Vickie found this little critter in her yard and didn’t know quite what to do. She works with volunteer Diana, and so she called Diana to come and pick the bird up. Diana did that right away, provided some quick supportive care, and volunteer Su brought to the vet, where it was determined this thin bird needed more care in rehab. Since we don’t have any other flams here at EWRC, the bird is going to Pueblo Raptor Center where he’ll enjoy the company of another little flam and the excellent care provided at that facility. Thank you to everyone who helped with this guy, as well as Jena and both Dianas, and we wish this bird the best! (Another example of how many caring and dedicated volunteers it takes to help just 1 little bird!)
Yesterday was a perfect day to release “Albert,” a red-tailed hawk from Elbert. He was ready to go and soared beautifully in an idyllic area in rural Elbert. The really cool thing, though, was that the other red-tailed hawks were there when we arrived, and in a matter of minutes Albert had joined the others.
Here Phil gives him a liftoff.
Preparing to soar….
Can you even believe they want to run a toll road through this beautiful place??? What will happen to the wildlife? And the people that live here? And their farms and ranches?
Soaring!
Our friend Randy, aka “The Ferret Guy” is recently hospitalized and we would like to wish him a very speedy recovery!
We just want to thank these guys on their hard work, doing Nathan’s Eagle Scout project. This project consisted of gathering donated building supplies and building several nest boxes that will be used at EWRC to house owls, foxes, coyote, and other birds and critters in rehab. The timing couldn’t have been better; it’s been really wet lately and we’ve been very short on boxes to keep the critters dry when it storms. So, thank you Nathan, and thank you Tom and Sharon, for picking them all up and delivering today!
Kawana called us last evening after finding a small falcon in her back yard near the Citadel Mall. The bird was lying on its belly, seemingly unable to move, until he bounced into their window well. The bird was picked up and brought to the vet by volunteers, who examined merlin and determined head trauma was likely what happened (probably while hunting for food.)
Flipper is a cottontail rabbit that came to us a couple of months ago after having apparently been picked up and dropped by a raptor. She had very deep lacerations on her back and sides from the bird’s talons; we opted not to suture (it’s like trying to sew tissue paper, usually just tears the skin and makes the wounds worse.) Flipper was treated homeopathically, as we don’t like to have drugs dumped into rabbits; they usually cause more harm than good. Flipper’s wounds were rinsed with warm water only, and a drop of calendula gel, and have healed beautifully. She still has an obvious head tilt and in our experience, the head tilt usually resolves eventually. Flipper is alert, curious, and becoming quite active. When her eye heals she will be moved outside. This bunny is coming along nicely and we will release her here.
By Donna Ralph, President, Ellicott Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
I remember a few years ago when a Board member asked me, “Why do we always have to work so hard on fundraising?” The answer is simple; when we can’t feed our animals, we shut our doors. Fundraising is still a major struggle. At EWRC we are all unpaid volunteers that spend our own personal money to help provide care to our animals. Why? Because we feel so strongly that we need to help these animals and nobody else is going to do it. Indeed, incredible as it may seem, it’s sometimes easier for some businesses to take their lives than for businesses like ours to provide them with care and give them a second chance at life.
We sell our State to tourists and business on our breathtaking scenery and of course, our wildlife; a precious natural resource. Yet for agencies like ours that provide services to our community by taking care of the wildlife that the people in our communities find (dog/cat attack, out of the nest, sick, car hit, poisoned, etc.) there is no financial support or funding for us to help care for the animals. We work regular jobs, spend our own money, “sacrifice” our homes, and field thousands of phone calls from the public, oftentimes demanding we “come right now and get this animal” and don’t understand it’s not that simple. We are home-based, so there are no days off and no getting away. Yes, we are lucky there are a few veterinarians that donate their time and services to treat wildlife. Yes, the CDOW in Colorado Springs provides us with an outstanding volunteer Wildlife Transport Team to move animals. But what the Public doesn’t know is that there are so few of us licensed wildlife rehabilitators and that due to time and financial constraints we don’t all provide services to all animals and that although they don’t see it, it often takes several phone calls until we get the right rehabber to intake that animal, that we have to make an appointment with the right vet, and we have to find a transport volunteer to move that animal. The look on peoples’ faces when they realize we’re just regular people trying to help out, not some privately- or government-funded agency, is a sight to behold. At that point they tell us they’re glad there are people like us but that we’re nuts to do what we do.
