HUMAN CONTACT

HUMAN CONTACT

This has been a really tough rehab season for me personally.  I have come the closest I’ve ever come to quitting this year and probably not for the reasons you might think.  Not because most of the money that it takes to support these animals comes out of my own pocket.  Not because I haven’t had a single day off in three years.  Not because my back hurts daily.  Not because week after week I have to reschedule visits with my one and only grandchild because an animal needs help.  All of these things I can handle.  So why?   

I have had to sit down and ask myself, “What is wrong?  Why is this year so different than years before? Why do I dread answering the phone?”, and really think about what is it that is getting to me so badly this year over previous years and I have finally figured it out.  The dreaded “REHABBER BURN OUT” is hitting!  OH NO

Anybody who has worked with wildlife rehabilitators can tell you that the “burn out” rate among rehabbers is quite high.  Other rehabbers have often warned us of this “rehabber burn out” due to the volume of animals we take in (which is higher than most individual rehabbers), “you better be careful or you’ll burn out”.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this, and honestly, it has never been a concern.  We know where our limits are and we stay within them. 

Most attribute this “burn out” to the toll it takes on a person to continually watch animals suffer and die.  That has to take its toll on a person, right?  I’ve often wondered what the real reason is, because, as rehabbers, we see animals suffer and die, but the successes help us through the heartbreak, so we can go on and help the next animal.  If death creates burn out, why don’t ER doctors burn out as quickly? 

This summer I think I have finally figured out just why the burn out rate is really so much higher in wildlife rehabilitation than in other areas and the reason has absolutely nothing to do with animals or the care we provide to the animals or the money it costs us or the loss of personal time it has cost.

The real reason I have personally come so close to “rehabber burn out” can be attributed to one thing and one thing only…..

HUMAN CONTACT

Let me start by saying I do not mean ALL people.  Many people I speak to are very nice and truly just care about wildlife.  The ones I’m talking about are not those.  These are people that do not want to be inconvenienced or told that their assumptions are not correct.

And the majority of this human contact is not even in person, it’s over the phone.  After decades of doing wildlife rehabilitation, I am STILL constantly amazed at what people will say to me over the phone as I am honestly trying to help the best I can.  In fact, the way that people behave over the phone has gotten exponentially worse in just the last few years.

I won’t go into the names I’ve been called, or the threats I have personally received, but some examples of things that I have personally been told numerous times over the phone are listed below:

1.       My tax dollars pay your salary!

o   Typically this is said by somebody who has called about a small animal that is in need of help, but is not considered dangerous to handle.  We have usually just informed the person that we would be happy to give the animal care, but they would need to transport the animal to us.

o   The reality is, not only do NO tax dollars pay my salary, but I don’t get paid, in salary or otherwise to work with these animals.  Never have been paid for working with these animals.  Every dime of money that comes in here goes directly to animal care. 

o   And it rarely matters how well or nicely I explain this fact, the person will still be very hateful and insist on getting their way.

o   The reality is that there are a few rehabilitators that do get paid to do this, however, they work for very large facilities and because the facility is so well funded, they have the luxury of working ONLY with the animals and not having to answer the phone and deal with the public. 

2.       The guy that works at petsmart told me that you are wrong!

o   This is one I’ve gotten a few times when explaining to a person that a bird is a fledgling and the best thing that they can do for this bird is to leave it alone and allow its parents to continue to care for it.

o   And now I’m left to argue with a person who chooses to believe a person that has a few months of experience selling pet toys to people over my own decades of experience dealing with the species we are actually discussing.  Talk about disheartening!

3.       Well, I’m just not comfortable with that. (this is a “nice” way of the person telling me that they aren’t going to do what I just said they should do)

o   This is typically said by a person who has been told to leave a fledgling bird or a parked fawn where it is, so that the natural parents can still care for it.

o   I realize that leaving babies alone is not what humans do with their own young, but whether a person is comfortable with it or not, for many species of wildlife, it IS the best thing for them.

o   So now I’m supposed to be more concerned about how the human feels than what’s best for the animal?

