How well do you know the WMC?
You’re a huge supporter of the Wildlife Medical Clinic, and now is the time to test your clinic knowledge.
Answer these questions and take note of your answers. Towards the bottom of the page you’ll find the answers and some explanations.
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Category Archives: Orphans
In Memory of Poppy
Thank you to Randy and Patricia Rushing for sponsoring a day at the Wildlife Medical Clinic. They chose to sponsor November 27th in honor of their beloved golden retriever Poppy. Poppy joined their family as a senior boy . He was a kindhearted, old soul who played joyfully, enjoyed snoozing on his favorite couch, and rounded out their little family perfectly. They celebrate his life every year, a miss him greatly.
This gift will help injured, sick, and orphaned wild animals, such as these young opossums, rabbits, and owls.
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Making the tough decisions
Here at the Wildlife Medical Clinic, our goal is to treat wildlife to be able to release them back into the wild. If you’ve brought in an animal and called back to get an update on it, you may have been disappointed to learn we humanely euthanized it (put to sleep). This news can be especially difficult to hear if you thought the animal’s injuries were treatable or if you didn’t think it was injured at all, but just orphaned. While an animal’s injuries and how they might be treated are the first things we evaluate when we start to examine or triage an animal, many other factors go into our decision making when we try to determine whether this animal would be able to be released in the future. To be released back into the wild, an animal must be at an appropriate age and able to survive on their own, meaning any recovery from injury must not affect their ability to hunt, forage, reproduce, or move around.
This fledgling (young bird not yet old enough to fly) stretches his wings and vocalizes, displaying appropriate behavior. This bird is too young to be completely independent, but old enough to start feed himself, as evidenced by the mess scattered about his towel. Younger birds with minimal feathering can be challenging to care for in a rehabilitation setting and overall do better in their nest with mom!
If during our exam, it is determined that the animal is not able to fully recover from its injuries, which would result in a decreased ability to survive in the wild, we will elect to humanely euthanize the animal to minimize its suffering.
Here are some of the questions we ask ourselves while triaging these animals to determine whether or not they can be treated to release.