Wildlife Rehabilitation.

Cory’s Wildlife Sanctuary; Conservation & Research Center
A project proposal by Corinne Waheed
January 2016

CorysWildlifeSanctuary

The Project: Cory’s Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) will offer a solution to the lack of conservation efforts for mammals made in and around Montreal. There are currently no wildlife rehabilitation centers for orphaned or injured mammals in Quebec. The project involves a large vacant lot to be enclosed by a tall fence and protected to ensure continued natural biodiversity. The park will include a free ranging wildlife sanctuary for recuperating or maturing wildlife species as well as large enclosures for selected endangered exotic wildlife species for breeding programs. There will be three important facilities attached to the sanctuary; a small wildlife health clinic capable of receiving injured or orphaned mammals around the clock and help treat, and care for them; the McGill Mammal Research Center, where biologists will conduct research and analyses on wildlife behavior, genetics and survival/health in captivity and post release; and finally the welcome center to greet visitors and sell tickets/ souvenirs, next to where Sunny’s Café, a lunch and coffee diner, and the Rainbow Show Room, a presentation room for educational and recreational purposes, will be located.
The Plan: After conducting the careful examination of several aspects of various prospect location using GIS, the location selected was 1515 route Hardwood in Vaudreuil-Dorion. If accepted this sanctuary can be known as Harwood Mammal Sanctuary (HMS).


The Breeding Center: In order to specialize on certain species, the breeding program will focus its efforts on only a few selected species which meet various criteria: they will be captive bread species obtained from similar breeding programs in zoos, currently endangered with declining populations in the wild, and capable of thriving in even the coldest Canadian winters provided the proper construction of habitats, adequate diet and health care. For example, the first species to be bread could be a couple of red pandas, then perhaps snow leopards, and if all goes well and funding allows it, the popular giant pandas, on loan from China. Canadian species could include polar bears and arctic foxes, for example.
These animals are not only to be mascots for conservation and major tourist attractions near the island of Montreal, but also subjects of research on behaviors, mental and physical health, and improving conditions for breeding endangered wildlife in captivity. Selected, mature individuals with good genes are to be released in their native lands when the time is right. They will continue to be protected and evaluated every step of the way. Breeders and zoologists will become familiarized with each species and therefore very informative in group presentations at each habitat. Friendly, well trained animals may even be available for private portraits with visitors upon donations to the sanctuary’s research.

The Research Facility: The McGill Research facility will be primarily run by professors and graduates in wildlife biology at McGill University. The main focus of the research center is to evaluate the conditions in which animals are kept in order to maximize their enrichment benefits and study the genetic composition of offspring to determine if they can be stronger and smarter than their parents, to be become more adapted for survival in the wild if selected to be released. Besides conducting important research on the animals present in the wildlife breeding program, such as behavior observations, mental well-being, laboratory analyses (blood, stool, urine), and both nutritional and environmental requirements, they will be designing a new method of wildlife tagging for the purpose of tracking animals post releases/ reintroductions. Through the breeding center they will analyze reproductive success and growth rates of offspring.
Animals will be tagged with brightly colored ear tags to allow easy recognition, and to show hunters and poachers that they are protected. A special task force will be in charge of designing and testing a new sub-dermal GPS microchip to track the movement of released or reintroduced mammals to replace large bulky radio telemetry collars which could have detrimental consequences on their survivorship in the wild. This microchip can be implanted using a wide needled syringe, and can be detected either with a manual scanning device or using solar charged micro batteries and a GPS signal accurate within 15 meters.

The Wildlife Health Clinic: This small clinic will have an examination room, a surgery room, and a few different sized enclosures to temporarily hold mammals during treatments are required cage rest. It will employ animal health technicians, veterinarian medicine students, an on-call veterinarian and offer volunteer positions for students exploring the field of wildlife health. Once animals have either recuperated or matured, they will be released first in the enclosed wildlife sanctuary to be evaluated of their survival skills prior to release. In case of emergencies, or if animals require surgical procedures or to be humanely let go if impossible to save, a veterinarian will be available as needed.
Animal health technicians will be the first responders when injured or orphaned animals are found or retrieved on the road, around homes or in the forest. All staff and volunteer members are to be vaccinated against rabies and extremely cautious when handling wildlife. Strict protocol and rules will be implemented and followed to ensure security and safety at all times. An intensive training process will precede any potential wildlife handling to ensure that all employees are comfortable and capable to work with wildlife. Volunteers will help the team by cleaning enclosures and cages, preparing food and medication, as well as setting up the supplies for treatments and procedures.

The Sanctuary Café: Sunny’s Café will not only be a meeting spot for visitors and students alike, where they can enjoy healthy lunches like soups, salads, sandwiches and more with coffee, tea, juice, or smoothies for an affordable price, but also in the presence of some remarkable exotic wildlife species. The walls of the café will double up as glass enclosures for animal companions native from around the world but bred in captivity for domestication. The café’s mascot, named Sunny, is a sun conure, or sun parakeet originally from South America, that is very social and intelligent. She loves to dance to music and to be admired by visitors. Her neighbor will be an Australian rainbow lorikeet, also commonly kept in captivity as another very colorful and remarkable pet bird. The other wall of the café will house reptiles; a leopard carpet python snake native to South Africa and a Caribbean rainbow gecko lizard.

There will be one restaurant manager as well as nutrition student interns and volunteers working in Sunny’s Café which will open before the sanctuary each day. All staff and volunteers will receive discounts on meals and drinks. The animal health technicians and wildlife technicians will help take care of feeding the pets and cleaning their enclosures when needed. There will also be many books and magazines available to anyone wishing to read more on birds and reptiles around the world, as well as the evolutionary history of these animals.

