that can handle them safely.
I must add that I live in a country with universal healthcare, so I didn’t pay a single penny for my treatment. Is this your reality? If not, ONE MORE REASON TO NOT FUCKING PLAY WITH THIS SHIT.
Rabies is 100% lethal. Period. If you are scratched or bitten by an animal you’re not positive is vaccinated, you need to find treatment NOW. And probably go through all that shit I’ve been through (also if you are immunosupressed? I DON’T KNOW WHAT’D HAPPEN)
Stay safe and don’t be stupid ffs
Guys, I know this isn’t art nor anything like that, but I’ve been hearing about this rabies thing and ???? Look I trust none of you would risk yourselves like this, but maybe you can educate someone through my experience and stuff.
Also rabies does not necessarily cause frothing-at-the-mouth aggression in animals. Docility is also a very common symptom so any wild animal that is ‘friendly’ or ‘likes to be pet’ is suspect. Literally any wild animal is a vector.
Finally, you don’t need to be bitten. All you need is to come into contact with an infected animal’s bodily fluids through a cut that maybe you didn’t notice when you were handling it when it drooled on you.
Never touch a wild animal.
Infection with the rabies virus progresses through three distinct stages.
Prodromal: Stage One. Marked by altered behavioral patterns. “Docility” and “likes to be pet” are very common in the prodromal stage. Usually lasts 1-3 days. An animal in this stage carries virus bodies in its saliva and is infectious.
Excitative: Stage Two. Also called “furious” rabies. This is what everyone thinks rabies is–hyperreacting to stimuli and biting everything. Excessive salivation occurs. Animals in this stage also exhibit hydrophobia or the fear of water; they cannot drink (swallowing causes painful spasms of the throat muscles), and will panic if shown water. Usually lasts 3-4 days before rapidly progressing into the next stage.
Paralytic: Stage Three. Also called “dumb” rabies. As the infection runs its course, the virus starts degrading the nervous system. Limbs begin to fail; animals in this stage will often limp or drag their haunches behind them. If the animal has survived all this way, death will usually come through respiratory arrest: Their diaphragm becomes paralyzed and they stop breathing.
And to add onto the above, saliva isn’t the only infectious fluid. Brain matter is, too. If, somehow, you find yourself in possession of a firearm and faced with a rabid animal, do not go for a head shot. If you do, you will aerosolize the brain matter and effectively create a cloud of infectious material. Breathe it in, and you’ll give yourself an infection.
When I worked in wildlife rehabilitation, I actually did see a rabid animal in person, and it remains one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, because I was literally looking death in the eyes.
A pair of well-intentioned women brought us a raccoon that they thought had been hit by a car. They had found it on the side of the road, dragging its hind legs. They managed–somehow–to get it into a cat carrier and brought it to us.
As they brought it in, I remember how eerily silent it was. Normal raccoons chatter almost constantly. They fidget. They bump around. They purr and mumble and make little grabby-hands at everything. Even when they’re in pain, and especially when they’re stressed. But this one wasn’t moving around inside the carrier, and it wasn’t making a sound.
The clinic director also noticed this, and he asked in a calm but urgent voice for the women to hand the carrier to him. He took it to the exam room and set it on the table while they filled out some forms in the next room. I took a step towards the carrier, to look at our new patient, and without turning around, he told me, “Go to the other side of the room, and stay there.”
He took a small penlight out of the drawer and shone it briefly into the carrier, then sighed. “Bear, if you want to come look at this, you can put on a mask,” he said. “It’s really pretty neat, but I know you’re not vaccinated and I don’t want to take any chances.”
And at that point, I knew exactly what we were dealing with, and I knew that this would be the closest I had ever been to certain death. So I grabbed a respirator from the table and put it on, and held my breath for good measure as I approached the table. The clinic director pointed where I should stand, well back from the carrier door. He shone the light inside again, and I saw two brilliant flashes of emerald green–the most vivid, unnatural eyeshine I had ever seen.
“I don’t know why it does it,” the director murmured, “but it turns their eyes green.”
“What does?” one of the women asked, with uncanny, unintentionally dramatic timing, as she poked her head around the corner.
“Rabies,” the director said. “The raccoon is rabid. Did it bite either of you, or even lick you?” They told us no, said they had even used leather garden gloves when they herded it into the carrier. He told them to throw away the gloves as soon as possible, and steam-clean the upholstery in their car. They asked how they should clean the cat carrier; they wanted it back and couldn’t be convinced otherwise, so he told them to soak it in just barely diluted bleach.
