Good news for the beaver!!

This will be short but sweet because I have to take advantage of the nice weather to clean outdoor den boxes etc......

Just got a text from Laurie.....the beaver is doing great and going to have dental surgery! Don't have the particulars right now, but when I get them I'll pass them on. I'm psyched!

Laurie was the first of us to get new babies.....4 pinkie squirrels last night....ughhhh. No more sleep for Laurie for a while! It has begun, we are all on borrowed time now!

Thank You..from me and the raccoons!

A builder of boxes for squirrel or coon,

and housing for orphan's with plenty of room.

Moving downed trees after stormy winds blow,

fixing the damage from a long winter's snow.

Shopping at BJ's for veggies and grapes,

for me to distribute among orphans plates.

He's always around to lend his support,

with time and knowledge, even the financial sort.

Wild babies survive to go free in the fall,

with all his hard work to thank for it all.

Always unfailing through good times and rough,

for all that he's done I can not thank enough!

The biggest supporter that I've ever had,

he's one in a million, number one, and my Dad!

Thanks to Dad and everyone else who has help support our little wild orphans (from vets to friends to strangers -donating time, skills and much needed supplies and money!!)...without you all this endeavor would be impossible!!

Keeping an eye on an injured raccoon.

On the 24th I started noticing this injured raccoon. Unfortunately it's not coming around until about 3-4am so my chances of running into it are slim unless I make an effort to be up around then, go down, and hope by some miracle it will stay around when it hears me coming. (I'm guessing fat chance of that!)

After my initial panic, I am not terribly worried at this point though. As you can see in this clip, it's obviously using the paw a little, and they do have to climb up that limb to get onto the feeding platform....so it is getting around fairly well with it. Appetite is good...has been in every night to eat like a pig and seems ok otherwise. So I am going to monitor the situation for now. I have had others who have hurt a paw or leg and hopped around on 3 like that, but when I tried to grab them, had no problem using it to run away or climb a tree when necessary. (Popeye was a great example of that right after his release.)

If the condition appears to deteriorate, I will take more aggressive measures to try to help.

This morning aoround 8:30am, me and this little one scared the crap out of each other! I was just going to collect the camera when all of a sudden I see this head pop up at the top of the log right across from me! We both stopped short, I yipped, it huffed a little, (we both peed our pants a little I think!) then I collected myself enough to reassure it that I meant no harm! It's not one of my kids, but possibly a grand kid used to hearing my voice out there at night while I visited it's mom, because after I started talking to him, he proceeded up onto the top platform to eat. Wary but tolerant of me as long as I left him alone! I finished checking the feeder and left it to eat in peace. It's a little one, but in good shape and no signs of illness at all. This isn't the first time I've caught it on video during the early morning daylight hours.

Not a good prognosis for the beaver.

The word is in from Tuft's....our beaver friend is missing both bottom teeth and one top tooth, due to an old injury. The mouth is also very infected. As you may or may not know, without a properly working mouth and teeth, the beaver would be sentenced to a long, suffering death in the wild. They are going to start antibiotics, but their guts apparently don't handle them too well and he isn't eating to begin with.

So a lot is up in the air for our friend...who turns out to be probably between 1 & 2 years old...but they are going to keep trying, so there is some hope however small it may be. So everyone keep your fingers crossed and send some good thoughts his way!!