Ouchie!!!!

A fellow rehabbher had a very gimpy coon, thought to be one of their releases, come into the feeding station. Luckily they were able to trap the poor fella so we could take a look. The leg was thought to be broken, and then some!

Turns out it was not a past release, but a very fat and healthy male (with the exception of the injury!) that was just friends with their releases. One reason for the limp was immediately obvious! Someone had chewed on his back leg and took some of his toes with them. Yes, that little piece of white is a bone. Although it looks bad, nothing a little amputation won't fix and he can do just fine without it.

 Of more concern was a break in the leg but luckily xrays did not show any major breaks. Possibly a little something by the knee, but nothing cage rest wouldn't take care of since the knee was stable.

 OK, so I may have taken advantage of the poor guys situation! He was just so big and fat and silly snoozing there, how could I resist? What do ya think, next playmate of the month? LOL

Not a juvenile based on his size, teeth and his "ahem" family jewels (which get more prominent around breeding season which is now)! We figure he's reached breeding age this year....so about 2. Doesn't look like he'll be participating this year though, poor fella! It may even be the reason he's all chewed up....trying to move in on another boars chick!

This is one overwinter that won't be staying here. He's in good hands back with the rehabber that rescued him!



A Christmas visitor.

I am happy to see not all the fox in my area appear to be affected by mange! This beauty was around Christmas morning. I was pretty sure this was not my usual guest that I have been treating. This one has a much nicer coat and a black band around the tail that my foxy doesn't have. (Not to mention Dad saw my foxy hanging around yesterday with her less than perfect coat.)

Beautiful fox in great condition. Stopped by for a little Christmas gift! (or I should say stole one from the birds! LOL)

The suspect then absconded with a small loaf into the woods!

I had a lot of cute pics of the larceny, however there is a very annoying problem going on with uploading my pics to the blog. It takes FOREVER for pics to upload now for some reason. I have been trying since taking these pics and finally I let the computer run all day yesterday trying to "upload"  four pics! I ended up  having to just cancel it and keep trying again doing one at a time. I gave up at 3, hours later! Sorry...but my patience had worn out by that time...grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. This is going to be a problem if it is an ongoing issue.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and happy every other holiday to all our wonderful friends out there in coonie-land!!

The annual Christmas brunch.

The six of us had our annual Christmas brunch this past Sunday and as usual, a wonderful time for us all! Relaxing, opening gifts, and pigging out on Mary's wonderful home cooking and creative dessert! Of course par for the course, an injured squirrel was delivered in the middle of it all! It wouldn't be a party for us if something wasn't being rescued at the same time!

Mary opens her new owl...it looks real, doesn't it! Sue also made her the most incredible hand made lamp! I'll have to get pics the next time I'm at Mary's, the ones I took did not come out well, you just can't make out how amazing it is!

Of course the little man had to come with me to meet everyone! My little clepto proceeded to steal the first gift opened by Laurie! Caught in the act!

After explaining to him stealing is wrong, he decided to hang out with Sue and pout a little while the rest of us opened our gifts! LOL

Seeing as the rest of the gang has had to look at some pretty goofy pics of themselves on here, it was only fair JoAnn and I take our turn! Me and my new waders! A true hick now, LOL...but I'll be dry and warm crossing the swamp! Ah yup!

Mrs. MaGoo here takes the cake though! LOL If JoAnn can't see her tiny little charges with those things on then there is no hope! What a great idea from Laurie though.......she'll be able to see things magnified while having her hands free to hold and take care of the tiny babies! I hate to admit it, but I think we're all going to need those soon!

Rudy was such a good boy (with the exception of the petty larceny earlier!) and is very social with everyone he meets...both furry and human. His good behavior continued when we headed to my parents house right from Mary's for their annual Christmas party.

Whew....what a crazy week it has been with a new puppy, the holidays and the parties! Looking forward to after the holidays and some quiet time!

The new boy.

So, I needed another dog like I needed a hole in my head! But it was not a natter of need. As is too often the case these days, it was a matter of life and death for the poor little guy! He was (one of many :(  )scheduled to be euthanized this past Monday morning and, come Sunday evening, he had not been pulled by a rescue or otherwise adopted. Honestly....how could I let that go!!

Being a puppy, he was an instant hit with Boo and Bernard. Marley not so much, but he's already warming up to the idea.

These two are just running maniacs! It's great...Bernard tires him out, and he quietly goes to sleep in his crate.

He is amazingly well behaved for his age! He will sit and stay like a pro. He sat right in front of me while I was on the couch for at least half an hour! I timed it....and when my show was over that's when I gave up and got up...a puppy mind you! He's more obedient than the boys! LOL He comes when called and "leaves it" when I tell him to....I'm amazed. He must have had some training? So how does a pup like him end up on death row?!