But before we could give them the carrier back, we had to remove the raccoon. The rabid raccoon.
The clinic director readied a syringe with tranquilizers and attached it to the end of a short pole. I don’t remember how it was rigged exactly–whether he had a way to push down the plunger or if the needle would inject with pressure–but all he would have to do was stick the animal to inject it. And so, after sending me and the women back to the other side of the room, he made his fist jab.
He missed the raccoon.
The sound that that animal made on being brushed by the pole can only be described as a roar. It was throaty and ragged and ungodly loud. It was not a sound that a raccoon should ever make. I’m convinced it was a sound that a raccoon physically could not make.
It thrashed inside the carrier, sending it tipping from side to side. Its claws clattered against the walls. It bellowed that throaty, rasping sound again. It was absolutely frenzied, and I was genuinely scared that it would break loose from inside those plastic walls.
Somehow, the clinic director kept his calm, and as the raccoon jolted around inside the cat carrier, he moved in with the syringe again, and this time, he hit it. He emptied the syringe into its body and withdrew the pole.
And then we waited.
We waited for those awful screams, that horrible thrashing, to die down. As we did, the director loaded up another syringe with even more tranquilizer, and as the raccoon dropped off into unconsciousness, he stuck it a second time with the heavier dose. Even then, it growled at him and flailed a paw against the wall.
More waiting, this time to make sure the animal was truly down for the count.
Then, while wearing welder’s gloves, the director opened the door of the carrier and removed the raccoon. She was limp, bedraggled, and utterly emaciated, but she was still alive. We bagged up the cat carrier and gave it to the women again, advising them that now was a good time to leave. They heeded our warning.
I asked if I could come closer to see, and the clinic director pointed where I could stand. I pushed the mask up against my face and tried to breathe as little as possible.
He and his co-director–who I think he was grooming to be his successor, but the clinic actually went under later that year–examined the raccoon together. Donning a pair of nitrile gloves, he reached down and pulled up a handful, a literal fistful, of the raccoon’s skin and released it. It stayed pulled up.
Severe dehydration causes a phenomenon called “skin tenting”. The skin loses its elasticity somewhat, and will be slow to return to its “normal” shape when manipulated. The clinic director estimated that it had been at least four or five days since the raccoon had had anything to eat or drink.
She was already on death’s doorstep, but her rabies infection had driven her exhausted body to scream and lunge and bite.
Because, the scariest thing about rabies (if you ask me) is the way that it alters the behavior of those it infects to increase chances of spreading.
The prodromal stage? Nocturnal animals become diurnal–allowing them to potentially infect most hosts than if they remained nocturnal.
The excitative stage? The infected animal bites at the slightest provocation. Swallowing causes painful spasms, so they drool, coating their bodies in infectious matter. A drink could wash away the virus-charged saliva from their mouth and bodies, so the virus drives them to panic at the sight of water.
(The paralytic stage? By that point, the animal has probably spread its infection to new hosts, so the virus has no need for it any longer.)
Rabies is deadly. Rabies is dangerous. In all of recorded history, one person survived an infection after she became symptomatic, and so far we haven’t been able to replicate that success. The Milwaukee Protocol hasn’t saved anyone else. Just one person. And even then, she still had to struggle to gain back control of her body after all that nerve damage.
Please, please, take rabies seriously.
This has been a warning from your old pal Bear.
I knew how bad it was, but I had never read anything like the raccoon story.
I am not exaggerating when I say that is literally terrifying.
Y'all please read this. That is absolutely hideous. That’s literally like something from a horror movie.
Do not fuck around with wildlife. Or weird strays.
TFW Rabies education comes across your dash because some fuck up calls themselves Rabiosexual.
Rebloggin’ for that raccoon. o.o The original post I can pretty much guarantee is a troll, but it’s useful to know just why rabies is such serious shit.
Education right here
Extra reminder: If you see any animal other than a dog who’s been attacked by a porcupine? It’s rabid.
Dogs are dumb, friendly fucks who will investigate anything; everything else in the animal kingdom knows better than to mess with a porcupine, unless their brain is being ravaged by something beyond their control.
If you see a non-dog animal that has porcupine quills sticking out of it? Don’t try to help it yourself. Call animal control.
