After 7 weeks in care, the Peregrin Falcon rescued from the Lakeshore area of Oakland, CA, following an electric burn to his wing and a leg dislocation, was released back into Oakland, in the company of the concerned citizens who lead to his rescue.
You can view the entire saga on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=generatech
This hawk was found in East Oakland, sitting in a backyard on the ground. The residents who found him didn’t know who to call to report that he was in trouble so they watched him for a couple of days while they hunted for a contact number for someone who could help. By the end of day two they had been given my phone number and spoke with me.
The hawk had been on the ground for the first couple days. he then was able to jump/fly up to the fence and then into a tree. When I spoke with the residents, I expressed concern because I do not have equipment to retrieve birds from trees and it was already so late in the day that it was getting dark. We hoped he would be OK til morning and agreed to talk the next day.
The following day the Hawk had managed to climb up to the rooftop of a warehouse. The residents banded together and agreed to take action to save this hawk. They got into the warehouse, went up to the rooftop and threw a blanket over the hawk. The hawk flipped onto his back, in a defensive posture and grabbed the blanket with his very sharp talons. The residents were able to then bundle him up in the blanket and get him safely into a carrier. They called me and I went to pick him up and get him to the Vet.
Montclair Veterinary Hospital treats all our wildlife patients, squirrel and hawk alike. They examined our hawk and found him to be malnourished and with a compromised wing. He needed cage rest and to be fed up.
During his cage-rest, we determined that his wing was broken. He had a head injury and swelling, and one of his toes was also broken. 2 weeks of cagerest and regular meals did wonders for his recovery. He was ready to try flying again so he was moved to the OHS wildlife center in Fremont. They have an excellent flight cage and caregiver, David, at OHS Wildlife. The hawk had another thorough exam. His wing was Xrayed and was healing well. 2 weeks later he was ready for release!
He was driven back to Oakland and released in an area close to where he was found. 
He flew over the hills, up the air currents, higher and higher with obvious delight at his freedom and ability.
We feel confident he will live long and well now that he is recovered.
Thank you to A.J and the Residents of 79th Ave, who saved this beautiful bird. Thank you to Montclair Veterinary Hospital for treating him. Thank you to Jenny and Diana and Lois for ongoing support and advice. And Thank You to David Anderson (and OHS Wildlife) for his 24/7 dedication and care.
On February 6th, we were referred a call from Wildcare of Marin, from a woman in Albany who had been watching a Grey Fox behave oddly and had been able to wrap he fox in a blanket and put him in a box to get him into care. She drove to us in the middle of the night to bring us this beautiful fox.
The fox was lethargic, dehydrated, and in really bad shape. We were concerned that it was either distemper or poison. Foxes do occassionally get rabies but it is so rare and the symptoms were wrong for it, that we were not concerned.
Angela, our head vet tech, came to the center at midnight to help with the fox. She consulted with the veterinarians from Pet Emergency in Berkeley, and proceeded to give the fox IV fluids and care which saved his life. We also began treatment for Rat Poison, in case it was that. We felt confident to stop at 5am and went to get some rest.
At 8am I drove the fox to the Montclair Veterinary Hospital, where a blood panel showed that he was indeed toxified. Distemper was still a possibility but we continued treatment for the poison nevertheless.
The fox was responding. The signs of warfarin poisoning were receding ( red speckled gumline, colapsing veins, slow clotting ) He was standing up and eating (ravenously) and even hiding food in his cage for later.
At one point, he took interest in a nectarine and buried it in the corner of his cage, making a big mess of his blankets. I waited til he was asleep and retrieved the nectarine, placed it back into his food dish and straightened the blankets again. No sooner had I removed my arm then he woke up. grabbed the recently replaced nectarine from his food dish, and proceeded to bury it again but this time he lay on top of it to prevent me from retrieving it!
What a funny guy!
Despite his seeming recovery and response to the rat-poison treatment, about 72 hours after intake, he died from the poison.
Everyone here at the wildlife center was touched by this amazing creature who came to stay with us. His death, despite our best attempts to save him, brought up many issues which needed to be investigated. Here is what our researched revealed:
This fox lived in an area that was surrounded by the Sunset View Cemetary, and Saint Jermone Church and Elementary School. Often, rodent bait boxes are placed around areas such as these to control mice and rats who are attracted to food and garbage left around the premises. Animals such as foxes, raccoons, opossums, hawks, and owls, eat mice and rats. They are the natural predators of these animals. If a mouse or rat goes into the poison bait box, eats the poison, leaves the box, goes out and get caught by any of these natural pest controllers, the predator animal has just eaten a baited meal and has been poisoned.
