Finger Lakes S.P.C.A. is getting a new home, on Cameron Road in Bath, next to the Conhocton River. And Steuben county has a new wildlife rehabilitator, Terri Terwilliger, who lives in the Prattsburgh area.
These new resources came together recently, as Ms. Terwilliger put on a public presentation at “River’s Edge Farm.”
As a general rule, it’s illegal to have wildlife in your possession, or to make pets of them. Even veterinarians are not supposed to do it, and very often are not equipped to anyway. Rehabilitators are trained and licensed (by our New York State Department of Conservation) to render aid. Again as a general rule, there are three levels of licensing, all based on training and testing. One allows the rehabilitator to handle most wildlife. Another covers raptors and migratory birds, which are protected not just by U.S. law but by international treaty.
Curiously, only a few birds, such as starlings and pigeons, are classed as non-raptor, non-migratory. So the basic licensing allows you to handle most mammals, plus a few birds, while an additional license permits the handling of all other birds.
There’s a third license for rabies-vector species… bats, skunks, and raccoons. Any animal CAN get rabies, but these are considered special risk.
Which brings up the point that rehabilitators need to be vaccinated beforehand against rabies – at their own expense. Nobody pays them to do this work, and nobody covers their expenses. They’re entirely on their own as they provide this public service.
One situation rehabilitators often come across is abandoned babies, although people THINK that happens more often than it actually does. Fawns and baby rabbits are often found alone, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re abandoned or motherless. In both cases mothers watch and protect their babies from a distance, and from concealment. This limits predators’ opportunities to spot the babies by observing the far-larger mother.
So while fawns and baby rabbits certainly can be abandoned, there’s a very good chance that that’s not the case. A period of watchful waiting might be the best bet, before sweeping the baby off to the rehabilitator. By the way, animals WILL accept their babies back, even after they’ve been handled by humans, though it’s still best not to handle them at all.
Injuries often bring animals in, too. They may be shot, hit by a car, attacked by a predator, hurt in a fight… all the same kinds of shocks to which our own flesh is heir. Animals fall sick, too, and suffer the infirmities of age. Sometimes the greatest goodness is also the saddest, to end its sufferings and put the creature to sleep.
The goal and the hope, though – and the most common outcome – is to restore the patient to health and return it to the wild. (Sometimes an otherwise-healthy animal may be permanently disabled, such as when a bird loses a wing. Then a home needs to be found.)
Terwilliger says that some species, like squirrels, are affectionate and companionable while being rehabilitated, but off like a shot, without looking back, once placed in a tree. For others the rehabilitator needs to harden the heart, place the animal to be released, and run away as the poor creature wails at being abandoned.
The good news is, even most of these adapt very quickly back to the wild.
As we mentioned, nobody makes any money at this. Unless they can coax or dragoon some help, rehabilitators are on their own. So if you have a baby squirrel – which requires feeding every 30 minutes – you will never get more than 20 minutes of sleep at a shot.
Check out www.nys.dec.gov, click on Wildlife Rehabilitator License in the A-Z search, and you’ll find a short guide to licensing, plus links for where to find a rehabilitator, and how to handle young wildlife if necessary.
Remember that these are wild animals, not pets. They don’t get the concept of being helped, and very sensibly view humans as a major threat. Bear that in mind should you ever approach a distressed animal, and also think about the poor rehabilitator who’s handling the animal constantly.
Some of the creatures are pretty shrewd, we must admit. I’ve always had an admiration for the intelligence of raccoons, who crowd our “brand” with their binocular vision and something approaching opposable thumbs. Twenty years ago a Livingston County rehabber told me that she had cared for an injured raccoon, then successfully released it back to the wild a few miles away. That ‘coon was later hit by a car. With its hind legs useless, it used its front paws to drag itself back to her house. When we’re gone, raccoons will rule the earth!