Critter Care Wildlife Internship

Critter Care Wildlife Society

In hopes to gain knowledge and expertise on mammal rehabilitation I ventured to beautiful British Colombia for a 2.5 month internship in Langley, at the Critter Care Wildlife Society. As part of my internship requirements, I must log what I have done and what I have learnt from it. Here are my weekly journals. Enjoy!

Dates: From May 1^st to May 16^th 2016

Week #1: On the night that I arrived at the airport on May 1^st 2016, the crew sent to pick me up; Nathan and Brookland were then sent on a rescue mission to collect four orphaned baby beavers at a local 24h emergency animal clinic. I was lucky to be in the car as they were sent on this mission. They were waiting in an incubator but were still not fed as the vet staff members were unsure what they should feed them. They went straight to the founder and director of Critter Care, Gail Martin.

My first day as an intern was given to me as a day off, to let me settle in, unpack, walk around and meet everyone. There were about 25 people including regular staff, supervisors, co-ops and interns from Australia, Holland, Germany, Netherlands and Canada. One of my roommates, Hannah, was off as well and was kind enough to show me around, let me shadow her feeding, cleaning and medicating a skunk with a neck wound. Courtney later offered if I wanted to join her and Joanne on a produce trip to collect donated fruits, veggies and bread from local Safeway’s. I bought a few snacks and cashew milk while there. Later on, one of the supervisors, Breanne, assigned me to care for two baby squirrels that were 4 weeks old and needed to be fed milk four times daily. She showed me how to stimulate them to potty and then feed them using a rubber nippled 3cc syringe, up to 8cc of 1:4 formula per meal. They also required apple, carrot, and a mix of pecan and walnuts. That night we had a sunset BBQ and it suddenly started raining! I learnt there were three other vegetarians, including a girl named Suzanne, who showed me how to make milk mix.

On my second day I continued to take care of my two first brindle baby squirrels with the help of other interns helping me with tricks on how to weight them using a baby scale, feed them milk of the perfect temperature, and keep them warm using hot pads. I was later assigned two more additional squirrels to feed; one was brindle and the other a common silver gray squirrel. My team, team B was assigned various indoor cleaning duties. We have three supervisors in charge of interns and animal health exams, treatments and releases, then eighteen of us interns in charge of cleaning, cooking, and baby feeding and finally four co-ops which are students that volunteer during the day to help us out in our various chores. On occasion, there are autistic kids who come volunteer to help chop fruits and veggies to fill up various buckets for the bears.

On my third day I had four squirrels to keep taking care of and the same indoor cleaning tasks. Afterwards, post volunteering for literally the worse jobs to do outdoors in the rain, like checking and baiting rat traps and emptying thawed stinky fish guts into the organic waste bin, I was rewarded with another baby squirrel and three baby bunnies to take care of! I felt like this was excellent news, that the supervisors found me capable of taking care of more baby animals!

On my fourth day I learnt how to make the milk for the bunnies using kitten milk replacement formula at a 1:1 ratio, with lactose. Unfortunately, one of my baby bunnies had died over night and another was dying while lying in the water dish. I tried to save it by warming it up and feeding it by hand but it could not be saved. It was such an upsetting scenery but at least one bunny was alive and well, even eating her grass and clovers. A few hours later however, she joined her brother and sister in bunny heaven, with still plenty of food and warmth! L I hope it did not look bad for me that they had not survived, I definitely felt like other interns did not trust me around their animals anymore. At least my five squirrels were still alive and well. They are eating well and gaining weight. Even one that had aspirated milk a few times and was on antibiotics for a few days was now doing much better with added rice cereal in her milk to make it thicker so she could not inhale it through her nose! I was also proud to set up a bird cage for my squirrels to transfer them to the skunk nursery from their original incubator in the raccoon room. They enjoyed the hammocks and climbing sticks I set up with Michelle, one of the volunteers.

On my fifth day, it was my 2^nd weekly day off and I changed the milk I was giving from 1:4 to 1:3 ratio of squirrel milk formula with lactose. I also received another young eastern cottontail bunny to care for. Once again, it had been attacked by a pet but this time it was a dog attack. Later that evening I was very upset to find it just like the previous ones, lifeless in the incubator.

On my sixth day, I received a sixth squirrel to care for, as it was said to be the sibling of the fifth squirrel I got. It was also brindle and so much smaller! As usual, it had to be separated for one night, until it would be reunited with his brother the following day.

On my seventh day, I was proud to finally name my first two brindle gray squirrels. The quick, nippy female was named Rockette Monster and the tiny male runt of the litter was named Munchkin Little. I had to change to amount of feedings I was giving from four times daily to three times daily.

Week #2: On my eighth day, I got to name two more squirrels. The gray female was named Silver Cinnamon and the brindle female, Blue Bear. We had to clean out all fifteen sheds on the property and I was very proud to have reorganized the piles of bags and cans of donated cat and dog food in the kibble container. I motivated an entire team to join me and help out!

On my ninth day I got to name my male black squirrel, Bruce Wayne aka Batman. I also received a new bunny to care for, one that was two times the size of the first 4 I got, but also attacked by a cat. He was to receive a Baytril antibiotic injection once daily for three days and then released if everything went well. We spent most of the day setting rat traps, weed wacking, and painting the beaver enclosure green.

On my tenth day, I was very pleased to see that my bunny was still doing well. He ate all his grass overnight and was eager to leave. I was on laundry duty, having to put one wash in after another all day, from 8am to 8pm, a total of 15 loads of wash!