4.       If you cared you would come get this animal.

o   Typically said by a person who does not want to transport the animal to us, but wants us to come and pick it up.

o   Given that we cover 28 counties within this state, if we were to go and pick up every animal that we get called about…well, that would be physically impossible, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.  But, if we tried, the animals that are already in our care would not get care. 

o   This is honestly, just a mean thing to say.  There is no other way to word it, it’s just mean.  I do care.  In fact, I care enough not to hang up the phone as this person starts their abuse.  THAT is caring!

5.       It’s your job, not mine

o   Actually, the word “job” implies that a person is paid to perform a specific set of tasks, so this word really does not apply to what we do here.

o   For one, we are not paid, for two, not even my permits require me to do anything.  They simply ALLOW me to do things if I so choose. 

o   Honestly, you could not pay me enough money to deal with the amount of abuse that I put up with on the phone.  If this was a job, I would have quit long, long ago.

o   In all reality, caring about nature should be the job of every human!  Not just mine because I choose to help.

6.       Oh, that’s too far, I’m not driving that far.

o   Typically said by a person who lives some distance (often within 30 miles) of us and does not want to take the time to transport the animal.

o   I always wonder if that person realizes that the road is the same length in each direction and that they are dealing with just one animal, we are getting called for upwards of twenty animals a day, all in need of transport.

7.       Well I made the phone call, I’ve done my part.

o   Typically said by a person who does not want to transport the animal to us

o   I always wonder if I have then done my part by answering that call?

8.       I’m going to report you.

o   This was said to me by a woman who brought us a song bird.  At the time that she brought the bird, she was handed a post card with explicit instructions on how to get updates on the animal’s progress, which included emailing and NOT calling.

o   When she called for an update (which she’d been told not to do), as I tried to give her the update, she kept saying “I can’t hear you”, so I told her that she should try to call back later.  THIS she obviously heard, because that is when she started screaming this into the phone, “I’m going to report you”.

o   All I could think was, “report me for what?  Caring for the bird?” I’m not required to give updates to anybody other than those who hold our permits (being state and federal government)

o   And she did report me.  In fact, this woman, who could not follow the simple directions on the card she was given, was able to obtain phone numbers of government officials that I’m not even sure how to get.  All JUST to complain that I didn’t give her an update.  An update I actually tried to give her even though she didn’t follow the directions and even though I am not required to give anybody updates.

9.       Well, what am I supposed to do then?

o   How does one even begin to answer this question?  What are you supposed to do as you look at an animal in need that you won’t transport to the proper person?  I just don’t know.

No, I am not going to quit rehabilitating wildlife.  It sure isn't the animals' fault that some humans are selfish.  But I do now understand better what “rehabber burn out” is and how it is caused. 

And people worry about contact with animals?  Give me an angry bear over a human who feels they are entitled simply by being ANY day of the week!

Can Opossums Swim?

Can Opossums Swim?

There is a question you probably never thought you would need to know the answer to in a big hurry, isn't it?  There was a time when Vinny and I needed to know the answer to that question VERY quickly.

 

It was the release of the first opossum that we’d ever rehabilitated completely by ourselves.  Prior to this one, when they got older we would pass them off to another rehabber to get prepared for release.  This was the first one that we’d decided we finally had enough experience on our own to go through all of the pre-release things and release her ourselves.  We were so excited to see her go free! 

We found THE perfect spot to release her.  Plenty of trees and a field, and even a nice little pond, we just knew she’d be very happy here!  And along came release day.  We drove her, in a crate, out to the perfect spot that we had chosen.  When we arrived, I gave her my usual, “ok, now from now on, stay away from humans” speech.  We placed her crate on the ground, midway between the trees and the pond, so she could decide which direction she’d go.  Then we opened the crate and watched her run away….

