Release!

On Monday night I got to go on my first release! (sorry, no photos this time) Another intern, Christina, and I, drove out to Hollywood Hills with two skunks to release them back from where they were found. Luckily I didn’t have to help with the “capture” part of the release. Christina and Jo went down to the enclosure where basically all our bigger skunks are (commonly referred to as “Skunk Works”), and they had to proceed to corner and grab the four largest skunks they saw. I’ve heard that when the skunks realize what is happening, and that the humans in their midst are not there to deliver food, they immediately run and hide. Sometimes they get so stressed that some will jump on the giant hamster wheels in their enclosure and start running, trying to get away. Jo and Christina had to throw blankets over the selected skunks and then grab them up and put them in boxes, all while avoiding getting bitten or sprayed. Apparently the process went relatively smoothly, and we ended up with four skunks, boxed and ready to go. (Christina and I only took two of the four, the other two went with a volunteer). Jo located a potential address in the Hollywood Hills area for a good release point, and Christina and I set off after work (skunks are most active at dusk and evening, so having a release at this time of day would be the least stressful for them). We try our best to release the animals back in the areas we find them, since A) they'll be comfortable and familiar with the area and B) we avoid accidentally releasing one animal into another’s territory.

It took Christina and I over an hour to eventually release the skunks, since the first locations we tried seemed very unfriendly to skunks. The houses were too close together and didn’t contain enough yard/woody spaces for the skunks to seek cover. We had to choose a location that was close to a residential area, since skunks have become reliant on people and survive mostly on garbage (sad, but a guess a negative result of our encroachment on natural spaces). However, we wanted to be sure there was enough natural cover for the skunks to hide in, just in case their human neighbors didn’t approve of them and tried to trap them, or to prevent them from having to cross too many streets and risk getting hit by cars. I felt bad for the skunks, since we were driving all over the Hills, back and forth and up and down, and I worry that we may have made them a bit carsick. At the beginning of the car trip we could hear them moving around their boxes, sniffing curiously and trying to determine their location and what was happening. Suddenly we didn’t hear any noises anymore and for a few minutes we worried they had died of shock or something, since there was absolutely no reaction from them. But later when we checked on them, we found them alive and well, albeit a bit weirded out and pissed off :P

We eventually found what we believed to be an ideal skunk habitat – what appeared to be an abandoned water treatment facility that had an old reservoir behind it, that had become over grown with marshy vegetation (we hoped the skunks would be able to revert back to being natural, wild skunks and find a lot of great food sources from the marsh) – that had a high fence around it, and was next door to a bunch of houses. We found a gap in the fence that was at the top of an old water chute that was now filled with leaves. When we opened the boxes and the skunks ran out of the boxes, they actually comically slid down the chute for a while, before they finally caught themselves.

I had been looking forward to finally experiencing a release, and I have to say that it was almost exactly I had been expecting. It was slightly emotional, a bit nostalgic and sad, but also exciting and happy. It was incredible to be able to know these skunks were back where they belonged and that we had in essence, saved their lives. But it was also sad since we had cared for these skunks for so long and it was likely we’d never encounter them again (but again, I suppose that’s the ideal goal). I haven’t been at the center long enough to be experience the release of an animal that I consciously remember helping to raise/care for, so I can only imagine that it feels even more nostalgic in that situation. But that was why I wanted to go into this field – to walk away knowing that I made a significant difference in an animals life (even if they don’t acknowledge it, ha ha) – and to get to experience that feeling of satisfaction that they’re back where they belong.

The release was also slightly stressful, which I hadn’t anticipated – finding the right environment that met all our criteria, without being too potentially dangerous. Obviously we wouldn’t be able to control where the skunks ended up wandering, but we felt it was our job to try and place them in an area that was as devoid of danger as possible (i.e major road ways, too much human traffic, etc). It made me laugh to imagine what the people living in the area would think, that we were putting skunks into their backyards, but hopefully they’re animal-loving people and won’t mind too much.

Yesterday I got to assist in a veterinary procedure! One of the young Western-Scrub Jays (google image below. Personally I think they’re one of the prettiest birds, and strongly reminds me of the MockingJay from Hunger Games….)

had received a mysterious neck wound. It was the second neck injury in two weeks and we still can’t determine exactly what is happening to him. I am under the impression that the other jays living with him are picking on him, since he is the smallest Jay in the group and already looks a little bedraggled. The first neck wound was most superficial, so we were able to just put antibiotic cream on it and let him go. This time he actually required sutures. Dr. Tom, the resident vet at CWC, asked me to assist him with the procedure, which was relatively simple, but still fascinating to observe. We put the bird to sleep and then inserted a tube that would help him breath – my job was to press on the bag every 6 seconds that would help breathe for him by filling his lungs).  It was a bit hard to focus on doing that job, since I was so intrigued by watching Dr. Tom suture up the wound. Originally I believed the whole operation was a complete success, since there were no complications and the bird appeared to be fine after waking up. However, I learned later that the sutures had come out and would have to be redone, and today I found out that the second surgery went well and he's hopefully on the road to recovery. Personally I think we need to find the bird some new friends….