On my eleventh day, my bunny was still doing well, and my squirrels were much more active than usual. One, Rockette, even tried to escape by biting me repeatedly. We spent lots of time digging up the soil in the fawn pen to prepare for new soil and grass carpets. Most of the day I spent digging up the soil in the deer enclosure in order to prepare it for new soil and grass turf. I noticed that one of my squirrels, Munchkin, has a bald spot on his back with a scab in the middle.

On my twelfth day, I was off and due to my accumulated fatigue, I went back to bed after my first feed and checking on my bunny. It was a really hot day so I had to wait till the evening but I got to release my very first animal! I named my little bunny Ryan, after my nephew who just turned 1 month old. I was very happy to see him bounce out of his incubator and into the grass field just next door. My squirrels were also placed in an outdoor skunk run so that they could start acclimating to the natural fluctuating temperatures.

On my thirteenth day, I spent to majority of the day painting a raccoon enclosure by first sweeping, then priming the exposed wood, and finally painting over the primer with the same matching green once dry. The number of feedings I was giving was reduced from three times to only twice daily for my 5 larger squirrels, but the smaller one was to remain on two feedings a day until it reached the same weight range as the others currently ranging from 180 to 200g each.

On my fourteenth day, I got to officially name my last squirrel, a small brindle male, given the name Damian Wayne, as he is actually Bruce Wayne’s little brother and Damian is Batman’s son’s name in some comic books. My boyfriend suggested the name and I decided to go with it as I liked it and currently feel pretty home sick. I kept busy by spending the day covering rat holes and placing new tuff grass over bald spots on the property. I started applying Nyaderm cream on Munchkin’s back wound, just in case it might be ringworm!

On my fifteenth day, I had the day off and decided to start typing up everything I can recall that occurred over my first two weeks at the Critter Care Wildlife Sanctuary. Some events occurred which I was not involved in; such as bear releases over the first week I was here –only bear interns can participate in these activities and wildlife rescue trips –I went on one ride with Kody to find an injured limping raccoon but we were never able to located it once we got there. Also, I was told the founder, Gail Martin would do a presentation for all the new interns to welcome us and that we should be receiving an injections lesson with the animal care supervisors but this still has not occurred. I am looking forward to assisting in the exam of an admitted animal, going on successfully rescues and working with different species, hopefully maybe raccoons!

Dates: From May 17^th to May 31^st 2016

Week #3: This week I did more cleaning, laundry, and painting, some lawn care, removing dead trees, some bear den demolition, supervising a work party, etc. Here are the main events!

Squirrel emergency!

One day I went to take my squirrels out of their skunk run bird cage, placing them one by one into an incubator to then transport them to the skunk nursery for their daily feeding. After placing the second squirrel inside, the first one, Blue, escaped! I tried to catch her but she got out of my grip and I was left with a piece of her tail in my hands! I thought it was just fur but then I felt the bone inside! A piece of its tail had been ripped off…by me! It broke off so easily I did not understand how it was possible. I quickly caught her and placed her inside a small incubator and then quickly to the emergency to have her examined by a supervisor. Turns out we are never to touch a squirrel’s tail when trying to catch them as they have an adaptive defense mechanism to easily release a part of their tail when attacked by a predatory animal. She will need to receive antibiotics morning and night for a week and in about two weeks time, when the bone has dried up, her tail will be amputated. She has now been separated from the group and lives in the nursery, in a separate incubator.

Raccoon babies!

After my ordeal with the squirrel tail, I got the exciting news that I would be caring for three baby raccoons. Three six week old males, weighing less than 800g each, which I had to feed every four hours. I was so happy to have this additional experience, with the third most common species at Critter Care. Baby raccoons are fussier to feed when compared to squirrels. You first need to wake them up by tickling them vigorously on their backs. Then they need to be stimulated to first urinate and then defecate, each individually. Next step is to warm up their milk, up to 50 cc each of Fox Valley Raccoon formula 1:4 ratio with lactose. Then finally they are ready to eat. You cannot simply force the nipple into their mouths like squirrels; you must press on both sides of the junction of their jaws to make them open their mouths, wait for them to place their tongues down, then quickly place the nipple of the bottle in their mouth and with the other hand cup their mouth to complete the suction for them to drink. Once they have completed their meal, their milk mustaches must be whipped, then they need to be burped and pottied again.

Fawn Rescue!

I was really lucky to have the opportunity to assist in a fawn rescue the other day, with one of our drivers, Kody. A man from Chilliwake was working on the railroad when he witnessed a mother deer being hit by a train, leaving behind her young female fawn. He was unsure what to do with her so he brought her home and housed her in an outdoor pen for three days until the zoo referred him to us. It was a beautiful drive over between the mountains and an easy rescue as she was glad to come with us. When Kody picked her up she was licking her chin while in her arms. The bearded man said he refused to call the conservation officers as he heard a rumour that they would just put her down. Suzanne and Reanna, who are already taking care of five fawns, were happy to add a sixth to their family. They said she looked like an Alpaca and gave name her the name Ivy, to go with the current nature theme: Aspen, Flora, Prime, Rose, and Lily.

Weaned Squirrels!

Babies grow up so fast! Three weeks ago, on my first day as a critter care intern, I received my very two first baby squirrels to feed four times a day. Since then, their milk was changed to a richer ratio (1:3 from 1:4), their feed numbers reduced to three, two, one and now no more daily feeds, only nuts, rodent chow, fruits and veggies. After three days on only one feed daily, their feeds were each discontinued and now they have been moved from their bird cage to an outdoor enclosure until their release. It had become almost impossible to catch them prior to the move so I let them each venture out of the cage and into the enclosure by themselves, but each of them required a little encouragement. Catching them in a few days to release them will be most challenging. Unfortunately, due to her tail injury and awaiting procedure, Blue will not be released along with her sister, Silver, and her other four adopted siblings, Munchkin and Rockette; brother and sister, and brothers; Bruce and Damian. Hopefully she will be released at the same site and location.