Right into the pond!  Our heads snapped around to look at each other in shock, as we both said, simultaneously, “can possums swim?”  Neither of us knew!  We’d never really thought to find out.  We knew that they were ok walking in water; they always did that, but actually swim?  We were unsure.

And now we were just sure we’d have to jump in and rescue our little charge!  We rushed to rip off our shoes so that we could  jump in and “save” her. The answer to our question came before we’d even finished getting our shoes off, to go in after her; she’s swam to the other side of the pond and was out and ambling into the woods, shaking the water from her fur and already starting to show signs of drying.

So, the answer to our previously unasked question, "Can opossums swim",  is YES, opossums can indeed swim, and quite well I might add!

A real day in our lives

Doing wildlife rehabilitation and exotic animal rescue somehow sounds “glamorous” to many people.  I constantly hear, “I wish I could spend all day playing with wildlife like you do”.  Oh, how I wish that I had time to play with animals all day every day!  This blog will be about a pretty typical day in our lives.  It won’t be as sweet or pretty as other blogs have been, but it will be real.

Our day started out pretty normally.  Getting bowls ready to feed the masses.  Letting Talia and Rocky (two of our permanent raccoons) out to play with the foxes, dogs and cats.  This means we have to keep an eye on them.  Both are very well behaved, but they are still raccoons and can still get into trouble.  You wouldn’t let two 2-year old human children run around your house unsupervised would you?  Usually, when we do this, we wait for them to get tired and put themselves back in their cages.

 

We perform thorough examinations on our permanent raptors whenever we take them out to an event (which means they get checks usually bi-weekly at a minimum) or monthly if we have a slow month.  Sometimes, circumstances require us to do an examination at other times, this was one of those days.

Changes in weather often bring changes in how animals eat, especially the raptors.  They often will go off their food for a day or two with any major change, including weather change.  This last week we have been watching several of our permanent raptors, to be sure they do not go off of their food for more than a couple of days.  One, our red tailed hawk, Rahl, went off of her food for three days, so we brought her in for a thorough examination.  This is always a challenge as Rahl is a very high strung bird, has been since she arrived here at one year of age, so she isn’t the most cooperative bird during examinations.  But, with her not eating for three days, we felt it was necessary.

To our shock and horror the reason she was off of her food was immediately apparent.  She had broken her beak right at the point that the beak begins to turn down.  We have never dealt with a broken beak like this. The only ones we have seen previously were on rehab birds who came in with partial beaks that were already healed and the birds were still eating fine.  We have read about it in our raptor books and seen many videos on it, but never dealt with it ourselves.  Rahl’s beak wasn’t stable, it was obviously painful and there was no way she could eat with this beak.  Something had to be done to repair it and quickly!

In wracking our brains to figure out how in the world she could have done this, the only thing that makes sense was that we had a storm a couple of nights before.  It must have scared her very badly and she flew into something in a panic.  She’s been through many storms since she’s been here and never hurt herself, but something caused her to do this to herself and that is the only scenario that makes sense to us.

I immediately got on the phone and called all of the raptor people I know to ask what we could do.  Then I called Triangle Veterinary Referral Hospital who agreed to see her.  Dr. Grafinger there is wonderful and has helped us so much with wildlife!  We were at their office for three hours!  Their staff was wonderful and caring, thankfully, since I was totally falling apart on the inside.

As a caregiver who has been entrusted with the lives of these beautiful creatures, the guilt is immense any time something goes wrong!  When it goes this wrong, it is much worse.  Yes, the logical side of me knows “these things happen” and there really was no way to stop or prevent this.  Logic doesn’t really take a big role in feelings, especially when one of your own is badly injured.

Rahl’s beak was broken all the way across the top, from one side to the other, but was still holding very firmly on the inside.  Dr. Graf and his staff cleaned the break and glued it back together and put plastic splints on either side of her beak for extra support.  Home we went with our beautiful girl.