We oftentimes agree. Wildlife rehab burnout is high because of money, physical labor, and emotional stress. We see some pretty awful sights. Some days we wonder why we’re wasting our time, when nobody else seems to care. On those days, the only thing that keeps us going is that if we don’t get that animal picked up, it will die waiting or be euthanized. And even after all these years, that guilt stays with us. The day-to-day cleaning, feeding, paperwork, gazillions of phone calls, all in addition to our jobs and families gets to be pretty exhausting.
My mom always says, “Charity begins at home.” With the international and national crises that abound, notably the Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the war, we’ve noticed a huge decrease in donations. We understand that giving to charity is a deeply personal and private matter. It seems the day-to-day operations of local charities is easily eclipsed by these “big” events, yet we all struggle to survive as nonprofits.
The media focus lately has been on a local big cat shelter whose owner recently passed away. We’ve been to that particular facility, visited with the man who runs day-to-day operations, and it appears those cats enjoy a good quality of life there. We know that man cares ALOT and these cats are precious to him. We’ve listened to his stories about abused and neglected cats, and cats that are just “dumped” on his facility (and so many others like his) but yet the “dumpers” provide no financial support to keep them fed. We watched earlier in the year when another large local animal facility closed (again, no money for food) and we saw a local wildlife intake center close its doors early; again, funding is a problem. And the “ferret man” from Aurora, who helped so many ferrets and so many people but was ultimately booted out? People seem so shocked when mention is made that these animals may have to be put down. Euthanasia is never taken lightly by ANYONE that loves animals. But the problem is quite obvious-if you can’t feed them and you can’t find GOOD homes for them, what do you do? And in wildlife rescue, animals are euthanized when there is nobody able to provide care. Nobody likes to acknowledge this but healthy animals are routinely euthanized when nobody comes to pick them up, likely because they are overloaded already. The solution, at least for large exotics, seems pretty simple-nobody needs to have these animals as pets in the first place. It seems so silly to us and so easy; why in the world would anyone think a big cat would be a good pet? Or a wolf? Or a camel? These aren’t domesticated animals that will sit on your lap or ride happily in the car with you, or play with the kids. Sometimes I wonder if it is a status thing? How can that be? Who is going to look at a big cat in a tiny cage and be impressed; at least, in a good way? I simply don’t get it. This will continue to be a problem as long as we allow people to breed and sell, and purchase these animals as pets. And as far as wildlife, as usual, we simply need more licensed, quality, caring rehabilitators and funds to provide care.
Invariably there comes a time when these animals, just like wildlife people pick up and try to raise, are no longer happy in captivity and become self-destructive or destructive, and their owners start looking for a place to “dump” them, or simply cease taking care of the animal. When people tire of wild animals they have found, and pets as well, they will abandon them at parks or other places (we’ve actually seen this over and over) to “have a nice life in the country,” ignorant of the fact that these animals have no clue of what to do or any survival skills. These animals get hit by cars, starve, freeze, become prey for other predators, or worse. Was this the ending the person that adopted or found that animal had in mind? Sometimes the animal ends up at a rescue and the prior owner drives off into the sunset, perhaps feeling pretty good about it, and leaving behind an unhappy and confused animal, and an animal rescue owner probably wondering if they’ll be able to afford caring for it.
People bring animals to us (and other animal rescues) after they’ve had it a while and realize the animal’s health is failing because of improper diet, improper housing, and/or stress. Oftentimes the damage has been done and if the animal isn’t dying, needs to be euthanized. We’ve had wildlife brought to us that people have raised with their pets (in 1 case, a fox kit raised with pit bulls, and the vet found sutures and a surgical pin in place-indicative of a serious accident that fox had with that person; a pit bull attack, perhaps?)