That's all for now!
Peace, love and wildlife running free

Baby Skunks!

Sorry, I realized only today that it's been a while since I posted an update. The days really do fly by fast here. Let me correct that - the days themselves go kinda slow (especially at times), but the weeks are passing like quicksand. The day to day life has slowed at the center, as we're getting far less intakes then at the beginning of the summer. From what I've been hearing, the animals come in waves. At the start of the summer months there were tons of baby mammals, mostly squirrels. Now we're getting towards the end of the baby bird season and apparently we'll soon start getting more mammals again before the fall sets in.

Totally starting to feel more competent at the center! YAY! I feel that I no longer have to ask Jo or any of the staff a hundred times to repeat their request or walk me through everything step by step. My biggest fear is doing an intake exam by myself (which I've been doing some of, but mostly with supervision from one of the staff) since I'm scared I'm going to overlook something really important. Oftentimes the smallest, most innocent-looking cuts or scrapes can indicate whether an animal is actually in terrible shape and needs intense medical treatment, or even to be put to sleep. I'm picking up more of the medical lingo every day, although my knowledge of anatomy is still very basic. (For all of you who are impressed by how much animal stuff I know, you would be blown away by the people here).

Personal news: finally have a car! When my parents were out visiting a few weeks ago we picked up a rental car for me from Rent-A-Wreck. True to the name of the company, the car isn't exactly a beauty, (it's a 2003ish, dark green Toyota Echo), but it serves to get me from point A to point B in one piece and prevents me from potentially being run over by walking home in the dark. I feel a lot more independent having my own transportation, and it's nice to know that if i ever needed to just get away and go for a drive or something, I now have the means to do it.

I also went surfing in CA for the first time! I've only been once before, in Costa Rica, and I took a lesson managed to stand up by the end, which was satisfying. This time I didn't have someone teaching me - I went with my roommate and one of the new externs. None of us had much experience, so we were a bit out of our element, but we had fun nevertheless. Unfortunately the waves weren't the best. There were some big ones but there were tons of surfers at that specific beach that day, so there was never enough room for everyone. The best surfers would jump on the waves and edge everyone else out. I didn't observe it personally, but I've heard that sometimes they will physically push people out of a wave :P I did catch one good wave, although I didn't manage to quite stand up. I'm hoping to go at least one more time before I leave (I have to rent a surf board/wetsuit and I'm kinda cheap so sadly it can't become a full-time hobby).

Anywho, I'll just run through some of the big animal related news, since I know that's what people really care about ;)

- we got two adorable baby possums in the other day. I'd never seen a baby possum before and it's incredible how cute they are. Every time we would take them out to try and feed them they would attempt to scare us by hissing, which was just too adorable to be scary :P sorry little guys, maybe one day when you're bigger.

- On Friday when I walked down to the skunk enclosure to give the skunks their PM diets, I opened up the gate and saw skunks everywhere. Someone had forgotten to lock one of the inner doors to the enclosures themselves (luckily there's a second outer locked door so they couldn't actually escape into the outdoors), and they had all wandered out. Thankfully they were all very hungry so I placed their food inside the fences and they all walked back in. Phew. I thought the trouble was over, but later when I went down to feed other animals I happened to chance upon a lone young skunk wandering around outside the other enclosures. I had a radio with me so I called up to the center and told them that we had a "skunk problem." Immediate Dr. Tom, the in-residence vet, came running down the hill, armed with googles and heavy gloves. There was no way to know if this was actually one of our skunks or a wild one that had wandered in, so we needed to be careful when handling it. Dr. Tom explained that if it was a newcomer, the skunks in the enclosures would immediately know and would attack the intruder. It turned out that it was indeed an escaped skunk. Although we were watching the escapee return to his friends and we happened to notice another skunk walking along the outside of the fence line. Oh boy, here we go again. (Dr. Tom totally got sprayed during the recapture btw). 

