5

5-29-07

The spring baby season is upon us once again and orphaned and injured young critters are arriving at Wild and Free. Here are a few of our recent young ones. First, we have the first of the baby raccoons that we'll be getting. These 2 were orphaned when their mother was hit by a car.

One of the unfortunate things that sometimes happens in the spring when we have a storm is that a nest will get blown out of its tree. That's what happened to this little owl.

So far we only have 5 fawns in residence but that number will probably increase significantly, it does every year, usually because of the death of the mother. Sometimes well meaning people will find a fawn hiding in the woods and mistakenly assume that it has been orphaned. If you come across a fawn when you're out walking in the woods, leave it alone and check on it again later and also the next day. In almost every case the mother is nearby and will return to its baby when it's safe to do so.

Opossums have been extending their range northward in recent years so we've been seeing them at W&F also.

We currently have a batch of young Opossums that were orphaned when their mother was struck by a car. There were 3 vet techs feeding them today at various locations in the building.

This baby otter was brought home by a cat. The cat's owner took the otter away and brought it to W&F. It seems to be in good health and is no worse for its experience with the cat.

Want to see a close up of a baby otter?

Here are some more young owls that lost their homes in a storm. We have 4 of them, all about this size, all blown out of their nest.

One of the chores that the vet techs take care of is feeding the critters. Most of them are quite happy to get their food from a baby bottle.

One of the things that the big owls do to let you know that you shouldn't get any closer is to snap their beaks open and shut. This produces a loud clacking noise that serves as a warning to stay away. You can click on the following picture to download a 30 second video clip showing this behavior. It will play in Windows Media Player.

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