Nate called from Fountain Fire Station 1 after an injured American Kestrel was brought over for help. Unfortunately, a cat had toyed with the falcon and his injuries are quite serious-a broken humerus, ruptured air sacs, and all the bacteria that accompanies cat claws and teeth. This bird is definitely not out of the woods. Very few survive cat attacks and we don’t begin feeling optimistic until 10 days have passed. Keep your fingers crossed…. Update 03/22–I think it’s safe to say the falcon has survived the cat attack, and now we have to see if that broken wing has mended properly. Update 04/04–This falcon is now flying nicely in an 8-foot aviary and will soon be moved to a larger one to continue flight exercise!
The Fort Carson pocket gopher that rehabber Kris has been wintering over has become very active in the last several weeks, awake during the day and most of the night. When Kris checked on her one morning and found she had chewed thru’ her container, Kris decided it was time to release her. Kris had located a perfect release site, one where the gophers were already above ground and active, and one morning last week Kris released the pocket gopher there. The gopher immediately began digging her way underground, and when Kris came back to check a few hours later, there was a nice mound (above) indicating Karen the Gopher tunneled and did exactly what she is supposed to do!