- We also have two new deer - one is a tiny baby that we kept by himself for a few days and had to hand feed. Deer are extremely susceptible to imprinting so every time we entered the stall with him we would have to wear the "deer suit," which consists of a heavy piece of fabric that you wear a bit like a poncho that covers your whole body. Then on top of that we wear a hood that looks like a weird version of a fencing helmet. Basically a pillow case with a mesh front over your face. It's extremely hot and annoying to wear. One less desirable task that goes with bottle-feeding babies is that you often have to "stimulate" them after they eat, which means make them urinate/defecate, since they can't do it themselves. In the wild I believe the mothers will perform this task until the babies are old enough.  

Baby Poorwill (related to whippoorwills)

Great camouflage: they totally look like leaves! 

Collage of a few of the baby birds we have (clockwise: poorwill, quail, swift)

We also have baby skunks! There was a group of 5 babies that had been found alone (their mother had most likely been killed). We had to bottle feed for a few days until they learned to eat on their own. Below is a video of one of the babies reacting to a "scary" monster that just entered his territory: 

Recently those babies got big enough to get moved to RVU with the other young skunks, however, we have the newest resident baby - a youngster that is only a few weeks old! She was found by herself as well, although it is possible that she was left behind by her family as she is extremely tiny and was most likely the runt of the litter. However, we find her absolutely delightful and there's a tiny, guilty, part of me that hopes she imprints so that she'll have to stay with us forever. (I go a little photo crazy whenever she's around, so i have a sizable album of pictures of her. I call her Delilah, not sure why; she just looks like a DelilahPhone pics come out kinda crappy, so one day I plan on bringing my real camera to the center to get some pics. ). 

She loves to grasp the bottle in her paws! So cute! 

her adorable baby tail! 

Kara and I went to a party at one of the volunteers's houses and met his African Grey Parrot, "Arthur." 

Found this upstairs in the kitchen of the center. Thought it was fitting :) 

The center's going to become much quieter soon, the interns from session 2 are going to be leaving in the next couple of weeks (one this week, one next week and my roommate the week after that). It's going to be sad and very strange without them and I imagine that the work load is going to coincidentally increase significantly. There are only 4 interns total for session 3 (my official session), so it'll be a much smaller group. Once my roommate leaves, I'll be living alone at the guest house, so if anyone's visiting Los Angeles in August, call me up, I'll have an extra bed! 

Till next time, peace, love and skunks. 

Counting Crows

Can't believe it's already July. Guess it means I'm having a good time here (which I am). The days feel both long and short - so much happens in a single afternoon that sometimes it feels like separate days, and yet the hours seem to slip by quite rapidly. Next thing I know it'll be August and almost time to go home :P

It's hard to remember the exact details of every day (and to be honest it probably wouldn't make for very interesting reading, so i'll just highlight the cool/interesting parts).

Friday: The past two weeks we've had a problem with a local wild bobcat who has been visiting the center at night and catching and eating some of our animals, especially enjoying big crow dinners. We lost at least 5 or 6 birds to this one cat, with the bobcat killing several all at once and only eating maybe one at most. We couldn't figure out how he was getting in until one day, just at close up, someone noticed him in one of the enclosures. (Unfortunately I wasn't at the center that day so I can't provide lavish details, however from what I heard, the vet on staff used a tranquilizer to shoot the cat and then once it was knocked out, it fell into a net that a couple of the interns were holding. Then later that night they relocated the bobcat in a crate to a nearby park. Apparently there's a rule with bobcats (and possibly other big cats) that you cannot move them beyond a 3 mile radius to ensure that you won't be releasing them in another cat's territory). So we thought we had solved the problem. Then we discovered that the cat was back (at least we assume it was the same one), and it was yet again terrorizing and killing our birds. So the vet team set out a trap for him and managed to catch him again, and this time, they decided to euthanize him. They realized that in all likelihood he was going to keep coming back and killing more of the animals, and it was impossible to cat-proof the entire center.

Before we caught the cat however, Jo decided that as a precaution we should relocate the crows to a larger, and also more secure enclosure. This meant that we had to catch every single crow, record its band color and then put them in boxes and move them to the other enclosure. I didn't quite know what this would entail, until the next thing I know, Jo's handing me a long handled net and telling me to start catching them. The enclosure was long and the crows kept flying back and forth, avoiding our nets. (It reminded me of a large, interspecific version of that playground game, "Fishy, Fishy Cross My Ocean," except with birds this time). Jo was really good at catching the birds and could snatch them in midair with her net, the rest of us waited until we had them trapped in a corner. We eventually boxed up all the birds and moved them to their new home.