@talesfromtreatment@is-the-cat-video-cute tagging you to spread the word? Apparently people have forgotten that rabies is a brain disease, terrifying, is fatal if not treated immediately, the treatment is horrid, and the treatment is very expensive
Also I heard that in the USA, human rabies pre-exposure vaccines are not widely available and cost something like $900
Get your pets rabies vaccine every year, folks. Aside from everything else - and that’s a lot of everything - the test for rabies involves the brain, so the animal will be killed first.
And that is a kind end. The videos of rabies seizures are nightmarish
This is also why you’re not supposed to sleep outside without cover (ie a CLOSED tent) if there are swooping bats in your area. Apparently it can be very hard to realize you’ve been bitten by a bat (vs a bug, I guess it’s very small). Some students from my university were on a trip where they came into contact with bats, taking lots of selfies holding them etc, in the area they were supposed to be sleeping and the professor lost it when they saw some of the pictures. The students were housed elsewhere and the university had everyone vaccinated at the school’s expense- the pre-exposure vax may be expensive, but the number of shots you get post-exposure can vary (as demonstrated above) and it was ASTRONOMICAL.
When I looking for places to move to when I can finally leave the states, I looking to laws and procedures to bring my cat with. Any place that had eradicated rabies, intense policies and quarantines for any animal entering the country, unless you were coming from a different place that had also eradicated it. Some of would put your animal down if they were symptomatic at all. I remember thinking “what can’t rabies just treated?” No it can’t be, putting your pet down is the humane option if there symptomatic.
[image: a sixty-milliliter syringe, with human hand for scale. the syringe barrel is likely around five inches long and likely has an inside diameter of an inch or more.]
That quill thing isn’t quite right; young bears and big cats are sometimes overconfident about what they can handle and get quilled. But a raccoon or whatnot isn’t going to attack a porcupine unless something is very wrong with it.
As for the bats… yeah, you might not notice. Here’s a bat bite, and a bat skull to see the size of the teeth.
Can anyone who’s caught up let me know if they’ve found Vinny the rabbit at the Urban Rescue Ranch? I don’t want to have to comb through these vids for a rabbit mention
also to say this cause people are starting to get worried; for once I’m not blaming this on myself. We did all we could for Tippy, and I’ve never seen a dog so loved before. life is just incredibly fucking cruel. But I’m not internalizing this, I know I tend to and it’s comforting to know people have recognized that and they’re looking out for me. I really do appreciate it in a time where I feel completely empty and alone
and just to make it hurt worse my sister just. crawled into my bed and asked if she could sleep in my room tonight. It was like we were kids again and one of us had just had a nightmare.
Why the fuck don’t vampires understand animal agriculture.
“Oh we are vegetarian vampires, we only drink blood from animals, so we go out into the incredibly unique temperate rainforest ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest and hunt their rare megafauna” what the fuck dude. Why? Just keep some cows, y’all have so much money! Just keep some goddamn goats! Order some live horses! Leave the local wildlife alone!
“I am a vampire with a soul and I am so tortured with guilt all I can eat are rats off the street” off the street!?! Dude what is wrong with you. Just start a rat rescue. I have friends in rat rescue. Do you have any idea how many rats they get all the time? Rats that aren’t covered in fleas and filled with diseases??? Rats that are pregnant and have baby rats? You’ll be eating for the rest of your life!
All these vampires making eating the hardest fucking thing in the world like we never figured out how to get continuous animal resources for food thousands of years ago why the fuck you think you have to be hunter/gatherer about it like it’s the goddam Paleolithic
…But also for the love of Gordon Ramsey you can just BUY beef and pork blood from a butcher! Enormous drums of it! You could fill up a whole above-ground pool with ethically-sourced animal blood for less than the cost of heating your stupid mansion and have an entire Parasitic Pool Party!
disabled intersex trans man needs help escaping domestic violence during pride month
happy pride month!!! ️ ⚧ it’s also my birthday today! I’m a t4t intersex bigender trans man. i am currently fleeing a domestic violence situation where i was attacked physically by my ex. i am still healing from this injury. i am applying for disability and only make $245/month from the government while i wait for my case to get approved.
i am being evicted from my home because my ex left me to deal with our entire apartment by myself. i don’t have money to cover the costs of moving either as i cant drive and don’t own a car.
i have been having nightmares every night since this happened, and constant flashbacks during the day where im convinced my ex is still here and can hurt me. they have a very long history of stalking their exes. i have 2 pet rats and need to keep myself and them housed, fed and safe while i figure out what my next step is.
