June 22, 2012

     Naval Oil Recovery Facility at Norfolk Naval Base are pelican heroes!  Supervisor Billy Bradley, Kermit Tapia, Tim Pragg, and Bill Taylor were nice enough to orchestrate our pelican rescue boat outing.  This team noticed that one of the resident pelicans had a drooping wing.  After a time, the droop seemed to go away, but the pelican still could not fly. 

     They called us and offered to take us out there if we would help with the rescue.  Of course, we never back away from a challenge or a free boat ride!   They took us out to the end of the Sewells Point Jetty, and we soon saw the only pelican that didn't fly off at our approach.  Not understanding we were there to help him, he tried to swim away. Thanks to some very impressive boat maneuvering, we were able to get close enough to catch him. I kept him from going off to the right and in front of the boat, but would have lost him if Kermit Tapia didn't jump to the rescue, assisted by Noah Myers (one of the VBSPCA volunteers), to help scoop the hefty bird up and pull him aboard.  

     This team of men are constantly busy keeping our ocean clean and free of pollutants.  The day of the rescue, they had been working all morning in the hot sun cleaning an oil spill, but amazingly they took the time to help this very sad and injured pelican.  We named him Kermit after his main rescuer/hero. Kermit, the man, is the kind of guy who, his teammates say, "Starts yelling if someone steps on a ant"  (our kind of person!)!  Kermit, the pelican, is currently in Sacred Friends Wildlife Rehabilitation with awesome rehabber, Pearl Beamer.  His wing was severed at the joint, so sadly, he will  not be releasable.  We are hoping to find him a new home in one of the animal programs around the area.  Please keep him in your thoughts.  And please thank the guys at the Norfolk Oil Recovery Facility for being animal heroes!  

Check our news page for an update on Kermit, the pelican, and his new home. 

June 19, 2012

     What do osprey and fishermen have in common besides a love of fish?  Unfortunately, it is occasionally fishing line and hooks.  This osprey's foot was hooked and the line wrapped around his tail bringing him down onto a shed.  When Karen arrived, he was stuck on the ground unable to fly to safety.  He was treated at Pearl Beamer's Sacred Friend's Wildlife Refuge.  After care, he was released in the same area near an osprey nest they were pretty sure was his (or her's). 

     What can you do?  Enjoy fishing, we hope you catch (and release) a big one, but please be sure to leave nothing but footprints when you leave.  Take a few moments to pull in snagged lines, fish hooks, and bobbers - and don't forget your trash.  If you are fortunate enough to have a boat, lend nature a hand and grab lines and hooks when you see them.  Nothing spoils nature's beauty like the other guy's trash.   

     Read this great article by Stacey Kiger on fishing line at:   http://www.examiner.com/article/volunteer-with-the-virginia-beach-spca-to-clean-up-hampton-roads-waterways  She writes that it takes 500 years for fishing line to decompose and includes a link to a site with information on recycling fishing line.

The osprey keeps a keen,  one could say "eagle", eye on these people working on his delicate wing.  

Note Karen's heavy gloves.  She HATES being bitten.

And away he goes!  A happy ending!

July 30, 2012

     What a gloomy day for rehabilitating!  After so much good news this week for orphaned raccoons, injured Canada geese, a bald eagle, and many scads of mallard ducklings, we hit a low spot today.  Karen was releasing rescuing geese at dawn, rehabilitated rats (far from homes!), cleaning opossum cages, checking on fledgling morning doves (reunited baby with mom), and was finally starving and ready for lunch by 2:30.
      (Almost) always ready to hang out with Karen and see what adventure occurs, I joined her around 3:00pm.  We drove from one side of Virginia Beach to the other and back in a crazy circle.  After picking up a goose with a completely broken wing at Ridgley Manor, we headed to Ft. Story for a seriously injured little brown bat, and then to Stumpy Lake for a horribly injured Canada goose.  Unfortunately, all three were so badly injured and suffering that no medical treatment, no matter how heroic, would have saved these three.     
     Was there any good news?  Well, yes.  The SPCA vets, vet techs, and rehabbers are willing to go to heroic measures to save all animals in need, but only after they weigh all the factors - primarily the amount of suffering an animal will incur and its future quality of life.  This was the first time I'd been to the SPCA wildlife center with Karen when an animal needed a vet check.  I was touched by how kind and gentle Barb and Cara, the SPCA vet techs, were as they checked the animals - softly talking to each, moving slowly so as not to frighten them, and carefully checking their condition and injuries.  On this day, each animal was so critically injured that euthanasia was the only humane treatment possible.  What a bummer, but today was also filled with so much kindness, not only from the SPCA but also in our community.
       Huge thanks and many kudos to the people who call in and report these animals in need.  While we weren't able to save these particular animals today, they were, at least, put out of their suffering and escaped a long and agonizing death in pain, fear, and miserable heat.  We don't always get the names of these good Samaritans, but today, I did.  Karen and I were so grateful to meet Vishal Kamal who not only noticed and called in the goose with the fractured wing, but also helped Karen net her.   We enjoyed talking to him and were touched by his compassion for animals.

 The wing is badly broken, but his legs were working just fine.  Karen is herding him away from the water to make it possible to net him.

Karen and a kind-hearted Vishal Kamal who is being checked out by the curious goose he reported and helped capture.
     

Welcome!

If you have found this blog, you are witness to its birth!  Karen and I can't wait to share her adventures as a wildlife rehabilitator.  Karen's passion for helping animals and the environment is inspiring and her stories are always touching, usually funny, and always informative.  Playing Watson to her Sherlock is great fun and I'm thankful she lets me tag along.  Stop in often - we'll see you on the wild side soon!