Yesterday, a client brought in an opossum who was nearly at death’s door.  It had been attacked by a dog, but the dog was able to catch it due to its emaciated and dehydrated state.  It had frostbite on its tail and overall was not looking good.  The injuries from the dog weren’t nearly as concerning as the opossum’s extremely poor body condition.

After warming it, giving it fluids and a night of rest, the med staff were pleasantly surprised to find a fiesty, snarly opossum in the cage this morning.  It’s these recoveries of animals that you just don’t think are going to make it, that give us all a bit more hope overall.

A big thank-you to the client in Andover who took the time to rescue what appeared to be a dying animal, rather than just letting it suffer.

While we didn’t take photos of this opossum (we try to not stress animals any more than necessary), here’s a photo of a released opossum taken by our volunteer Becki S. 

As many of us start to count the days to spring this time of year, the staff at WRC starts to count the days to the first baby animals arriving.  In 2009, our first baby squirrel arrived on March 18th, our first baby bird on April 18th, and our first duckling on May 2nd.

To prepare for the nurseries being flooded with more than 5,000 orphaned animals (like the fledgling oriole above), we hire 6 full-time seasonal employees.  These seasonal staff directly oversee the care of all the orphaned mammals, songbirds and waterfowl admitted into our nurseries. 

We are happy to welcome our new coordinators for 2010: Amber Dedrick and  Jessica Madison-Kennedy for Avian Nursery; Karen Koeper and Ashley Trock for Waterfowl Nursery; and Betsy Hartman and Andrea Petersen for Mammal Nursery.  To help facilitate the care of more than 300 orphaned raccoons, we’ve hired Glenn Eiselin as a lead raccoon specialist.

A very important part of preparing for the nursery season is seeking volunteers and interns to help care for all these orphans.  Volunteering or interning in the nurseries is an amazing experience and is how many of the WRC staff got their start in this profession.  Caring for a helpless animal and seeing it get a second chance in the wild is truly priceless.  Interns are not required to be students, but these positions do require a significant commitment of hours (25-40/wk.).

We’re glad you’re joining us as we talk about the daily life behind the doors of one of the nation’s busiest wildlife medical centers. 

The nature of our business is very seasonal (busier in the spring and summer with orphans) so the frequency of our posts will vary throughout the year. 

You’ll get to know our staff, including our seasonal nursery coordinators.  And you’ll have a chance to follow along with our patients’ stories and journeys toward rehabilitation – both the sad and uplifting ones.

 We hope you’ll join us by posting comments on items you find interesting or have questions about.  Don’t forget our FAQ page on our site. It has lots of information on general wildlife questions.  And, if you’re following up on an animal you brought to us, please use our status email account for that, and not this venue.  It’ll help keep the Pulse focused on what’s occuring daily at the Center.  As always, feel free to drop me a note with any questions.

Thank  you for caring about wildlife and for following our Mission.

 - Tami

Welcome to our new blog: WRC’s Pulse. I hope you enjoy learning more about the amazing work that happens here at the Center.

I’ve been here nearly 8 years and I find myself still learning new things every day.We’re in our slow season now, only a few animals a day. But many of those animals require substantial care – such as swans suffering from lead poisoning.

One of our goals for the WRC Pulse is that you’ll have a chance to follow along with our staff as they go through their daily challenges of trying to provide medical care for injured wild animals. It’s not always a smooth ride: many animals arrive too severely injured for our staff to save. On the other hand we receive great satisfaction when our efforts result in an animal released back to the wild.

To have the technology that enables us to share the roller coaster ride of wildlife rehab is an exciting, and big, step for us. We hope you’ll participate in the blog and share your own wildlife stories. We’re honored to be such an integral part of a community that cares deeply for its wildlife.

I’m looking forward to meeting many of you in person at our annual Open House on Sunday, Feb. 28th. It runs from Noon-4pm and it’s our chance to show you more of what happens “behind the scenes.” (plus it forces us to give the place a good spring cleaning before our busy season starts in April!)

Again, welcome to WRC’s Pulse. I look forward to chatting with you more.