Week #4:  Taking care of my baby raccoons and injured squirrel, doing general lawn care, painting enclosures, preparing old enclosures to make new habitats for fawns, young coyotes, baby beavers and bear cubs.

Naming Raccoons!

After one week in our care, the baby raccoons I feed have now been named: Arnold S., N. Drake and Rambo. They are currently being dewormed with 0.45cc Panacur 10% for three days, then they will be given Stonged T in 4-6 weeks and vaccinated against distemper and parvovirus. They got liquid diarrhea for a few days so I was recommended to give them the same 1:3 ratio raccoon milk but without lactose to see if it helps. They have been all moved from their incubator to a large kennel to have more room to venture and play together and with their toys.

New Squirrels!!!

Two new squirrels have been taken into my care this week. The first one was meant to be a cage mate for Blue Bear, with the injured tail. She was a black female gray squirrel who was kicked out of her nest too early. She kept hiding once in her new cage and growled whenever Blue went near her. After two days she lost weight as she was too stressed to eat. After I separated her from Blue, she seemed to be doing better. Yet, every time I need to handle her, either to weight her or to place her in a clean incubator, she screams, bites me and tries to escape in the nursery. She is completely healthy and ready to be released in my opinion. The second squirrel is a male brindle gray squirrel, with a “gloved” nose. He needs treatments for a week including oral antibiotics twice daily (Amoxicilin) and a topical cortisol cream twice daily on the nose (Teraderm). He is a very sweet, shy squirrel and a good patient. I have already thought of names from them.

New habitat for cubs!

The baby cubs were moved into a large enclosure this week, double the size of their original gravel pen. They were given lots of toys and logs to climb and explore, as well as enrichments to kept them busy and happy. One of the highlights this week was being given to oppoertunity to see them, while standing in the iso section of the enclosure for a good five minutes. They were so cute! They put on a show for us and we got to take pictures and video. It was a tease but one I was truly grateful for.

Swimming lesson for beavers!

Another fun opportunity this week was an invitation to view the beavers in their daily swimming lesson. Beavers are semi-aquatic mammals that spend the majority of their lives in water. When they are only a few weeks old, kits will have their first swims while the mother is nursing and dives down into the water from the beaver hut while they are still attached to her. They are not yet ready to dive but they can however swimming, carry small branches, hang on to the ledge and try to escape their little baby pool, all while squeaking every step of the way. This was another golden opportunity to take pictures and video.

Wildlife Admissions!

This week we received many new fawns, coyote cubs, some baby skunks, baby bunnies, juvenile squirrels, raccoon kits and even an adult beaver. We now have a total of eight fawns and ten coyotes (but I believe one has escaped and has yet to return). I got to administer four baby bunnies that came in and I partly assisted on an injured squirrel exam with a gloved tail who bit my supervisor Breanne so hard through her glove that she bled all over the exam room!

Dates: From May 31^st to June 14^th 2016

Week #5: We did more yard work and cleaning, repairing and cleaning enclosures, laying down new gravel, removing dead trees, fixing mesh around enclosures, intern meeting with owner, laundry mat run, wildlife rescue attempts, etc.

Squirrel Release!

At the beginning of the week, my five weaned squirrels in the outdoor enclosure were released in an urban forest. I was fortunate to participate in this release with another squirrel mother, Susanne. We released both of our groups of five squirrels each at the same site, in separate locations. Some of my squirrels were less hesitant to jump out of their travel kennel while others were more hesitant and required more persuasion. I was happy to see them all run out into different directions, hiding under shrubs or climbing trees. Overall, it was a beautiful moment that I was happy to be a part of. I was so attached to my baby squirrels, especially my little Bruce –but I loved them so much I had to let them go and experience the life that I have given back to them. Freedom came natural to them. I hope they learn to establish a territory, build a nest and find food just fine.

Raccoon Exam!

Gloves, sedation, exam: mammary cancer, multiple tumours with ruptured abscesses and necrotic waste tissue, no weight bearing on anterior right member, weak mobility, heavy weight loss, muscle wasting, and a lost eye. The supervisors decided to euthanize her to but her out of her misery. She was only still alive because a woman had been feeding her. After the procedure I was given a brief injections lesson on the carcase for practice. I tried subcutaneous injections and was shown intramuscular injections but I could not really practice it because of the severe muscle wastage on the raccoon.

Squirrel Patients

All squirrels moved from raccoon room and skunk nursery to marmot pen outside. New squirrels named: injured nose male brindle squirrel is Philly Willy (named after my older brother as he is strong and a good patient); healthy female black squirrel is Thalie Jasmine (named after my sister who is independent but was kicked out of her nest before she was ready). Philly’s gloved nose healing, antibiotics and cortisol cream continued for another 3 to 7 days. He now shares a cage with Blue Bear, the injured tail squirrel. Blue’s amputation site is healing well. Jasmine is also doing well. She has started gaining weight again now that she is in a cage on her own.

Wildlife Formulas

Orphaned animals cannot receive the right milk that they need as this would have to be harvested from their wild lactating mothers. Artificial formulas are made with a balance of proteins and enzymes to best suit each species. Strange enough, the squirrel formula is the same given to skunks, rabbits receive kitten milk and the marmot gets coyote milk! Unfortunately, due to the lack of perfection in these man-made formulas, my baby raccoons have difficulties digesting it. They got soft stools when I changed them from 1:4 with lactose to 1:3 with lactose and after one week on 1:3 without lactose they got severe diarrhea. The new plan is to return to 1:3 with lactose for 3 days and if it does not get better, back to 1:4 with lactose, a more diluted formula.