So here we are, at the latter part of the year, wondering what is the future of our animal rescue agency? And other animal rescue agencies? Are we making a difference, REALLY, or just wasting our time? Does our community know we exist and does it care? The animals, I think, would agree we make a difference to them but unfortunately the animals aren’t able to provide the one thing we all need to stay in business-money! I often think that if each person in our community donated $1 to our organization, Ellicott Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, what a huge difference that would make. Right now, today, I’m wondering when we’ll be able to order the huge amount of raptor food we need, and how long our old car is going to make it for transporting wildlife to and from vets and educational programs, and what we’ll do when it finally quits running….. So please, be sure to commit to caring for an animal for the duration of its life before adopting, and please, PLEASE leave a donation when dropping off wildlife at the vet or your local rehabber! If we can’t feed them, we can’t take them-it’s that simple.
Young Cooper’s hawk, nest washed away in a storm. Costs $3 per day to feed, x approximately 3 weeks.
Kevin was driving in south Colorado Springs yesterday when he noticed a young hawk sitting by the road, apparently not able to fly. He called his wife and asked her to bring some towels and a kennel, and meet him so they could contain the bird to get it some help. The bird could fly just a little; about 4 feet off the ground, and there was concern as to whether or not they would be able to catch him. They ultimately did, and brought the hawk to EWRC, and it seems the bird may have soft tissue wing injury.
Released 09/01.
Okay, I’m going to be honest and just say that I find neonate and baby rabbits to be extremely difficult to raise. My luck is so bad that this year I’m not taking neonate rabbits and I’ve been referring baby rabbit calls to Kathy and Anita, who seem to be doing pretty well with them. It seems I cannot find a formula, combination of formulas, or any diet that seems to get these little critters through the weaning process. They seem to do well for several days, or even a week or two, then I lose them during weaning. Adults do extremely well here; it’s the babies that are heartbreakers. So kudos to Kathy and Anita, both of whom have provided care to over 200 baby bunnies this year so far. Kathy sent her 2 little jackrabbits over here for rehab, to raise and release, as in Ellicott jackrabbits and jackrabbit habitat are plentiful. They seem to do well in this terrain, with a jack I released 3 years ago still seen pretty regularly.
This baby fits in the palm of your hand; very small.
Today was a very busy day, and a pretty good one. We released several cottontails, flickers, a kestrel, “Jerry” crow, and a mourning dove. Mary’s mother scaled quail and babies went back home a few days ago and Mary sees them in her sunflower patch, seemingly doing well. Jerry crow had an almost immediate reunion with what we think are his parents, up in the tree. A not-too-happy Abert’s squirrel watched it all! These release days are special and help to make up for the really bad days.
Here goes mourning dove…
And here sits Jerry, flying now, on top of the tree…
And here, if you look very closely, is Jerry and what we think are his parents (and a very unhappy Abert’s squirrel!)
Yesterday we received a call from Penny, who works here in Ellicott. On her way to work (she lives ‘way out in Lincoln County) she spotted a young eagle at the roadside that she knew needed help. After trying to pinpoint the location of the bird from Penny, we drove out there and found the bird sitting next to the road. We could tell right away the injury was bad; the wing was twisted over the back. We picked the bird up and took her to the vet, where we were informed this was a young female and not only did she have a joint fracture in her wing, but also a sinus infection. She had not been taking very good care of her feathers (although surprisingly she wasn’t thin.) Unfortunately, this was not a bird that could be rehabilitated for release.
Here she was, sitting by the road. Notice the position of the wing.
Debbie is a lady who lives in Colorado Springs and has found her share of birds that need care this summer! Early in June she called us after she had found some fledgling blue jays that needed help, and last evening she was at an RV storage facility and spotted a peregrine falcon running around underneath parked RVs, with an obvious wing injury. We drove out there and sure enough, there he was. Unfortunately, the bird is very thin and the wing is fractured in the joint.
Wednesday afternoon Debbie, Diana and I brought Handsome and Hootie to visit stroke patients at Easter Seals. I believe we all had an enjoyable time discussing wildlife and wildlife rehab, learning about the birds, and boy, what a humorous bunch! Everyone had good questions and experiences to share, and the time went by very quickly. And thank you, Christine. You are a very generous lady who cares alot!