anything at all will help us keep our head above water right now. thank you so much, and happy pride again! enjoy the weather and festivities, thanks for considering helping a trans man celebrate by stabilizing hir housing✌️
UPDATE: one of my Emotional Support Animals unfortunately passed away this morning, and i am devastated. my ESAs were a pair of dumbo rats- rats are social animals and must be kept in pairs for the health of the rats. i need to prepare for adopting a sibling for mine and my surviving rats mental health whenever I’ll be able to.
this is affecting my ability to cope with my already dismal living circumstances. i am stressed beyond belief about not being able to renew my lease at my current apartment as they require me to make 2.5x the total amount of rent, which i only make $245/month. I have to scramble to find new housing before the month is up… this came as an extra blow to my psyche. please considering helping me and my surviving Emotional Support Animal, wizard. Picture of her below. Thank you.
Ughhhh. HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) has made it to Michigan backyard flocks. It’s still across the state from me but that won’t last, and it’s been found in backyard flocks in several other states now as well. AI is a flock eradicator; if any of your birds get it, the whole flock must be culled and there’s a wait period before you can start over.
PLEASE bring in your bird feeders for the next few months to discourage birds from gathering together.
Even if you don’t have outdoor birds like me, you can help protect flock birds in your area by removing feeders and bird baths etc from your yard. This will help to slow the spread to flocks like mine.
If you are in the USA and have flock birds
Bring them in if you can. If you only have a couple, set them up indoors if you can. If you’re like me and you can’t, do your best to move food and water sources into the coops where wild birds won’t see them. You can buy bird prevention netting to wrap your run in, and tarp the top of it to prevent falling excrement from reaching your birds as wild birds pass overhead.
It should go without saying, but I’m gonna say it. You should also avoid going to places where others have birds (like auctions, swap meets, visiting farms or friends that have them), or allowing anyone that’s been where there are birds to visit your property. If you must have visitors, a 10% bleach solution in a tub for them to step in is the bare minimum of biosecurity so they don’t track it in on their shoes.
There are tests for Avian Influenza, which can be done without killing the birds. If you are concerned your birds may be showing symptoms of AI (sudden deaths, decrease in egg production, decrease in water intake, or other illness symptoms), you should contact your state agricultural department (in Michigan, MSU ag department and MDARD handles this kind of stuff, not sure for other states) and inquire about what steps to take to have testing done. They will be able to advise you on what to do.
Good luck to those in states where this is moving around widely now. I hope everyone’s flocks stay safe. Please feel free to add resources for your state if you know them. Many states offer free AI testing!
For people wondering YES if you have exotic birds like parrots this is still something to be worried about. And i would follow Kedreeva’s advice
Oh yes, waterfowl and poultry are the most sensitive to this, but it’s avianinfluenza. It’s been found in plenty of songbirds/passerines, as well as the birds of prey that eat them, and there’s zero reason why psittacines are excluded except that most of them live inside houses.
If you do have completely indoor birds already (like parrots or pigeons or finches) then you need to be leaving your shoes at the door (preferably stepping into a bleach footbath with those shoes before removing them), not allowing your birds down onto the floor (and cleaning floors regularly with something to disinfect), and not allowing your birds outside until this passes, which could be months. You also should not be mixing equipment between enclosures, and doing your best to keep equipment clean and sanitized.
This has been steadily progressing across the US as birds migrate. A small farm in upstate NY just had to cull their entire flock of 400. Hundreds of thousands of meat birds at facilities around the US have had to be culled. Turkey farms have had to cull tens of thousands. McMurray Hatchery just lost half their heritage breed flocks to a positive test at one of their larger breeding facilities. There are a half dozen cases in Michigan, getting closer to me. Iowa has begun a blanket cull radius where any flock within 2 miles of an infected flock must be culled, positive or not, to prevent it jumping.
New cases and the major culls that follow in their wake, are being reported daily, and this is still just starting. Migratory season doesn’t end until the middle-end of May. April has barely started. The total death toll so far is upwards of 15 million birds, and that’s going to continue to go up.
Please, please, please. Protect your birds, protect the birds around you. I am begging you to bring your birds in if you can; they will not like it but at least they will be alive to not like it. I posted this originally when I thought we wouldn’t be able to coop everyone, but I have made sacrifices in order to do so since, because this is getting very bad.
Stay safe. My thoughts are with everyone’s feathered kids.
(Current as of April 6th, 2022)
Reblogging to add that there is a current and often-updated map of HPAI case locations in the USA on the USGS site. States that do not currently have cases still need to be wary, particularly the closer you are to states that HAVE had cases.