Now-a-days, poison-makers are using something called “Super Warfarin” for rat bait because rats and mice have become resistant to the original warfarin products. These “super warfarin” poisons are much harder to reverse and an animal poisoned with these “Super warfarins” are less likely to respond to treatment.
Our fox died from secondary super-warfarin poisoning.
He did what all good foxes should do, and ate mice and rats. Unfortunately, these mice and rats were sick with poison from the bait boxes laid out at the Sunset View Cementary or Saint Jermone Church and Elementary School.
This is an unfortunate cycle because we are killing the natural predators of the pest animals we don’t want around. The rodents will become resistant even to the super warfarins eventually but the predators, the natural rat and mouse controllers, will die.
What can You Do?
If you want to help, perhaps a letter to the Sunset View Cemetary asking them to stop using Rodent Bait would help.
Sunset View Cemetery - P.O. Box 187 El Cerrito, CA 94530
A letter to the Saint Jermone Church and Elementary School would also help. St. Jerome Catholic Church, 308 Carmel Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530
Saint Jerome Elementary School 320 San Carlos Ave, El Cerrito CA. 94530
Also, there is new legistlation in comment period right now regarding the restriction of certain types of rodentcides due to frequent secondary poisoning problems for endangered and other wildlife birds and mammals who eat rodents. If you feel strongly about this, please express your views to the committee by email or letter. Thank you! http://www.fedcenter.gov/Articles/index.cfm?id=6409&pge_id=1854
You can read more about it here: http://www.defenders.org/releases/pr2007/pr011707.html
Today a Peregrin Falcon was resting on a rooftop in Oakland near Lake Merritt. It was unable to fly for any distance and was going from Rooftop to rooftop, in obvious distress.
After tracking the peregrin all afternoon, I lost sight of him and went home to rest and wait for the inevitable call.
The call came at 9pm from John Gordon. A Peregrin Falcon is sitting on my doorstep and not moving.
I called David from OHS Wildlife we and went to help the bird.
The entire event was filmed by the Rescuer, John, and he later posted it on YouTube for all to see.
Enjoy!
On November 12th, nearly 30 people came to the rescue of our wildlife center by spending the day working at our facility, repairing erosion problems, clearing brush, transporting dirt and gravel, and completing a squirrel enclosure.
More thank you’s are on their way, but in the meantime, please enjoy the photos of that day.
A very special thank you to OneBrick.org, Abby and Peter, as well as to Renee and Michelle Snyder for providing lunch for all these folk! Good job!!
We found this amazing grove of Oak trees, off a path in a park near where this group of orphaned squirrels was found. We set their nest box down in the sandy gravel of the dried stream bed and watched as the wind whipped acorns out of the trees all around us. Squirrels love acorns….
They sniffed the fresh air and smelled the acorns and green leaves for a while before venturing out of their nestbox and into the trees.
Once in the branches, they went as high as they could go and looked out over the treetops all around them. Some let out a challenge and flicked their tails in something more than just excitement, as they experienced freedom for the first time.
And all the while, from his resting place in the dried streambed, a grinning buck watched over them…
We found the Perfect place!
Oak trees, waterfalls, fish jumping out of the stream.
Trilling and pacing their carry-kennel, they were ready…
Out they dashed, and immediately feeling around in the sandy mud for crustaceans and bits of minerals they couldn’t get anywhere but from the wild.
Then Up Up Up!
Into the trees for the fun of racing to the top and climbing down again.
Right-side-up or Up-side-down, it didn’t matter.
They could go any way they wanted now that they were free.
Soon they found a cave of sand under a branch of the trees and in they went to find a den for their first night of freedom.
Good luck little ones!
After a while of doing this work, rescue stories all start to blend together.
From time to time there are some rescues that stick out in one’s mind. The 3 boys on this last release were one of those memorable rescues. It was harrowing too!
They were eyes-closed babies - but HUGE. Unusually so.
Their mother had done an miraculous job - she must have produced TONS of milk for her beautiful boys. Unfortunately, they were taken from her and she was chased off, injured, when the tree she was nesting in was cut down, somewhere in East Oakland. Her babies were grabbed because they were cute and they were crying. A girl who lived in the housing project nearby called me and gave me the address, concerned for the babies. By the time I got there, the girl was gone. She had been told not to talk to me. The adults, staggering and wild-eyed from being under the influence of something, didn’t want to give me the babies and were annoyed that I was there. They wanted to sell the cute little squirrel babies as pets. After 45 minutes of negotiating, explaining that squirrels need very special care and that they are not legal pets, the owner of the property showed up to supervise the tree removal and intervened. I had the babies at last and I snuggled them and looked them over as soon as I got into my car.
