What a very active February and just 2 weeks into March it's stayed busy. I attended the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association symposium in Baton Rouge and learned so much, met new friends, and reconnected with old ones.
Some of the classes I took: Principles of Wildlife Rehabilitation Basics and Advanced labs, Bitty Babies: a Primer on Rehabilitating Tiny Infant Mammals, Head First- a Multi-species look at Traumatic Brain Injury, In-house Laboratory Techniques, Evaluating Inflammation and Meloxicam Use in Virginia Opossums, Creative Problem Solving, Natural History and Captive Rearing of Virginia Opossums (you can never learn too much about even your favorite subject!), Nights of Nibbles and Noshes (Getting Opossums to Forage), Why Your Dog (or Boss) Responds to Snacks, The Golden Years: Geriatric Ambassador Animal Care, Fur-st Responders: Rehabilitators and Vets Working as Pawtners in Care, Wildlife Release: The Final Step Back into the Wild, and Using Natural History to Inform Rehabilitation Care and Decisions. I also popped into some other sessions, networked with other opossum specialists, and asked a LOT of questions.
I had an amazing roomate at the very nice Hilton Capitol Center hotel, Peggy Popp. Peggy is a Wisconsin rehabilitator with decades of experience in all small mammals, but she is also a mustelid master, as I called her. Mustelids include mink, otters and weasels. She introduced me to some of the speakers (some pretty famous too!), gave me great advice and insight, and because she brought her car, we went on our own field trip to visit our mutual friend and fantastic rehabber, Skye Arcenaux.
Our hotel room was very comfortable and we could see the sun set over the Mighty Mississippi River every night. She even brought her coffeemaker and a vase of flowers to make the room feel like home.
It was a real honor to learn directly from some of the wildlife rehabilitation greats like Sherri Cox, Nicki Rosenhagen, Lisa Fosco, Erica Miller and Rebecca Duerr. These women have put their heart and soul into rehab and gained so much insight and experience that listening to their lectures and taking their classes made a huge impact on my own knowledge base. All the other speakers were talented, experienced and created thoughtful and educational programs. I wish I could have attended them all. But by Saturday morning my brain was full and any information that tried to go in dribbled back out.
But, back home and back to reality and the start of baby season. So far the only babies I’ve taken in came in the pouches of their injured Mamas. I hope the Mamas get healthy enough to be released while their babies are still small, but in the meantime I get to watch the miracle of marsupials in person.
In my application for the scholarship to the symposium I indicated that whatever I learned would be shared with as many new rehabbers as possible. I was so grateful to receive the scholarship and owe a debt of gratitude not only to the scholarship committee, but to my vet Dr. Allene Phillips, and friend and colleague Kathryn Dudek of the Chattahoochee Nature Center for their compelling letters of support. The scholarship paid for everything- airfare, hotel, add-on intensive, pet sitting, and meals. I was so fortunate!
Daisy the armadillo finally healed enough to be released but it turned out her site of origin would not be accessible, although it was the preferred choice. I set her up in my unfinished shed with a pre-dug den and her blankets, along with pine straw and leaves. She went to town redecorating the very next day! The floor of the shed is dirt and when she is ready to leave, she can easily dig out. I have her water dish and worm bin in there and keep both filled. I set a camera up on her last night and was able to capture a clear enough image of her back to know the deep wound she sustained is now 100% healed. I hope she starts digging and eating wild foods soon, the cost of feeding her live foods became astronomical! I appreciate all the people that donated to her Feeding Fundraiser.
What a post! I’m sure I forgot something since it’s been so long since I posted. As always I am filled with gratitude for all the people that make this work possible- my monthly Patreon donors, people who so generously donate to the fundraisers, my fellow rehabbers, and the finders who care enough to rescue and transport injured and orphaned animals to me. I am also grateful for the work that Georgia Wildlife Network does to educate, support and provide transport for rehabbers. So many great humans in my life along with all the animals. I’ll be posting again soon!