Coyote Escape!

We have a dozen coyote cubs at the moment and one of them, Amber, had escaped one night through a slit in the enclosure fence. The gap was repaired so no further coyotes could escape and traps were set to recapture her as she had a wound on her head that was still healing. Two days later, after lingering around the enclosure on and off, she was finally captured by my senior supervisor. She was anxious and dehydrated but good overall.

Mystery animal!

We got a call for a mystery animal rescue, one that ventured into someone’s garage and was said to be injured. I had a feeling it could be an opossum because not many people are familiar with them and they are not seen on a regular basis. Nathan thought it may be a marmot as well, but he was intrigued none the less and so he took the call. I was fortunate to join him on this quest. We when to the callers home, and just like the raccoon rescue with Kody, the opossum was gone. We searched for it around the house and his neighbour’s yard without any luck. Unfortunately, it was an unsuccessful rescue. The man showed us a photo and this is how we identified the species but it may not have even been injured after all as he described it as being very slow but Nathan says that opossums are just generally slow animals.

Squirrel exam!

Adult squirrel came in with paralyzed hind legs due to a back injury. It was a post lactating mother who kept falling down a tree due to limited mobility. I assisted with the exam, which unfortunately ended in euthanasia as the center has limited resources for injured gray squirrels. They mostly only rehab little wounds or had raise orphans but that’s about it.

Raccoon vaccines!

My three baby raccoons are now 9 weeks old and have received their first round of vaccines for distemper and parvovirus. Earlier this week they started getting bad diarrhea so I had to change their milk to 1:4 with lactate to help improve their digestion as after two days of liquid stools they became so dehydrated that two of the three needed 30 cc of subcutaneous fluids.

New squirrel!

Today Reanna’s boyfriend Scottie, drove over from Whistler with a rescued baby squirrel. It was a two and a half hour drive so he stayed for the day. I was the lucky one who got to take care of this tiny female Douglas squirrel. Douglas squirrels are native to the west coast of British Colombia and resemble their close relatives, red squirrels, but with an olive-brown coat and golden belly. She weighed only 52g but her eyes were open. At first she was hesitant but at the second feeding she was eager to have her milk.

Squirrel upgrades!

My squirrels were to be moved to an outdoor enclosure today but after Blue Bear, Philly Willy and Thalie Jasmine were released into the large enclosure, I noticed Philly’s nose was bleeding so I had him examined. His nose wound was not properly healed yet so he could not go back into the outdoor enclosure until the gloved nose is completely healed. Poor thing!

Fawn delivery!

Norm, a helicopter pilot, has delivered two fawns in the last two days, by helicopter! Amazing to see him arrive and take off in the field of Critter Care. The fawns were actually two mule deer!

Week #6: More cleaning, painting, laundry, etc. Unfortunately, no new animals in my care to feed...

Raccoon upgrades!

I reduced my baby raccoons to four daily feeds, added rice cereal to their milk to help wean them and then moved them into a raccoon room with Axl, Brookland and their three babies each. Rambo, Arny and Drake have been potty trained and are now on soft solid foods. A food plate consists of half protein (eggs and chicken) and half fruits and vegetables (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, cherries and avocados). We can also sometimes add a few dissolving baby crackers on top. My raccoons received their second vaccines, for PRC panoleucopenia, rhinothracheatis and calicivirus (Felovax, for feline distemper) and they can now go outside into the field with me. After their shots they were lethargic; not hungry and very sleepy. At the following feed they barely ate and they were even nippy but luckily they returned to their normal selves the next day.

Skunk season!

Admitted 5 baby skunks with Breanne. There were two males and three females of 5.5 weeks that all went into Kody and Kerstin’s care. Almost all the interns are taking care of baby skunks.

New squirrels!

I received two more self feeding gray squirrels; one was a male silver morph and the other a female brindle morph. They both were very hungry, emaciated and full of fleas. The male was to receive Baytril antibiotic injections for the first few days but unfortunately, it died over night. Their other two siblings were found with them but their finder, a lady from Surrey, fed them kitten milk replacement and avocados in her green house until the first two died. Luckily, one of them has survived, although she has been losing weight. She has now been moved into Philly’s cage, the squirrel with the wounded nose, in hopes that they become good cage mates.

Fawn enclosure!

We are currently caring for a total of 15 fawns. Their enclosure was too small so they were temporarily moved into small sheds until two enclosures; theirs and the small coyote enclosure were reunited with extra fencing. The greatest moment was being able to see the fawns run about once released into their new enclosure. They were so happy; the taller males were bouncing around while some of the tiny females were staying safely in the corners. Only a handful of interns who helped moved them back in, including myself, got this wonderful opportunity.

Coyote recycling!

Critter Care Wildlife Society has an agreement with the Conservation Officers of Vancouver for help with the Bear releases as well as disposition of road kill deer. How are they disposed you wonder? Unlike most animal carcasses that are incinerated, deer are cut up and fed either to the baby coyotes or to the coyotes that live in the coyote outback just off the CCWS property. It is therefore not uncommon to walk out in the field and see a dead deer or cut up road kill. It is sad but at least the animal is not going to waste!

Squirrel release!

Yazou, one of the interns, got to assist in the release of two of my squirrels while I was stuck at the laundry mat for 4.5 hours. Blue Bear, the one with the wounded tail, and Thalie Jasmine or “Taz”, the crazy one, were released together. I got to say goodbye before they dropped me off with 15 loads of laundry. At least I got to see a video of the release which was very brief as they both jumped out within seconds of the box being opened. Another successful rescue completed. I now have two self-feeding gray squirrels, one Douglas squirrel on feeds and my three raccoons that have now reached over 1.5kg each.

