Don’t Try This Yourself By Pamela Hartmann

After a short seasonal lull, staff and volunteers at the Pacific Wildlife Care Rehabilitation Center are gearing up for Baby Season, a frenetic period that begins in early spring and extends well into summer, kicked off by an influx of baby mammals, usually the second week of March. This year, however, both the timing and numbers of animals are anyone’s guess, says Kathy Duncan, Senior Rehabilitator and Education Director. Nobody knows how the drought will affect food sources and, consequently, the natural breeding season.

But if the season progresses as in past years, the PWC Hotline will field hundreds of calls, and hundreds of baby animals will be transported to the PWC Morro Bay Center—some in cardboard boxes, some in dog or cat carriers—beginning with baby squirrels, then opossums, skunks, bunnies, an occasional fawn, and (usually in May) raccoons. Some are injured, but “a lot of what we get are just orphans,” Duncan says. Often, human interference—well-intentioned or not— causes animals to be brought to the center.

Several years ago, in a convoluted drama, a young woman called the PWC Hotline to report that her boyfriend (perhaps former boyfriend) had been raising an orphaned opossum as a pet. That was his first mistake: keeping wildlife at home is a violation of California law. His second mistake was in feeding the opossum a diet of hot dogs. Through the combined efforts of the Nipomo Police Department and PWC transporter Alan Ahearn, the animal was brought to the Morro Bay Center (and the young man was cited by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife). Because of the improper diet, the opossum had a serious case of metabolic bone disease. “He couldn’t stretch out his limbs,” says Duncan. The disease was irreversible, and he had to be euthanized.

In the evolving field of wildlife rehabilitation, far more is understood now than was known ten or twenty years ago about handling, housing, and feeding various species in rehab. The correct type of food is crucial to any animal’s survival. “We get better products now,” Duncan says, “and we buy species-specific formula” for baby mammals. This knowledge results in greater survival rates and is all the more reason (beyond the illegality) that wildlife should not be raised at home by people who mean well but are untrained.

Orphans—or Not Really?

Staff and volunteers at Pacific Wildlife Care spend much of their time in the spring and early summer tending to orphaned baby mammals, who need months of care by trained rehabilitators before they can be released to the wild—the goal and part of the mission of PWC.

Many of these babies are true orphans. The mother squirrel, for example, may have been caught and killed by a dog. The mother opossum may have been hit by a car, but the babies in her pouch are still alive; sometimes they are found crawling out onto her back.

However, many of the babies are not truly orphaned. The mother may be alive but separated from her babies. This sometimes occurs when people trap and relocate an adult opossum or raccoon that has nested near or under their house, considering the animal an unwanted pest. Only later do they discover dead or dying babies left behind. Duncan’s advice? “Maybe just be a little patient.” These are “very nomadic animals” with alternate nesting sites, and “they won’t stay forever.” Volunteers on the PWC Hotline (805-543-9453) can counsel callers on humane ways to “get Mom to leave with her babies,” although there can be advantages to keeping them around: opossums, for example, “eat snails and slugs and garden pests.”

A Case of Kidnapping

At other times, people will try to “save” a lone fawn or a nest of baby bunnies, opossums, or raccoons that they believe to be orphaned, which is often not the case. Instead, the mother has most likely gone out foraging and will return. A fawn will remain curled up in the grass for several hours, as will a nest of baby bunnies, whose mother nurses them in the morning, goes off foraging all day, and returns to nurse them in the evening. A well-intentioned person sometimes gathers up the babies, assuming them to be orphaned or abandoned, and brings them to PWC. The mother returns to the nesting site and becomes frantic to find her babies gone.

Duncan advises leaving the babies alone and keeping at a great distance from the nest. “If you’re there,” she says, “Mom won’t return. If you come upon a nest of babies all cuddled up, leave them alone.” Only if the babies themselves seem frantic is it a sign that something may have happened to the mother. But it is by far preferable to keep the babies and mother together. Bunnies and fawns, especially, are difficult for even the most experienced rehabilitators to raise. As Duncan says, “we [humans] can never do as good of a job as the parent.”

Do’s and Don’ts

Orphaned western gray squirrel whose nest was destroyed when a tree was cut down. Photo by Kathy Duncan

So what are we to do if we want to help? For one, according to Duncan, “Don’t do major tree trimming in the spring or summer." (Squirrels nest in cavities, especially of large oak and pine trees.) “Don’t trap. Don’t kidnap. Stay away.” If people find a truly orphaned or injured baby mammal, they should wrap it in a soft towel, place it in a box in a warm, dark, safe place, do not feed it—and then call Pacific Wildlife Care.

People who want to go beyond this and become directly involved in the rehabilitation of wildlife are welcome to attend the next Volunteer Orientation at PWC. For those who sign on as volunteers, what awaits them is a rich opportunity for an up-close-and-personal education in the complex world of wildlife care.

For more information on Pacific Wildlife Care, to volunteer, or to make a donation, go to the website.

If you find an injured wild animal, call the PWC Hotline (805-543-9453).

You can support PWC by attending the Sixth Annual Windows into Wildlife (Farm-Ag tour March 30, 8am-5pm) a fundraising event, benefiting Pacific Wildlife Care. For more information on Pacific Wildlife Care, to volunteer, or to make a donation, go to the website.

Read the story of a successful Red-tailed Hawk rescue.