They were gorgeous. HUGE! Only 4 weeks old but the size of an 8 week-er.
Not only were they big but they were also really sweet.
Grunters and players from beginning to end. They were extra-special.
They grew and grew and after the normal course of things, were ready for release.
Here are the photos of their victory towards freedom.
My husband carries them to their new home, in a park off of a cul-de-sac.
We enter the park through a small footpath at the end of the street and travel through a glowing gate of greenery, into the park…
We travel for a time, til we find the Right Tree. And here it is…
Once settled, we set the nestbox at the base of the tree and scatter fresh nuts and goodies all around, so they have food when they need it. There were so many acorns and other natural foods around that we realized the scattering of the food was more a ritual for us than for them.
Once the food was scattered it was time to open the nextbox and step back to watch what happens…
They sniffed and watched for a moment, they one by one, my 3 boys jumped out of the nestbox and up into the tree! They frolicked and danced in the treetops for 3 hours before heading off deeper into the woods. A few times they looked back at us, as if to say goodbye…
Goodbye my friends. Thank you for your gifts and lessons. Be safe!
Thank you all for your patience with the staff here at YUWR over the last several months. It has been quite busy here with various events and dramas as well as an extreme number of orphaned wildlife in need. Below I will attempt to update you all, according to month, on the goings-on.
APRIL:
YGGDRASIL URBAN WILDLIFE RESCUE
RESCUED BY LOCAL REBUILDING TOGETHER ORGANIZATION !
Formerly known as “Christmas in April”, “Rebuilding Together: Oakland” accepted our application for their 2006 non-profit facility grant to enlarge and develop our wildlife center!
The wonderful staff at RTO, together with Pulte Homes, spent 3 weeks in April building stairs and creating an education area at the bottom of the 1/3 acre property, so that we have full access to all the lower caging and animals in recovery. Previously, our staff had to walk/slide down the hillside to get to our cages.
Now we have stairs - a much safer prospect, especially in the rainy season. Pulte Homes and
RTO also replaced the carpet in our hospital with sterile linoleum and installed a sink to facilitate better sanitary conditions in the isolation ward.
A full article will be published in our winter newsletter, thanking everyone individually. In the meantime, YUWR would like to thank all the companies who donated materials, labor, and ideas to this renovation project. Specifically, Rachel Matthews, Paul Radliff, Anders Schmidt.
And…Thank you to our YUWR volunteers who stayed up til 5am various nights doing prep work, painting, and packing boxes. Thank you all.
MAY:
In the midst of the RTO April Project, we were blessed with a first for YUWR.
A 5 day old fawn was dropped off at the Oakland Animal Shelter.
Seems she was found at a rest stop while traveling through Marin County and driven all the way to Oakland! The staff of YUWR, in cooperation with Wildcare and their Fawn Expert Suzie Sasso, raised this little female fawn and a companion from Wildcare, for the first 6 weeks of their lives before transferring them to the Fawn Rehab facility in Marin.
The director would like to express her extreme gratitude to “Pot of Soup” and “Bombadil”, the two fawns, for helping to put things in perspective and being constant reminders of the beauty in the world, while she was in the middle of coping with the sudden illness and subsequent death from cancer of her father, William Talcott, in early June.
“We may save these animals but they, in turn, save us when the need arises. “
JUNE & JULY:
Mercifully slow months for the Wildlife Center. We had a few baby skunklets and the odd squirrel as well as the fawns to care for.
June and July were spent coping with the death in the family and caring for these orphaned and injured wildlife. Baby tree squirrels were supposed to come in but none came. We found this odd, especially since the spring baby wave was extremely light as well. We did receive in 8 baby Ca. Ground squirrels.
AUGUST:
Baby Tree Squirrels have begun to trickle in. Slowly but steadily.
We have also begun releases for our Spring babies.
Here are some photos from one of these releases of our spring babies:
Belted in for the car ride to their new home…
Richard secures their nestbox into their tree.
Good thing he isn’t afraid of heights!
Lila places food about for them to find as they explore.
One has emerged!
Surveying their new home…
A reassurance among friends that it is safe to come out and play.
Dusk is settling. The squirrels are snug in their nestbox after a day
of exploring. We cannot leave without leaving tribute - or breakfast.
Good luck little ones!