Later that day I was also tasked with creating some enrichment for the ravens. Enrichment is important for animals that get bored easily, like raptors, crows, jays and skunks, providing them with entertainment as well as honing important skills (like digging, puzzle-solving; stuff that mimics natural instincts they have in the wild etc). Since the animals are best motivated by food, the most successful enrichment often include tasty treats (or sometimes just their regular diet thrown in). As it was my first day being in charge of enrichment and I didn't feel that creative yet, I decided to rely on the big binder of enrichment ideas we have at the center, and create a "food log." This entails filling a long, heavy plastic tube with holes drilled in, with fun food treats and then the ravens have to pick out the goodies by sticking their beaks in the hole (much like they would have to use their beaks to dig out worms and bugs from a tree or hole). It took me a while to set up and unfortunately I never got to see if the ravens actually enjoyed it. Due to the recent bobcat attacks, the ravens and crows were both a bit spooked and were reluctant to explore anything new in their enclosures, so its likely they weren't that interested.

I also had to come up with some enrichment for the skunks. I found some discarded cardboard boxes and poked some holes in them and filled them up with some of their diet. I hadn't seen the outdoor skunk enclosure (where we keep the older young skunks before we release them) and I was shocked to see how many we had. There are close to 24 total now, and at first I got a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of little skunks coming towards me (i was bringing them their dinner so they were hungry and waiting at the door when I arrived). Surprisingly there was no odor, since they're living outside now, and since they have more space to move around I don't think they feel as trapped and scare as easily. They make the cutest little squeaks when they interact with each other, as well as adorable chewing sounds when they eat.

So many skunks! 

Checking out the enrichment! 

Baby possums 

Baby frog we found living in the ICU behind a storage container 

A common poorwill 

Some friends I met on my walk to the center one afternoon! 

Bambi's mother is our neighbor and often comes to visit in the early evenings 

Saturday was pretty uneventful, just more time spent in baby care. I did get the opportunity to help with an exam on a Great Blue Heron, which was pretty exciting and unique. I was also instructed to single-handedly clean, feed and weigh all the baby skunks in the RVU by myself, a task that previously I had only done with assistance from another intern. I also was supposed to medicate half of them and move four of them out to the bigger, outdoor enclosure with the rest of the older skunks. One slightly smelly hour later, I emerged successful, with all the cages cleaned, skunks fed, watered and medicated and a box of 4 small young skunks in hand. 

On Sunday night however, one of my family friends invited me and my roommate to the premiere of the second season of the tv show, Drunk History, that she had been working on as the head of the artistic team. It was an amazing opportunity to get to see the real "Hollywood" part of LA. My friend wanted the two of us to show up early to help with some set up (it was held in this beautiful retro theater in Glendale, and we had to help set up decorations and props). 

Chilling with some historical friends

Themed drink menu

Monday: Since I usually don't start work until 12PM almost every day, I try to spend my mornings productively. I usually try to go for a run. The scenery in the area is quite beautiful, especially in the early mornings when the mist is still on the mountains (see mountain pics below). Today was a late day - didn't get out of work until 8:35PM, and at the last minute we had a cormorant come in that had two fishing hooks stuck in its feet. 

Young rabbit that I had to hand feed formula. It was just like feeding a human baby - occasionally some excess formula would dribble out his mouth and I would have to wipe it up with a towel.

Jo checking on the neurological state of a squirrel patient

"Yo."

CUTE ALERT! Baby Killdeer  

It was very sad, he wouldn't stop peeping for his mother for at least a couple of hours after he was brought in. He ended up being transported to a facility in another city where they specialize in raising/rehabilitating difficult and delicate birds like Killdeer.

He seemed to feel less lonely when he had "another" killdeer in the box with him ;)

 

California myotis (bat)

Going on the weirdest (CWC style) picnic! Apparently I'm bringing deer formula and skunk food for everyone! 

More duckling patients 

Tuesday (today): my roommate, another intern and I had the day off today so we headed to Fairfax to visit this dog boutique someone had told me about where they also adopt out rescue dogs from local shelters. You can come in and pet, play and walk the dogs any time and as we were all in need of some puppy loving, we wasted no time in checking it out!

Puppy heaven (for both dogs and human)

We also stopped at a nearby sports bar for lunch and managed to catch the end of the epic (and disappointing) US/Belgium world cup match. The fellow restaurant patrons were very loyal fans and it was almost just as fun to watch all their reactions to the different plays in the game. Now that the US is out of the game, my loyalties are probably going to Costa Rica :) My parents are visiting CA and tomorrow they're coming out to visit the center and pick me up, and i'll be staying with them for a while to celebrate the 4th! Talk about a collision of worlds!

Until next time! Thanks for following! Peace, love and fluffy baby ducklings