Like I said, this is a high strung girl, so by the time we got home, she’d taken off one of the splints and her beak was more crooked than before. 

I went into another panic and started looking to see what we had here to fix this.  I put in calls to more raptor people, Dr. Graf, and Dr. Leo at Avian and Exotic Vet Care.  We decided to use “5 Minute Epoxy” and fiberglass (something commonly used for beak injuries).  I was as nervous about doing this myself as could be, but Dr. Graf was on his way home after a long day and I didn’t feel it was fair to ask him to return to work and Avian and Exotic was about to close.  So, Vinny and I went to work!

Actually, right before we went to work, we got in a very young turkey vulture with a badly broken leg.  We gave him a quick examination and had to set him aside to fix Rahl’s beak before she hurt it more.

During the entire process, I photo documented every step.  Both for my own notebook of care and for others, as well as to be able to show our vets so they could let me know if we’d done it right.  Thankfully, they explain really, really well!

Once everything was applied to her beak, Vinny sat, with his finger in her beak, keeping it open so it couldn’t epoxy closed, for 20 minutes.  It didn’t cure nearly as fast as it claimed it would.  But, Vinny was such a wonderful sport about all of this!  Really, how many guys would sit with their finger in the beak of a red tailed hawk, let alone an unhappy one?

Once she was settled in, we took a closer look at the young vulture and found he had a horribly broken leg that was broken too high up to fix.  So, off Vinny went with the vulture, back to the vet to have him euthanized so he would not suffer any longer.

While I waited for Vinny to come back and to check Rahl again (I tried not to stress her more by checking her too often), I uploaded the photos to our facebook page, both to show our fans what was going on and as a way to show our vets how it went. 

This entire time my insides were flipping out.  The stress of this was so bad; I can’t begin to explain it.  While I had been assured by everybody who had raptor experience that, even if this didn’t go well, since she was captive, she would live.  But just living wasn’t what I wanted for this majestic beauty!  Her freedom was taken away by a mean person with a gun several years before; I didn’t want her life to be even harder because I might not have done this right.

We had a lot of very positive and caring feedback from our friends on facebook.  This was actually helping my feelings a lot.  Then came the one comment asking if we were taking OUR bird to another raptor center because this person didn’t think epoxy on a bird sounded right.  While I know I shouldn’t allow comments like this to bother me, my emotional state was already so precarious that any amount of wind I may have had in my tattered sails was gone in a flash!  I was devastated!  I knew using epoxy was “the norm” for beak issues such as this, I knew I’d done the very best I possibly could, but being questioned like that hurt like being hit by a large sledgehammer in the gut.

Thankfully, after I explained a little more, this person took her comment down.  But the hurt was still there, piled on my already huge guilt heap.

Thankfully, two of our wonderful vets looked at the pictures and told me I did a great job!  They also let me know what to expect in the weeks and months to come.  I can’t tell you how much this type of support from such wonderful vets means to a person like me! 

We now will be feeding Rahl by hand (yes, that’s right, cutting mice into little pieces and sticking them down her throat) for a while so that there is no pressure put on her beak.  According to one of our vets, who has dealt with a LOT of broken beaks, we will be doing this for about a week or so.  He also says she should be healed in three months.  This all may sound gross or tough to most people, but living with wildlife often means doing things you may find unpleasant or that you may have even sworn you would never do. 

While I am still working on getting my guilt that this accident happened at all under control, I truly believe that Rahl will be fine in the end!  Thanks to a wonderful team of vets, I know we did the very best we could in this situation.