Raccoon rescue!

I should have been able to go on a rescue but once again, they left without even asking me…the story is pretty impressive however. A sports car hit an adult raccoon on the highway near the border and the raccoon was forced into the radiator from below. The car had to be towed away as it would no longer start but the raccoon, Douglas Juggernaut, survived with minor head trauma. 

Dates: From June 15^th to June 29^th 2016

Week # 7: Laundry mat runs, cleaning, yard work, fence painting, cabin maintenance…

Douglas friendship!

My little Douglas squirrel Dakota was introduced to a new cage mate, a younger ‘douggie’ named Carrie, who belongs to Mareike. She welcomed this new friend very well and has even started sleeping with her in their little dome or hammock and defending her when we try to clean up after them. After her feeds were dropped to three times daily, she got a water dish and now she also gets solids like pecans and walnuts, as well as apple, carrot and berries. We have also got browse from them to explore and Dakota loves to chew the bark, buds, and leaves. She is getting quite big, now at 112g.

Baby skunks!

I was so happy when Susanne asked me to co-parent her little skunks. She has 10 baby skunks to care for and only three were originally to be syringe fed daily but three of the others started losing weight so they were also started on two feeds daily. Skunks drink the same milk as squirrels; a mix of multi-milk, puppy esbilac and lactobacillus. They are currently on a 1:3 ratio. They also get grain-free kitten kibble, water and a food plate with mixed veggies, fruits, scrambled eggs and chicken all cut into fine little pieces and mixed with yogurt.

Skunk spray!

Skunks are difficult to handle as they scare easily and even as little babies, they can spray! They will stomp with their front paws when threatened or raise their tails and show their butts when alarmed. These signals help us avoid their spray in time. To catch them we need to single them out from each other, which can be quite difficult as they usually sleep together. Our trick is to cover them with a blanket and then extract them using heavy duty gloves (so they do not smell us and we don’t get their smell on our hands). We need to quickly grab their tail and back end and push their tails down so that they cannot spray when we pick them up. How I got sprayed in the face is I was verifying the sex of a baby skunk while weighing and marking them with nail polish and he spray me from a few inches away. I did not realize the spray could sting as well as smell!

Field trip!

Now that my baby raccoons are dewormed and vaccinated against canine DHPP (Distemper, Hepetitis, Parvovirus and Parainfluenza) and feline CPR (Calicivirus, Panaleukopenia and Rhinothrachealis) they are ready to go outside. On my day off, I brought them outside with me and let them free in the field. They did not want to go anywhere without me so I walked away and they followed me. This behaviour is known as creeking; when babies know who their mother is and they follow their mommy. I was so proud to see them run but after a few laps in the hot sun they were exhausted and dehydrated so we retreated back to their indoor room.

Raccoon growth!

My raccoons have grown so much in the last few week, they are now all around 2kg each and drink about 150 cc of 1:4 +lactaid milk three times daily. I have decided to collect the data on their feeding cards to plot their growth rates and chart the curves. This could be an interesting graph to show on my internship poster in the fall.

Wildlife Admissions!

This year Critter Care has a record of wildlife admissions. With currently about 850 admissions, they have beaten their last year’s numbers by over 140 animals! We currently care for over a hundred raccoon kits, over 70 stripped skunks, 19 coyote pups, 17 fawns, 9 eastern cottontails, 4 American beavers, 3 yellow-bellied marmots, 3 least chipmunks, 3 red squirrels, 3 Virginia opossums, 2 river otters, 2 Douglas squirrels, 2 bear cubs, and 1 mink.

Baby bunnies!

The last animals that were given into my care were three baby bunnies which were orphaned when their den was disturbed. I named them after all my best friends nicknames: Eco after the Eco Babes (Maya, Aymin and Vanita), Hugy after my boyfriend Hugues and Shmeu after Sondos. Shmeu is the easiest the handle and feed. She has an unusual injury to her right hind foot where 2 and a half toes are missing due to unknown reasons, maybe from a bite or a burn. Due to this wounded foot, I must apply Derma Gel on it twice daily until healed. It is already looking much better. She is an excellent patient as well.

Dropping feeds!

My animals grow so fast and due to this, their diets change. When they start eating more solids and reaching their weight objectives their daily feeds drop. My raccoons and bunnies are now down to three feeds and my douglas squirrel and skunks are completely weaned. Once weaned I only need to prepare their daily food plates and weigh them every other day.

Week #8: Painting, Laundry, Cleaning, Cementing, container cleaning/ organizing, etc.

Squirrels released!

My last gray squirrels were released together (Philly Willy and Jane Riley). Philly’s nose was completely healed and Jane was putting on weight each day. Unfortunately I did not get to assist in the release once again as I was feeding my baby raccoons and Axl’s as well as he was away on a rescue.

Raccoon antibiotics!

After four days of crusty, goopy eyes, a supervisor finally accepted to prescribe antibiotics to my baby raccoons. They have been getting about 1.6 cc of 125mg/m of Amoxicillin twice daily. They drink this pink tasty liquid like it was candy. Unfortunately for them, it will only be for a week as their eyes have already begun to clear up after 5 days. Next week they will receive their DHPP booster vaccine as it had to be postponed due to their antibiotics.

Skunk run!

Susanne’s ten skunks have been moved from a hutch to a large skunk run where they have a shed and loads of space to venture and explore. They have auto-feeders for their kitten kibble and water, two litter boxes which they use successfully, three sleeping areas, two tunnels to play in and a bunch of stuffed toys. They needed the space because not only is there ten of them, but some have reached 1 kg in weight!

Raccoon pen!