We finally had a day with no storms in the afternoon, and it was a perfect day, slightly breezy, to release 3 red-tailed hawks in our area. Thank you to everyone who came to the release; the Dice and Gopperton families, transport volunteers Dana and Mike, and it was nice to finally meet Leoni, too. Mike found one of the hawks near his home, in the road. Alice’s hawk came from the Briargate area, where she saw the youngster fly into a power line at the transfer station near her home. Luckily, the hawk wasn’t electrocuted but unfortunately was emaciated. To quote Cindy at the vet, “I was going to give him an IM injection but he had no “M”.” Well, he has plenty of “M” now!! The 3rd hawk was an adult found in the road at 94 and Curtis, and both of the younger birds seemed to have bonded with him, so all were released together in that vicinity. As usual, the release was a little unpredictable. After a moment or two of sitting and orienting themselves, the 2 youngsters flew off together after the mature bird took off first, all in the same general direction. We wish them success and happy hunting!
Our dream was that all would exit simultaneously and fly off together …….
However, this guy needed a moment to orient himself and soon followed the others.
Alice sent us some great photos of the release…..
And here’s another of Alice’s pictures…
Mike’s and Chuck’s kestrels were released today, and that is great news! They were released here in Ellicott, at the facility, where there are plenty of kestrels, food, and habitat for them, and they are now quite familiar with the territory. They were gone so far and so fast we couldn’t get a picture. Juan’s kestrel is recovering nicely from a trichomoniasis infection, presumably from eating a trich-infested bird or perhaps drinking from a trich-laden bird bath. He is feeding himself, his sinuses have cleared up, he’s putting on weight, and after oral swabbing for trich is negative, will be released.
“Jason” surveys his surroundings while “Feisty” flies overhead.
Thank you to Cheryl and Diana for volunteering at our table at Dino Depot yesterday. Lots of animal agencies and rescues, and an opportunity to share information as well. Woodland Park is always a treat!
In an effort to make baby and young bird ID a little bit easier, we’re going to post real pictures of real birds so we can all identify these birds easier, hopefully. Books are helpful but somewhat limited, depending on the age of the bird, and the “morph” of the bird; i.e., dark morph, light morph, etc. We get so many calls during peak season regarding young birds, and feel that maybe if we knew what we were dealing with BEFORE the bird arrives, resolution could happen that much quicker. Oftentimes the bird doesn’t need to be rescued; the adults are out gathering food, or the young bird is fledging and the adults are close by, or…..
So let’s begin with an “easy” one-do you know what this bird is???? See below…
Okay, he’s a pigeon! Here’s what he’ll look like when mature.
Well, still keeping busy! The red-tailed hawks are in the bigger enclosure now, almost ready for release. Young Cooper’s hawks and Swainson’s hawks went to Raptor Center of Pueblo to companion single orphaned youngsters there. Not any change on Hooter’s status as of yet; more time will tell. Meadowlark was released today, and blue jays are getting ready to go soon, too. Flickers are ready to go outside for prerelease, we just don’t have outdoor enclosure space for them yet. Coyote is still touch-and-go, mourning dove is doing well. Kris is keeping busy with foxes and a porcupine. “Flipper,” a young cottontail that was apparently picked up and then dropped by a raptor, is coming along VERY SLOWLY. She can feed herself but needs helping cleaning herself, and her talon wounds are healing nicely. A beautiful scaled quail came from Peyton, along with 8 of her chicks. There were 11 chicks originally. She had nested in Mary’s window well near the front porch, and the eggs hatched, and the chicks began dying. There are cats all over at Mary’s (neighbor’s cats)so the quail wouldn’t be safe if removed from the window well and left to fend for themselves. So now Mother Quail and her chicks are being cared for at EWRC and as soon as the chicks can fly, will go back to Mary’s where there is a large population of scaled quail. Hard to get a picture of her chicks; all we get is the mother, all fluffed up, with 8 pairs of tiny feet sticking out!
Mother Scaled Quail.
Red-Tailed hawk from Elbert (& Albert!) with others in the background.
