On Friday, March 18th, a woman found an orphaned opossum on the Oakland streets. She didn’t know where to take the opossum so she cuddled her up in her scarf and kept her in a warm shoebox all night. The next morning she was watching the ABC News and saw this article about our wildlife center and brought this little one to us! She saved a life when she brought the baby off the street. ABC News helped save a life when they instructed her where to bring this baby. Thank you to both ABC News and to this finder of this sweet little one. Good work!
All of our Spring Babies and Winter Refugees are doing great! Here is a brief update on some of them:
____________________________________________________________
“Miracle Squirrel Boy” was found by Brenda, an Oakland resident, on the side of the road with blood pouring out his ear, unconscious. When Brenda realized he was still alive she rushed him to the Montclair Vet Hospital, where he was examined and transferred into care with us with low hopes of recovery. For the first 2 days he was comatose. We thought the worst would come. But after 2 days he surprised us all by suddenly sitting up and drinking a bunch of water. Soon he was on the road to total recovery; eating well, able to balance, jump, climb, open nuts, etc. For the last 2 weeks he has been in an outdoor cage. He has made it very clear that he is ready and able to go back out into the wild to enjoy his second chance at a normal life. He had no lasting injuries or handicaps from his accident. Miracle Boy was released on March 13th 2011. He has been seen every day since, jumping through the trees or returning to his nestbox for a nut.
_____________________________________________________________________
Last week we got in our first fledgling hummingbird. Around this time of year the babies start to test their wings and launch themselves out from their nests. Mama is very watchful and she tracks where her babies land so she can continue to come and feed them, even when they fall into the middle of the sidewalk! This little one fell into the wrong place and was at risk of being eaten by passing dogs, so she was brought into care with us and has been doing great! Yesterday she was moved into a small flight cage where she can learn to hover and eat, and catch fruit flies. Her tail feathers are still pinned but once they grow out, she will go into a larger flight cage with flowering plants, then be released back into the wild, to buzz and flash her delightful iridescent colors through the air.
__________________________________________________________________
Valentine is enjoying a larger outdoor pen these days. She is still recovering from injuries she received when she was hit by a car on Valentine’s day. We hope within a month she will be substantually better and can be returned to her home territory.
_______________________________________________________________________
Baby Squirrel who came in on March 1st, 2011, is out in foster care with another baby squirrel his age, and doing well. I will post pictures when I have them.
_______________________________________________________________________
The Baby Opossum who came in on March 1st 2011, from the Oakland Animal Services is growing and doing well! Picture coming soon
Today Valentine was moved into a big outdoor pen at Rancho Raccoon, home of our wonderful Raccoon Team, where she will continue to receive dedicated medical care to recover from her injuries. She is settling in to her luxury condo complete with swimming pool and many trees. She will stay here until she has fully recovered from injuries she received on Valentine’s day 2011 when she was struck by a car.
Volunteers Cindy and Lila carry Valentine to her transport vehicle.
Valentine explores her new recovery enclosure
In the last 24 hours, we have received in the first of many spring wildlife orphans in need of care and support.
This baby opossum should be traveling through the world on Mama’s back, nursing inside her pouch, but instead, she was found by a Good Samaritan in Oakland and brought to the Oakland Animal Shelter. Now she is in care with us, warm and being fed. Soon others her age will come in and there will be a group of opossums who will grow up together as surrogate siblings. For now, she cuddles into the wool sock that feels like Mama’s pouch tightly holding her.
This sweet little 7 day old baby squirrel fell from his nest into the middle of Mosswood Dog Park here in Oakland! A fast-moving Good Samaritan snatched him up before the dogs did and was unable to reunite him with his missing mother. She rushed him up to us, where he is now cuddling in comfy fake-furs on a heating pad, recovering from injuries and bruising received from his fall out of a tall redwood tree. He is vocalizing and has a good appetite. He should recover well. No doubt very soon we will have others his age come in so he will have siblings to cuddle with during his time here in rehab.
_____________________________
For those of you following our Crisis of losing our facility, I want you to know that we have never shut our doors, throughout all of this. We have stayed open and available to orphaned and injured wildlife and the kind humans who save them. However, our time here is running out rapidly. We have run out of funds, equipping the new facility and we are not finished yet. Without more funds to buy materials, without more volunteers to mud, tape, build cages, and more, we won’t be ready for the upcoming evacuation deadline. We badly need help.
If you are interested in helping, we badly need monetary donations, as well as volunteers who have experience with sheetrocking, mudding, taping, painting, cage-building, and more. We need the help, but we also need funds so we can buy materials to build the new cages etc. I know times are tough all over, but if you have the ability, please keep us in mind. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you.