And so as you can see he has been s welcome addition to the usual suspects.... Boo, Bernard and Marley......

...and Lucy, who has already made it clear she's the boss....and he's listening! (Although he pretty much ignores the cats.)

Cruiser, Rookie, Smokey and Cuffs are all just rolling their eyes...."For the love of God, she picked up another one!" They're pretty much taking it all in stride...after all they still outnumber the dogs by 1!

We're gearing up for our annual Christmas brunch at Mary's this Sunday. It'll be a good chance for the ladies to meet him!

Lisa's Birthday party.

Thanks to a night off for everyone and a very yummy cake made by Mary....

....we were able to get together to officially celebrate Lisa's (29th!) birthday!

Once again another wonderful night of food, friends and fun!! And a bunch of dogs crawling into every ones laps...LOL. But the girls are used to that by now when we get together at my house. And this time we have pictures of Lisa AWAKE on the couch by the end of the night! (although I do look forward to getting those wonderful pics and surprising her with them!)

All else is well in the animal kingdom. Boston is doing great, all the overwinters are fine and the little porcupine brought to Tuft's is improving! Enough so that it is ready to go to a rehabber for long term convalescence. So Dee and Tom will be arranging to get the little fella where it will be in good hands! Another happy ending....love it!

I found some hidden gems!

Thanks to updated computers and software and technology in general....I got these hidden gems off my old cell phone that broke ages ago! Thanks to blue tooth technology I was able to get some of the videos that were stored in it! So lucky you guys....you get to see what it's like when I happen to run into an old friend......and her adorable new family!

It ain't professional by any means, just crappy cell phone quality.....but enjoyable all the same! This is Red with her darling family last June 2010 when I ran into them checking the main feeding station.

Then of course there was Little Monkey, one of the reds released here that year that decided to make me his little play gym. I would show up and and he would immediately start demanding some kind of treat, then proceed to strip search me if there were none produced forthwith!

Sometimes he brought one of his siblings and god forbid I put the raccoon formula and food down for a minute......they would just start helping themselves! After all, I was there to cater to them, was I not?!

Never a dull moment when heading out to take care of the rehabs!!

The gang.

The gang is doing great and fattened right up! Of course now they are big enough to go, but it's too late in the season of course. Although we lucked out with lovely fall weather until December, that luck has changed. Colder temps have descended and in MA where winters are cold and snowy, they just wouldn't have enough time to establish safe den sites to keep themselves warm and safe.

No complaints from this crew though....they are quite happy where they are as you can see!

Having the time of their lives :)

Boston before and after.

I am thrilled to report great progress with Boston's recovery! The pictures are worth a thousand words! Just look at how well the wounds are healing.



He is also walking on it pretty well. The top of the foot is taking a little longer, but is improving as well. He was not quite as cooperative about showing that to the camera! Soon I'll be separating the boys from the girls and chances are he will join the boys in a new pen. I think he'll  be happy to have some company and make new friends!

Helping the local coyotes.

John, the Belmont ACO, is on a mission! This coyote family is obviously in desperate need of help! They have mange and it's so bad at this point the wounds they are inflicting on themselves is horrible as you can see in the pictures John got. Not to mention the fur loss. We have been pleasantly blessed with a very mild fall....it's December 6 and we have been in the 60's more often than not! If not for that these guys may have suffered even more.

First sightings were of this male, a welcome visitor to the golf course due to his rodent control skills. (Imagine that...someone who appreciates and is willing to coexist with this totally misunderstood animal! You guys rock!) Tuft's was contacted and willing to take him if captured. Game on! These guys are NOT easy to catch!

Thanks to John's patience and traps from the ARL.....success! But wait a minute.....this is a female! John was pretty sure he had identified the "proper equipment" on a MALE while tracking the original coyote. (And I'm pretty sure that, his coyote expertise aside, he knew what he was looking at! LOL)

So as it turns out, this female is safely tucked away at Tuft's. She's doing well, eating fine and being treated for heartworm, mange and her wounds. Further sightings have been of a pair traveling together, one being the original male spotted. Uncanny that his large wounds are almost identical to this girls in size and location, tricking us into thinking it was one and the same! He's thinking that this female is possibly one of the kids to the pair still on the loose...

And so the wait continues as John regularly checks the traps hoping to get the male before it's too late! The traps have remained frustratingly empty, although the report from last night was that one of the traps had been sprung and the bait was gone. But I know John and he's determined to help them....if anyone can catch them he can!!