This is the map as of today, 6 April 2022:
I also want to tack this information on to this main post:
HPAI is transmissible to cats and dogs!
Studies done in 2015/16 and since have found that cats and dogs can pick up this virus from infected meat (as in when they eat wild birds they have caught) as well as through respiratory transmission. Cats and dogs are not generally susceptible to LPAI, the normal strain in north america, but both were found to be susceptible to HPAI.
So, in addition to removing bird feeders and keeping any pet birds on lockdown as much as possible, folks with cats and dogs need to be aware of the dangers to their animals as well. Cat owners should keep their cats indoors or allow them out in covered catios only (you’ll have to read up and decide if leash time is safe, I haven’t looked into it) until migratory season ends. Folks with dogs should not allow dogs off-leash outdoors where they might be able to catch birds or touch bird carcasses. While HPAI mainly causes death in waterfowl and land fowl, songbirds are a reservoir species and can transmit it to mammals interacting with them or their carcasses or feces.
Please be careful out there. This is going to get worse before it gets better.
[ Image description: A map of the US dotted with commercial poultry, non-commercial poultry/backyard flock, and wild bird hotspots. ]
This is the time of year when wildlife rehabilitation facilities get filled up with “orphaned” babies brought in by well-meaning citizens. While plenty of these babies truly are orphans and need the care of a licensed rehabber to survive, there are also unfortunately plenty of babies brought in that were mistakenly thought to be abandoned. So, what do you do if you see a baby animal by itself? Information provided based on recommendations of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota:
–Squirrels: Female squirrels move babies between nest sites, and during this process babies may be visible outside their nest or even at the base of a tree. If you see baby squirrels outside of a nest, leave them undisturbed and keep your pets contained. Keep an eye on them for a few hours–it may take her a while! If she doesn’t return for them by the next day, then it’s time to call your local rehabber. If you disturb a nest, as is common when trimming branches this time of year, leave them be as long as they are not injured. Again, if they are still alone the next day, take them in.
–Bunnies: If you find a nest, try and keep your pet contained and the area undisturbed for a few weeks while the bunnies grow. You likely will not see mom! You can monitor the nest if you’re concerned, you will quickly see a decline in the health of the babies if mom is not returning to nurse them. If your pet disturbs a nest, bring any injured babies to your local rehab center but leave the uninjured animals alone.
–Ducklings/goslings: Mom should lead the babies to the nearest body of water within a day or two of hatching. Do not try and move mom and all her babies as you will likely just end up stressing and potentially scattering them. If a baby is left behind, you can gently capture them and keep them in a warm, quiet place until you can take them to a rehabber. Be very gentle with ducklings and goslings, and do not handle them more than necessary! These babies are very easily stressed. Unhatched eggs should be left undisturbed–they are federally protected.
–Birds: It is a myth that handling a baby bird will prevent the parents from taking care of it. If you find a featherless bird or a bird with fluffy down feathers, you can gently put it back in the nest. If the same bird keeps getting pushed out of the nest, you should bring it to a rehabber as they may be something wrong with it. If the entire nest has fallen, try and put it back in the same place you found it. If you can’t put it right back where it was, keep it within 5 feet of the original location to ensure the parents continue to care for them. Fledgling birds will spend a significant amount of time on the ground as their immature wings develop. They flutter around, but they can’t really fly yet. Parents will still feed fledglings, so you can keep an eye on a grounded bird to see if adult birds are still in the area caring for them.
–In general: If you find a baby animal alone, leave it be and monitor it to see if mom comes back. Keep your pets away from the area, and don’t try to handle the baby unless absolutely necessary as this can result in you stressing out or hurting the animal. If mom doesn’t come back after several hours, you can take them in to a LICENSED REHABBER. Many rehabilitation facilities want you to call before bringing in an orphaned animal to ensure that they are truly orphaned. Do NOT bring the animal into your house to raise! Most people do not have the time or knowledge to raise orphaned wildlife, and by hand raising them, you habituate them to humans and prevent them from having a chance to be released. Also, it’s illegal. If the animal is injured, it is ok to take them to your local rehabber right away! When in doubt, call your local wildlife rehabilitation facility. They can give you more information about specific species and situations. If you really can’t find a wildlife rehabilitator or the animal is in need of immediate medical attention, you can take it to a vet clinic. Veterinarians can provide lifesaving care or humane euthanasia for an injured animal, before getting them to a rehabber.