 

 

 

Fish, Glorious Fish

Hi! I’m Hansel!
Hi! I’m Gretel!
We’re the fabulous Otter babies!
In case you’ve been living under a rock or haven’t been payin attention to the fan page, we are the most important rehab Kindra will do this year! ‘Cuz it’s us! And we are fabulous! And we are hungry! We need fish! Lots and lots of fish! And other things that hang out in the water where we will eventually get to live. Once Kindra gets done doing her mama otter impression and teaching us all the stuff we have to know we will get to go back to nature and do our otter thang. We’re sure teaching you humans about how wonderful we are is a noble calling, but we don’t hear that phone ringing! As soon as we can catch our own dinner we are so outta here! In the meantime, apparently mama otter Kindra needs help getting us fish. Remember we are growing otter babies…which means we can eat a LOT. To inspire you, we’ve been working on a song. Our scribe would like us to apologize to the people of the musical Oliver! since we “borrowed” the song from their movie. So sing our song to the tune of “Food, Glorious, Food” and have fun…
We hope you enjoy it.

Fish, Glorious, Fish….by Hansel and Gretel Otter

Is it worth the waiting for?
If we live 'til eighty four
All we ever get is formula!
Ev'ry day we ask our mom --
Will she change the food we’re on?
Still we get the same old formula!
We have tried to explain without being too shrill,
Growing otters need ‘em for munchin!
But there's nothing to stop us from getting a thrill
When we all close our eyes and imag...ine

Fish, glorious fish!
So yummy and smelly!
While we're making a wish --
Any fish but a Jelly!
Pike, Minnows, and Big Mouth Bass!
How about some Crappy?
Catch‘em sitting on yerass --
and make us happy!

Fish, glorious fish!
We're anxious to try it.
Six banquets a day --
Our favorite diet!

Just picture a big Catfish --
Fresh caught in our dish.
Oh, fish,
Wonderful fish,
Marvelous fish,
Glorious fish.

Fish, glorious fish!
What is there that’s better?
Raw, whole is delish --
Just hold on the butter!
What is it we dream about?
What brings on a sigh?
Heaps of Carp, Minnows and Trout
Stacked six feet high!

Fish, glorious fish!
Eat right through the menu.
Our fave is Catfish
Do you have some on you?
Worked up a new appetite.
And so we must wish –
for fish,
Once again, fish
Fabulous fish,
Glorious fish.

Fish, glorious fish!
Don't care who catches it --
Red, yellow, or blueish!
Don't care who donates it.
Just thinking of growing fat --
Our senses go reeling
One moment of knowing that
Full-up feeling!

Fish, glorious fish!
What wouldn't we give for
That extra bit more --
That's all that we live for
Why should we be fated to
Do nothing but wish
for fish,
Magical fish,
Wonderful fish,
Marvelous fish,
Fabulous fish,

[HANSEL]
Beautiful fish,

[GRETEL]
Glorious fish

DIRTY LAUNDRY!! (A glance into the daily life of CLAWS)

The title of this blog might sound rather boring but when you add two very cute baby otters running wildly through the CLAWS kitchen to jump into their green turtle shaped kiddy pool it gets more exciting! Splashing and tumbling in the water to get the best pool toys first, Hansel and Gretel are quite the tag team! Hansel manages to get that best pool toy (which happens to be a bottle cap!) before his sister has a chance! Gretel jumps on his back trying to wrestle ALL the toys from Hansel and water drenches the floor AND our feet. Hansel refuses to lose his cap so he grabs it in his mouth and jumps out of the pool to run for the safety of the corner of the kitchen where his human mom (Mrs. Claws) sits watching. The floor has been covered with at least a dozen or so towels for them to slither on to dry off however Mrs. Claws’ jeans are preferable at the moment! The two lose interest in the bottle cap only to tumble around on the towels, scoot and slither to dry off a bit more before chasing each other back into the pool to start all over again!! This is just a small window into life at CLAWS where laundry is not a weekly task but a daily one that the two baby otters have upped by 1.5 loads/day all by themselves!

When doing my research on how much it costs to do laundry (detergent- TIDE with bleach, water, electricity for both washer and dryer) I found this really neat website for calculating costs http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html If you ONLY count laundry for the two baby otters (averaging ~11 loads of laundry per week) CLAWS pays approximately $83 a month for ONLY the otter babies!!!! Again, that does NOT include the many other rehab babies being raised at CLAWS OR the permanent educational animals that live with CLAWS. Hence my blog!