Axl, Brooklynn and my raccoons have been moved to an outdoor gravel pen this week. They have so much more space to explore. They have a large shed, two potties, a kennel, three daily food plates, ad lid kitten and puppy mixed kibble, a water dish, a small pool, three trees, a tunnel and lots of toys to play with. They can go up and down a ramp to a second level in the shed where they have a potty and sleeping area. They can also climb the walls and the door. I even saw some trying to climb the small trees. The few challenges of the shared gravel pen are finding our babies in the darkness of the shed, remembering to ring the scale out with us on weigh days, and trying to avoid getting locked in when someone leaves before you do.

Coon masterpiece!

After I leave Critter care, Brooklynn will be caring for my three little coons until they are weaned and released. I have grown so attached to them but I will never see them again after I go so I thought it would be nice to have a souvenir to remember them by. I took kids paint and attempted to make their paw prints of each of their designated tagged colors. I dipped their front paws in paint and let them walk across sheets of paper. The end product turned out really nice.

Bunny release!

Jodie, one of the new interns, has released her three bunnies today and I joined her to give her a hand and show her the right spot. They did not jump out like my Ryan did, instead they creped under the grass and started munching on leaves and grass. Their dark brown and black fur allowed them to blend in very well to the grown. I could barely see them through my camera.

Coon release!

Douglas, an adult raccoon that was with us for two weeks now after surviving a car accident was finally released. I was lucky enough to be free so I got to assist Brooklynn on the rescue. He went back to the area from which he was found, near the US border. Hopefully this time he stays off the road and stays safe. We left him some fruit to give him a good head start.

New admissions!

It is a very busy baby season. During one lunch break, I did four admissions: a baby skunk, an injured bunny, a baby raccoon and three baby chipmunks. I was really hoping to get another species to care for like the chipmunks perhaps, to get that additional experience to take home with me before starting my own mammal rehab center but they were given to another intern with already too many animals. Animals are often not distributed fairly at the triage center. This may be due to favoritism, overabundance of interns accepted or simply, poor management.

Ups and downs!

It’s important to mention that my wildlife rehabilitation internship has reinforced some of the beliefs I already had going in. Working hands-on with individual baby mammals of different wildlife species is extremely rewarding. It requires dedication and hard work. This is not a hobby but it will also not pay the bills as most citizens that find and admit animals do not donate and Critter Care is not government funded. Still, I want to look into taking wildlife rehabilitation courses to become a certified mammal rehaber. The most beautiful moments are when animals start eating what you feed them and when they finally get released into the wild. These moments bring tears of joy to my eyes but others can bring tears of sadness as well. Not all animals that we trap or catch can be saved. Some animals are severely injured and the only way to save them is to let them go peacefully, by humanly euthanizing them. The sad truth is more often than not, this will involve baby animals, or nursing mothers. In one case our team drove out an hour only to meet a conservation officer who was with a deer protecting her injured fawn who had two broken legs after being hit by a truck. They snatched the fawn only to euthanize it in the back of the truck on the way back while the CO sedated the mother deer. More recently, a mother raccoon was trapped by the humane wildlife removal service to be moved away from someone’s property along with her four babies but when they realized that she was in fact blind, they brought her and her kits into our care instead. We can’t do the impossible but we can do something for the animals in need, and that’s what counts!

Dates: From June 30^th to July 11^th 2016

Week # 9: Laundry mat runs, rat traps, cooking chicken and eggs, cleaning, yard work, cage painting, cabin maintenance, shed cleaning, etc.

Skunk run!

Our ten skunks have become more active and have been eating more, especially at night as it has been very warm during the day. They have been weaned for a week now, and weigh between 740g and 1.2kg. Some have become very difficult to catch as they stress easily and spray us when we need to weigh them. I even found out they can shoot their anal gland secretions directly in your eyes without even turning around! The skunks are now living in a small man made forest that we constructed using mossy branches, cedar trees and pull ties. They love to climb and hide in the trees. This will help them discover how they can hide in the wild. Hopefully, they will be released soon, at least before I leave I think.

Raccoon feeds!

The raccoons have been dropped a feed and are now fed at 7ham and 5h30pm. One of them, Ann Bonny, is still given a lunch at 12h30 as she is very small and needs to catch up. They still receive food plates three times a day; at around 9am, 3pm and 9pm. They have become very active and curious in their gravel pen. They climb trees and the sides of the enclosure, play with their toys and each other, and on occasion try to escape by following me out the door. My babies; Drake, Arny and Rambo, have even started coming when I call their names. Drake will come see me and open his arms for me to pick him up or simply run up to me and jump up onto my leg to climb up into my arms. He cries if I don’t cuddle him. I think he also wants a V.I.P. lunch!

Food plates!

Both the skunks and the raccoons have started receiving new sources of protein, other than eggs and chicken, served raw. Some examples are salmon, shrimp, chicks, duck, and turkey. As gross as it is to prepare, they love it! The skunks have been getting bigger pieces of food while the raccoons are enjoying larger food plates with avocado and mango seeds to play with. We started preparing the evening plates with the lunch plates to save time preparing and cleaning up.

Bunny release!

Over the week, my three little bunnies, my eastern cottontails’ names Eco, Hugy and Shmeu, have been weaned and released. They had been eating loads of grass, clover and dandelions. They weighed between 110g and 119g and had all continued to gain weight. I was very flattered when Gail Martin herself, founder of Critter Care, said I did very well with the bunnies as they are not easy to care for in captivity due to high death rates related to stress. After having four bunnies die on me, I am proud to say I got to release four back into the wild, including Ryan my very first week! As soon as they were released into the field up the road they bounced out of sight into the tall grass. It was not easy to photograph but I did get a good video!