An added note that if the weather is bad (cold temperatures, raining, etc.) and there’s a baby down that you’re worried about leaving too long, call your local rehab for advice on how long to wait & when to step in. Naked babies can get cold quickly when it’s cool outside, so your rehabber might want them brought in sooner than waiting overnight like you could with a slightly older baby that’s furred/feathered. I know my rehab sometimes instructed people to go ahead & bring in small babies right away rather than leave them to die from exposure.
Also if you don’t mind me adding an extra animal….
- Fawns! We would get people calling a LOT about fawns found alone (Michigan-based rehab, loooots of deer around). Mom often leaves the fawn on their own while she gets food. She’ll tell baby to stay put & stay quiet, so they’re less likely to be found by predators. You do NOT want to take a baby fawn away from their location if they are laying down & staying quiet. They’re doing what they’re supposed to! Signs that a fawn need help include: obvious injuries; walking around alone with no mom in sight, especially if they’re also calling out & making a lot of noise; if they have a dent in their forehead (indicates dehydration); if they’re near a dead adult female & show obvious reluctance to leave her. Deer take a ton of work to rehab & there are added restrictions in some states (at least in Michigan for sure) due to diseases like chronic wasting disease, so please make sure you’re not kidnapping a healthy fawn that’s just waiting for Mom to come back.
Reblogging for the added commentary on fawns!
Hey this is EXTRA IMPORTANT this year because we have some nasty diseases in our wildlife populations! Please PLEASE make an effort to leave baby animals alone unless they are truly injured or abandoned, because a lot of rehab centers are either at lower capacity or cannot take certain species. This primarily concerns rabbits, which are affected by rabbit hemorrhagic disease, and certain birds. In my area, the local rehab center is not taking waterfowl or raptors due to the concern for high path avian influenza. And even for those of us that are still taking these animals, we are limited too because we don’t have anywhere to send them. We are already struggling to find a place for healthy waterfowl “orphans”, because the local rehab center isn’t taking them right now. Plus we have to hold on to these patients so much longer, which limits space for other animals. Do not bring us animals that don’t need to be rehabilitated!
all in all, the fourth wasn’t too bad. i mean it was still bad, but not as bad as it was last year. having a friend offer to stream the entire charlie’s angels series on kast helped too.
i continue to not understand the appeal of fireworks. it’s loud, it ruins the air quality, it’s rude to people with ptsd, anxiety, sensory issues, autism, or even just people who don’t like sudden, loud noises. i went out to check on the rabbits (they didn’t like it, but weren’t too bothered,) and my closest neighbour fired off the biggest mortar i’ve ever seen and absolutely terrified all of my animals. i put the birds up early so they felt a little more secure.
did you know that rabbits can jump/kick so hard when they’re frightened that they break their own spines?
Anyway.
At least they only fired them until one am or so, and not past three.
We’ve been busy this week. Building more cage racks and getting rabbits on them, designing and building new chicken coops/tractors to make chores easier on me, running water line diagnostics, and more. It’s been warm, which means I haven’t been as painful, and I’m feeling really good about things.
I don’t have many animal updates - I’m getting ready to send a few rabbits on a transport down to California, and we culled my beautiful rooster Kiryu because for some reason he just got so, so mean and I couldn’t handle it anymore.
mostly my time is consumed with the never-ending worrying about how i am going to have cage space for both my pelt animals, which make my money, and my show animals, which are fun. i am not sure how i can combine the two, either, at least not entirely, not without culling out half of my barn, anyway. i unfortunately spent too long cultivating three distinct lines of very nice meat/fur rabbits and i’m not sure how best to combine them in a way the preserves the traits i was working towards.
anyway.
speaking of pelts, my taxidermy freezer got turned off for an unknown amount of days and defrosted everything inside. which is a disaster, the extent of i still do not know and won’t until i am able to re-thaw those hides and see if they’re salvageable. everything in there was either a personal or commission pelt. which is just fantastic, as you can imagine. all i can do i suppose is keep moving forward…
a short post this week but that’s not really bad. i need to go have my tea and get back outside to chorin’. i worked so hard yesterday i’m pretty tired today, and i had a call with my grandfather (delightful; he needed advice for how to deal with a broody hen that’s adopted him who likely is sitting on unfertilized eggs,) which despite being a person i enjoy talking to, phone anxiety says that any call costs spoons, so i need a little pep to get back into it.
then i guess i should go make more pvc racks…gonna have even nicer legs than i already have from all that up and down squat action ;p
i leave you now with mr. chanel, ready to head to his new home this week. good luck little dude!
