We have a wildlife rehab center in our town. I’m sure they do wonderful work and I’m sure they are stretched thin. But twice now that I’ve called them, I ended up feeling let down and angry.
The first time I called them:
I was at a gas station (maybe 5 miles from the center). It had been pouring rain for a few days. In the gas pump area was a raven hopping around. He never tried to fly. His feathers were saturated with rain - he looked miserable. The next day I was back at the gas station and the raven was still hopping around. I thought maybe he was injured. I called the rehab center and explained the situation. I was told that he was probably there because he could get easy food from the dumpsters. I said he wasn’t by the dumpsters. Then I was told that they didn’t have anyone available to come and check it out. They told me I could try to catch him and bring him in. I thought this is craziness. Ravens are big birds with big powerful beaks. I have no experience with catching ravens. I’ve seen a lot of zoo and rescue tv shows and they always throw a towel or a blanket over the bird and then pop them in a box or pet carrier. I went home to get an old blanket. I tried my hardest but he just kept hopping away. He never did try to fly. I gave up. I have no idea what happened to him.
The second call:
Last Thursday as I was getting into my car to leave work, I happened to look across the highway and noticed an animal pacing back and forth through the long grass. It’s a huge open field bordered on one side by a highway and the other side a railroad yard. There are no shade trees at all. At first I thought it was a dog but the longer I looked I was convinced it was a fox with a bad case of mange. It looked horrible. I once again called the rehab and explained what I was looking at. She asked me if I had seen it there before. I told her this was the first time. She told me to keep an eye out for it for the next couple of days to see if that’s where it normally is. I told her I wouldn’t be back until Monday. She said - well look for it then. I tried to emphasize how bad it looked and that it was out in the elements (forecast was for 80-90s for the weekend). She told me to call back on Monday if I saw it again. Well, I saw it again in the same place yesterday as I was leaving for home. I called again. She kind of hemmed and hawed how it’s pretty hard to catch them in a live trap. She said if a live trap is set out it has to be checked every couple of hours. I said that I was only at work from 8am-2pm on Mon-Thurs. I would be happy to check on it during that time, but I go home eventually. She told me that I could go get the trap from them and then see if anyone in the area could keep an eye on it. I wanted to ask - isn’t that what your organization is supposed to do? She could tell I was getting flustered so she said she’d make a note of it and see what they could do. In other words they are going to do nothing.
UGH!! I guess I was mistakenly under the assumption that they would send someone out and assess the situation.
No idea where you are or what the demands on Wildlife Rescue may be, so this is a WAG at the situation.
Ravens and crows, in my opinion, are never going to be a high priority for a Wildlife Rescue organization. I could see hawks and eagles, along with other “recognizable” birds, as more likely to get a response, but relatively common birds won’t rise to the level of “we gotta take care of this.”
On the other hand, the response you got about the dog / fox is deplorable. In my opinion, that’s exactly what Wildlife Rescue and / or Animal Control SHOULD be handling, if for no other reason than to protect against a possible rabies infection.
IME with local wildlife rehab facilities, they are private organizations (often 501(c)(3)) that are staffed by volunteers. They typically do not “go out and investigate” because they are busy caring for animals the public has brought to them.
If your local area has an animal control branch of government service, they, or your state’s Game Commission would be who you could call to respond to the fox situation.
I had a deer hit by a car that dragged itself into my parking lot at work. It was in agony, likely with a broken back, screaming/bleating in pain.
The area has no local police and no animal control. I called the state police and a cop responded, but he was not permitted to discharge his gun to kill wildlife. He suggested I call the Game Commission, which I did, but they could not be there for 72 hours.
I ended up driving home, getting a gun, and shooting the deer. I probably broke the law doing that.
There are controversies even within wildlife rehabilitation organizations involving species. If I find an abandoned fledgling or injured adult and take it to a wildlife rehaber, if it is a raven/cardinal/bluejay/etc it will be fed and cared for. If it is a European Starling it will be deemed an invasive species and humanely destroyed.
Good info from everyone. For some reason I didn’t even think of the DNR. I suppose if I see the fox again, I will call them. I’m guessing they would just “dispatch it”.
In my area, raccoons, fox, skunks, and bats are a big risk for rabies and are usually killed if they are sick/injured. If they are orphaned and need care protocol varies among rehab facilities.
There is a rehaber that cares for bats only. She and a friend are both vaccinated against rabies.
Ain’t no one coming out here for an animal in distress.
If it was a tiger or something you might get the Sheriff’s office interested, IF they believed you.
I’ve had, and my bunch has had to take care of things ourselves many times.
I just hate it.
Let’s not get into the urban chicken farmers who have had enough and dump their sick, starving birds at my gate.
If you live in town listen up, Chicks are cute but they grow up to be noisy, stinky, hungry neighborhood nuisances. Just don’t do it. No one in the country wants your cast offs.
(Ok, rant over)
IMO @kayaker nailed it. There is no taxpayer or volunteer agency akin to paramedics for random wildlife suffering the slings and arrows of Mother Nature’s utter indifference to individual suffering or individual survival.
It hurts our human sensibilities to see that, but that’s only because most of us are not used to seeing Nature as it is, rather than the safe and sanitized version offered in city parks and pet stores. A farmer or rancher in your area 100 or 150 years ago would not have given those animals a second thought. Except perhaps as food.
Foxes with mange can be treated with food laced with ivermectin, but you have to know where the fox is holing up so you can feed it in situ. They don’t need to be stressed with being trapped and brought in. It’s cheap and effective, although it needs treatment for a while to kill it all.
You’re right. It’s really hard to see suffering like that. I always remember what Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter said in one of his episodes. The episode showed some animal being killed by another animal. As a viewer you think, why don’t they stop it! Steve said something like - it’s just nature taking its course. We can’t and shouldn’t control it.
I was walking the dog one day, and he got all excited at one of the ivy ground plantings near our unit. He dove his snoot into the ivy and came out with a squirrel in his mouth! I kind of shrieked and told him to drop it. Thankfully, he did. I don’t think he did any damage to it, but it was either injured or sick. I called our 311 number, and a guy came out in less than 30 mins and took it away in a carrier. I’m pretty sure it was euthanized, but I was glad I didn’t have to do it.
The only time (I know of) Mr.Wrek nearly got arrested, a truck in front of him on a highway hit a deer. It didn’t kill it and the truck drove on.
The animal was flailing allover the road. So Mr.Wrek stopped pulled out his pistol and killed it. He was dragging it to the shoulder when LE pulled up.
They were gonna charge him for discharging his weapon in the city limits. Except he pointed out the city limit sign behind them.
It didn’t make the cops happy. They checked everything about him, lisc., CCP, warrants, searched his truck.
They had to let him go.
Now he just passes up injured deer on the highway. He says.
Sometimes I suspect there’s a cottage industry in getting wild animals into predicaments (entanglements in fishing line, wire fences, dropped out of nests etc.) so that people can take videos of themselves rescuing the beasts to post on social media for clicks and acclaim.