Water shortage!

Critter care uses a septic tank system and well water and therefore has always experienced issues with their water. If someone uses the hose, another person loses water pressure for washing dishes. If someone has a load of laundry on, the shower water can suddenly become freezing. To add on to it, the water is not drinkable so we need to buy jugs of water to drink. On hot days such as those we had this week, it is important to stay hydrated. Unfortunately, we ran out of water to drink and started filling up the same jugs with tap water. As some of the interns were fine, others got extremely sick. Some got gastro intestinal issues, others were vomiting and fainting. Unfortunately, this affected me as well. One morning out of nowhere I blacked out and fainted. Then, after drinking loads of water I got the worse stomach ache in my life and all the medicine I took trying to feel better only seemed to worsen my condition, forcing me to run to the washroom quickly day and night. Finally, after 2 days without food and boiling and chilling my water, I got better after we got pepcid chew tablets. I was afraid I would leave still sick!

Week #10: Getting ready for open house week-end; cleaning up every room, painting enclosures, setting up raccoon cages, cleaning raccoon cages, sorting through produce, etc.

Raccoon upgrade!

My raccoons finally upgraded from their gravel pens to their cement cage this week. I was so happy to be able to set them up in this neat raccoon enclosure with multiple floors and hideouts. They first had access to the indoor section only; with an extra large kibble container, a pool to place their food dish in, fancy water dishes, and after a few days, they got to explore the outside as well, where they even had their own slide and mini baby pool. They have many toys hanging from string and covering every corner of the enclosure. They even have a blue cylinder they can crawl through and swing in as it is also suspended by two ropes from the ceiling. They love it!

Curious coon!

Critter Care had to rescue a young “growly” raccoon from a fence the other day because it curiously ventured through a hooked fence and got its little head stuck. A man called in saying it was crying all night in the rain and became covered in mud. When we finally got there, we feared the worse as it was still there, cold, wet and caked in dirt, unresponsive. The baby raccoon had spent so much energy trying to escape and shouting for help that it exhausted itself half to death. It was also short on oxygen supply so our rescue team had to act fast to clip the fence in order to free the poor critter from the fence. He was grateful to be free but ungrateful to have to remain under Critter Care for the duration of his recovery. Once he was clean and warm he had built up such a large appetite that he ate almost his weight in food! He remains curious about everything new he discovers.

Coon epidemic!

Although we had not had any previous issues, some raccoons appear to be suffering from an air borne contagious illness. The symptoms are lethargy, green diarrhea, and weight loss. The supervisors have started their investigations and believe that parvovirus is the culprit. Unfortunately, they have still to find out what is responsible for this great tragedy, which has already ended the lives of four raccoon kits that were euthanized to end their constant battles. Another six kits remain under treatments with Metronidazole antibiotics to help mediate effects.

Skunk release!

The ten stripped skunks currently in my care are scheduled to be released in the Angel Wings national park of Vancouver. They have grown up to 1.8kg for the largest and 896g for the smallest. They now eat larger cut pieces of fruit and protein as well as chicks and shrimp. They can finish their water dish and kibble container three to five times daily. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend to this release as it was postponed to after my departure as two skunks were missing fur and had to be treated with Ivomec for skin mites.

Douggie release!

Dakota and Carrie are the craziest and energetic Douglas squirrels to have been taken care of at Critter Care. They spend their time running around their cage and trying to escape when the door opens. They love to chew of moss, bark, leaves and pine cones. They also enjoy their fruits, nuts and veggie mix which they got twice daily with a fresh bowl of water. To stimulate their interest they get new toys to amuse them each day. Still, they are bored. They were going to be kept in their cage until the open house next weekend, but they are scheduled to be released on the 13^th.

Chat with Gail!

Gail Martin, founder of Critter Care Wildlife Society, has told me that the most important thing in starting a center like hers is to have support from your spouse and to be seriously dedicated.

Final thoughts!

Critter Care was the perfect choice for my internship this summer. I am working on building a wildlife rehabilitation center for mammals near Montreal so this was the perfect experience for me. I needed hands-on experience working with injured and orphaned Canadian wildlife and to learn about how a mammal rehab center works and at Critter Care I found just that. I got to work with baby squirrels, rabbits, raccoons and skunks. All were fed milk at some point and some were also administered treatments such as topical creams, oral or injectable antibiotics, oral dewormers, subcutaneous fluids and vaccines. There were interns from all around the world and even if we were always at maximum capacity during baby season, there was always something to do when not caring for my assigned animals, cleaning or preparing food plates. Some of the tasks on our daily to do list included yard work, painting, enclosure maintenance, reorganizing, deep cleaning, etc. As an animal care intern, I had to make the most of every situation day by day. In order to live new experiences, such as assisting on rescues, health exams, and releases or even caring for new animals, I had to put myself in these situations. Asking and insisting is how I got to care for my three baby raccoons (who were orphaned when someone cut down they tree injuring their mother) which ended up being the highlight of my internship experience. I quickly fell in love with my three boys; Drake, Arny and Rambo. I was so proud, as any parent would, when they started drinking milk with me, used their potty for the first time, ate solid foods and started to climb. They were a handful but I cherished every moment working with them as it never felt like hard work, even if I was exhausted at the end of each day. It was a pleasure to watch them play, all while learning about their unique behaviours and individual developments. Not every intern got to work with all the species present at the center and some got many more animals than others, but this depended on how long your internship lasted, if it was your first or second time at Critter Care. What is important is the cumulative work all interns do together, giving a second chance to these native injured or orphaned mammals, forever making a difference in their lives. Words of wisdom to live by: “There is no job not worth doing at Critter Care. The more challenging the job, the more rewarding will be its completion.”