The first release!

Well 11 of the gang are on their way! The ARL 5, the 4 fosters, Chanel #5 and one of the Fast 5 were released this past Sunday. Although the cage is there and set up, we only put them in their initially to let them get acquainted where the den boxes were in case they needed them. The door was left wide open and once they inspected all the den boxes.....they wasted no time venturing out!

As usual it was tons of fun watching them climb and play until they all eventually ventured deeper into the woods.

Gimpy, Fitchy and 4 of the Fast 5 have a little more breathing room in their pen now!

 

On a darker note...Monday night I discovered Scritch huddled on one of the den boxes, not doing well at all. We have no idea what is wrong with her, however it appears she may have fallen and has severe head trauma. She is very neurologic, with nystagmus and seizures. I can not find any wounds or injuries and to be honest feel pretty helpless. All I can do is give her supportive care and hope for improvement soon, or I may have to make a decision I dread making. Fluids and prednisone and really hoping the symptoms are due to a concussion......and that they improve! The rest of the gang are perfectly fine....it all just points to head trauma.



A week of squirrels.

Lots of squirrel calls this week! Last weekend started with a poor baby from the Animal Rescue League. I will spare you the details on the poor little guy, but unfortunately, he had to be euthanized.

 

Almost had a couple of reds to go with my little red girl, but the caller was in New Hampshire and got them to a closer rehabber. Not that I want more orphans mind you, but little Red is going to need some siblings of her own kind!

 

Then there were these adorable babies. They had been orphaned since at least last Friday, when the woman started hearing them crying in their tree. Over the course of the weekend they started popping out of the tree, one taking a tumble that caused some trauma to the nose. They took them in and by the time she contacted me Tuesday morning I was at work and worried enough that I didn't want them to wait until I got home to bring them to me. Luckily Mary was around to save the day! She took them in, got them warm, hydrated and out of danger! Whew!! I picked them up on my way home and have to say they weren't as bad as I expected.

All 5 are doing great and they have all opened their eyes since last weekend.

 Even the poor little boy with the injured nose is great! It's already back to normal, no more bloody nose and snuffling. In fact if I hadn't marked them, I wouldn't know the difference between them now!

 Needless to say they are quite content now, gaining weight, and all 5 are even shredding rodent block already. Yup, they are going to be just fine!

Food coma's make the cutest squirrel pictures!

It always amazes me how a full belly can change these guys from total squirm balls into down right, unconscious, sleep anywhere in any position, totally content creatures!

These are the adorable new babies....squirrel season #2 is in full swing! There is a litter of 3....2 boys and a girl...that were found on the ground with some minor bites to their tails. A single girl Mary had that was the perfect size to go in with them, and a cute little red. She's a single who needed the comfort of others and this gang is the closest in size.

As you can see, Red has no problem fitting in, and her step-siblings were more than happy to welcome her. 

Watertown, the young coonie brought to me by the ACO was released last night. The woman who found him on her balcony was more than happy to let him return back to his home territory. Turns out there were 3 others peeking in her balcony door the other night....perhaps still looking for little brother? He very un-ceremoniously walked over to the tree in the yard and climbed up out of sight. I have no doubt he would catch up to his crew later on!

Animal Control and Rehabilitation go hand in hand.

My job as an Animal Control Officer puts me in a position to help more animals, especially the wildlife, that otherwise may have never found the help it needed.

I managed to catch this little coyote pup with the help of John, the Belmont ACO, just in time! A terrible case of mange, skin infection and maggots at the time of capture, I am happy to report it is now doing well, thanks to Tuft's, instead of a slow miserable death!

 A young red tail in obvious distress. It was very thin with an injury on it's foot. Tuft's is still evaluating and it is being force fed since it is still not eating on it's own.

 This poor little boy! John brought him to me. So sad....it had either been hit by a car with extensive road rash or burned. I had hope for him, but after sedating him to get a closer look I had to make the decision to euthanize him. The worst area was the right side and right rear leg, the whole area of which would have sloughed off. All 4 paws were degloved and the rear were especially swollen and painful. He had been like that for a while and infection has set in also. At last he is no longer in constant pain....

 This mallard was found laying on her back like a turtle that couldn't upright itself. She was quite neurologic. I really was not expecting good news, but thanks to Tuft's once again, this lucky girl was released back near her home yesterday!

 

Just a few lucky souls spared by myself....and many other Animal Control Officers who care about all animals....thus the name ANIMAL Control Officer! Hopefully the days of the old school "Dog Officer" are near an end....those that got the job because it was a good, easy gig...not because they actually cared about animals at all. Those that only respond to dog issues, and reluctantly at that, and could care less about helping other animals....and the public that do care about those animals. I am blessed to be surrounded by ACO's that are top notch and are willing to help and go out of their way to help any animal that is in need...ACO's that network and do it right! Cheers to you all! Too many times I hear stories of a "Dog Officer" who just can't be bothered and I'm proud to say most are not around this area. There are a couple holdouts, but no worries, the people in those communities know they have us to help out when theirs don't....because it's our calling!



Stinkers, possums and a squirrel.

Well here are the little stinkers in their new home.....right next to my home! This hole is outside my front door and I am sure there is a wonderful maze of tunnels across my front yard for these guys to get comfortable in. I originally thought they may have evicted my groundhog, however I have seen him still hanging around the holes. I think lease agreements have been made!

 They have also learned to get along with the coonies out there too. I imagine they should, since it was the coonies mostly responsible for breaking them out in the first place!

 I don't suspect the coonies have to much of a problem with the little stinkers anyway. It appears one of the adults out there prefers to hang out with gangs of masked bandits! Notice that un-coon like tail in the midst below?

 I pretty regularly see this guy just chillin' with the gang like he was one of them, and the gang seems to pretty much consider him a pal! They don't just eat together in the same area...they all pretty much sit right on top of each other and chow down. I'm happy to see such harmony among my kids out there....I taught them well! LOL

One night a few weeks ago it was time for some of Laurie's gang of fangs to head out into the big world! Boy were they ready, and none to grateful for the head start in life either! All they did was snap at us, little buggars! LOL Good to see though, they are ready to be wild and they won't be making friends with anyone anytime soon!  

This squirrel has been a regular at my feeders. Easy to tell her apart due to the white eye. She is blind in that eye but does great out there. I was getting ready for work yesterday morning when I happen to look out my window and saw a squirrel out there with an obviously injured leg. When I went down to check on it, it was none other than my white eyed friend here! Blind in one eye and obviously injured on a leg, you would think an easy catch! But noooooo!

It's times like this I am happy I live out in the woods where people cannot see the crazy lady running around the back yard in pj's with a net, chasing around an injured squirrel, while tripping in ripped slippers and dodging dog poop mines! Anyway....I caught the damn squirrel! LOL When I put her in one of the pens, she went right for the release door! Ding Ding Ding....red flag.....this squirrel was obviously pretty familiar with the pen! So I'm guessing one of the past releases. Most of them are Joann's so she is going to come over and help me try to check this one out. I had the opportunity to have one of Laurie's vets take a look at it last night, however after 45 minutes trying to get it out of the hollow tree in the pen, I gave up in frustration!!! (I mean FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!) Hopefully we can get it out and into a smaller cage where I can work with it and maybe get it to Tuft's depending on what we discover when we examine it. It's got a great appetite and can obviously get around well enough.....so I am optimistic!