When thinking of CLAWS expenses the ones that immediately come to mind are things like food- (formula & solids) as well as medical care. Surely these are the first and most expensive part of saving these wonderful animals in need, but there are day to day expenses that we the general public, volunteers and fans rarely think of….like the expense of feeding utensils (baby bottles and nipples- the otter babies do not suck, they chew!!), paper towels, dish detergent, electricity and LAUNDRY all add up quickly in the monthly budget!! So the next time you are grumbling about doing laundry (something I personally grumble about often!) think about CLAWS! AND if you are like me and you don’t want to DO their laundry, think about donating some TIDE with bleach and maybe sending them a little extra cash this month towards baby otter laundry!! Remember, all donations go straight towards the care of the animals. No one at CLAWS is paid. And to reward you for reading my “dirty laundry” blog, check out these adorable baby otter pool photos!! Thank you CLAWS for all you do for wildlife!

How did it all begin?

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog, and I must apologize! Being in a car accident and then sick for weeks on end made me a bit slack in this area. So, I asked our fans what they would like me to blog about and was told they want to know the story of how CLAWS got started.

Wow, ok, good topic, but where do I start? Do I go back to when I was a kid, bringing home strange creatures in need? The first litter of skunks I raised when I was 5? My last pet skunk, before CLAWS started? Where oh where to start? While CLAWS was only incorporated in 2004, I feel I’ve been doing this my entire life, so where is the starting point?

Well, I think I found one, or I hope I did at least.

We moved to North Carolina in 1994 and quickly found out that I could not rehabilitate or even have as pets many of the animals I was used to living with, like raccoons and skunks and foxes. That left a huge hole in my life. While I’d always been a career woman, working in the computer industry as a database administrator/database designer for over 23 years, I still always maintained a level of animal contact that was now missing in my life.

So, the first thing we did was start volunteering at a place that allowed us to work with large cats and some other AMAZING animals! That filled my need pretty much, for almost 10 years. Then the philosophy of the facility took a complete 180 degree turn and we could no longer support it, so that left a new hole. We’d spent up to 40 hours a week helping these animals, plus 40 hours at our jobs and raising our kids (who also worked with the animals) and now, again, there was nothing in my life with wild animals!

So, I tried a couple of other places to volunteer at, most were just too far away. It did enable me to babysit a couple of raccoons though and really drove home my intense need to once again share my life with a raccoon. I had been calling the state and asking for eight years, how I could do this, and all I’d be told was “get one, just don’t get caught”. Well, that’s not “how I roll”, I really wanted to do this on the up and up and not endanger the animal’s life (if you are caught with an illegal animal, that animal is killed).

I did still spend hours and hours on my own, helping animals. I remember right before starting CLAWS, getting an email from somebody who knew I used to work with bear. There were three orphaned cubs in I think Minnesota that were in dire need. The state gave us 72 hours to find a place they would agree to or they were going to euthanize them. I stayed up for 72 hours. I’ll never forget my husband and daughter walking into my office at home; finding me crying and thinking the babies were dead. Quite the contrary! I’d convinced a wildlife officer to introduce them to a hibernating, wild mother bear!!! He was NOT convinced my methods would work, but still uses them to this day! My tears were tears or joy and amazing relief. I also knew this is what I was meant to do with my life! While I never saw those babies, they became a part of my life for those three days and still are to this day. THIS was the type of thing I could do to make a REAL difference in the world!

FINALLY one woman told me how she got her raccoon legally….YAY!

It was a 2 year process of both state and federal licensing, but it was well worth it. We assembled our board, decided that we’d have a three part mission; rehabilitation of native wildlife, rescue of exotic animals (which, in this state, includes raccoons, skunks and foxes, since nobody is allowed to rehabilitate them), and education of the public.

