Saturday, September 27, 2008

Prairieland Feeds

The residents were at Prairieland Feed's event in Savoy today. They all enjoyed being outside in the great weather. Odin had a particularly good time and didn't want to get into his carrier at the end of the day! We'll be there tomorrow from 11-4, so come say "hi" to the birds!

Orphaned Bunny Release
Bunny Release (Jessa)

Box Turtle
Box Turtle

Thanks to teams 7 and 9 for the great pictures of their cases!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Clinic Update

Last week, the pager team got an unusual call. Animal control brought in a raccoon that had gotten stuck in a sewer grate. They weren't able to remove him from the grate when they found him, so they brought in the entire sewer grate! The grate itself probably weighed over 70lbs, so we had to wheel it (with the raccoon still stuck) down to the ward on a gurney to attempt to get the raccoon free. After some shaving, pulling, pushing, twisting and lots of lubricant, we separated the raccoon from the grate. The animal seemed uninjured, but we kept him under observation for a couple days to make sure he was fit to go back to the wild. We released him over the weekend after determining that he had sustained no injuries from his ordeal.

Raccoon in Grate 2 Pictures, Images and Photos

Raccoon in Grate Pictures, Images and Photos

Monday, September 8, 2008

Settling into the School Year

Life in the wildlife ward has settled down a bit since school began. All of the teams have been assigned, team leader training is over and now we're back to just concentrating on treating our patients. We have orphaned squirrels and bunnies in the clinic, as well as several turtles (more than usual), a goose, a woodchuck and an orphaned jumping mouse.

The residents are doing well. Nokomis has taken to hooting as everyone who walks into the resident room lately. The birds we supposed to go to Oskee Bow Wow last week, but unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. They have two events coming up, though. First, on September 21rst, the will be going to the opening of a forest preserve (more details to follow). Then, on September 27th and 28th they will be at Prairielands Feeds in Savoy. We hope to see some of you at an event soon!

Orphaned Jumping Mouse (only 4.5grams!)
Goose with external fixator receiving foot treatment
Red-Eared Slider

Cleaning up an orphaned squirrel