Then came THAT call, the one I didn’t want but was waiting for. A baby raccoon, in November, who was dying and the people were tired of hearing his cries. His entire litter had been “raised” by some people who didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t spend the time needed and all but this last tiny, filthy little guy were dead. The people had kept them in a wooden box, in a goat pen and fed them once a day, cow’s milk (not good for anything) for MONTHS. How this little darling survived is something I’ll never understand.

He got here at midnight, he was so filthy I could not tell if he was a boy or a girl (you tell with raccoons the same way you do dogs, so it should be easy), but I could get him to eat. At a time of year that this little angel should have weighed between 10 and 15 pounds, he weighed 15 ounces. I stayed up all night, talking to him, feeding him, subQing him and falling madly in love with him! He was the most beautiful baby I’d seen EVER! Even if he smelled and was scared and dying!

The next morning, off we went to Dr. Dan! Got him clean and yes, he was a boy! We figured out that it wasn’t that he didn’t have teeth yet, it was that he’d chewed them down to his gum line trying to get out of the wooden box so he wouldn’t starve to death! Nobody was truly convinced we could save this precious angel, who now became known as Pooka!

Three months later, he weighed 5 pounds, ruled our home thoroughly and our lives and the vet really didn’t think he would grow any more so he would not make it in the wild. Well, this boy was NOT leaving! I remember calling my best friend and telling her “I don’t’ care how, but this boy is staying with me, and he’s going to show people why his species is important and why you need to know what you are doing before you try to raise an animal”. I had no idea how the state would react to what I was doing, but it didn’t matter, I was determined to get it done!

And yes, I did get it done. We had permits out our ears within weeks! And Pooka became the first CLAWS educational animal! He ruled my life and my heart for 8 very short years. He met and educated thousands of children and adults alike and he LOVED his job! He KNEW when he went out that he was “representing” for his entire species!

Now, he did fool us a bit in the beginning. AFTER he was fully licensed, he did decide it was ok to grow and made it to almost 30 pounds. Even at 30 pounds, he was still my baby, still trusted me enough to fall into my arms from hanging upside down 8 feet in the air! He also welcomed our other educational animals literally with open arms. He and the kinkajous became hard and fast friends!

Pooka never lived outside; the first 6 months of his life gave him a serious fear of outside, unless Mommy (me) was holding his hand. So he lived in the house, as a family member!

Sadly, at the age of 8, cancer took our precious Pooka from our lives. He will remain forever in our hearts and our mission will continue BECAUSE of this beautiful, pitiful, 15 ounce crying baby!

So, I guess, in the end, Pooka started it all! And now, we will continue his message in his honor!

Protect your plants AND the animals!

Many people now use plant netting as a way to keep animals from eating or otherwise destroying their bushes and plants. Many of these are sold under such names as “Bird Be Gone”. This seems like a very humane way to keep animals away from your plants.
It is certainly better for the environment than many chemicals that get sprayed on plants.
But, what those companies do not tell you is that those nets can be and are often deadly to those animals and others that you may not have even thought of.
We get dozens of calls every year about snakes caught in these nets, cut to shreds by the netting with no hope of saving them. They are also a danger in taking off the entire legs of the birds they are protecting your plants from.
I realize that to many people, their gardens are extremely important, sometimes their way of just getting away from the world and communing with nature. But I find it hard to believe that most would put these nets on their plants if they knew what they were going to wake up and find in the morning.
As we’ve seen with plastic being dumped in the ocean and caught on dolphins’ noses, plastic is almost impossible for animals to get free of, and if they do manage to get free, it is often times with the loss of a limb.
If you really need/want to protect your plants, please find another solution. Finer mesh netting is better than what is sold for this purpose. Remember when looking at netting, the width of a snake or a hawk’s leg. Can they get caught in the net you are looking at? If so, please move on and try to find something more humane.
The snake depicted here was not caught in this netting, but does show how small a net it would take for a snake not to be caught by this type of netting.