SWRR - Rescue Stories

Animal Rescue Stories From Our Volunteers

A Sad and Cautionary Tale of a Grey Kit Fox Rescue

This tale concerns the Grey Kit Fox pictured above which was about 4 weeks old at the time of this incident.

The adult humans that found this fox decided it was OK for their 8 year old daughter to play with it. As can be seen in
the photo, the fox is very cute and cuddly and thus the normal danger signals were not apparent to the family. Later,
the family brought the fox in to the Shasta Wildlife Rescue facility.

Foxes are considered a high risk mammal because they can be a carrier of rabies. SWRR personnel are required
to report the animal contact to the Shasta County Public Health Dept., with the additional information that the fox had
scratched and licked the child. The priority is for the child's health and safety.

Unfortunately, the fox had to be destroyed in order for it to be tested for the rabies virus. This healthy, beautiful little
fox was put down because the parents didn't understand the risk they were putting their child in by allowing it to play
with the "cute little baby fox". If the fox tested positive, the child would be subjected to a painful series of vaccinations.

The fox tested negative for rabies. Had the fox not been handled, it could have lived to be set free again in the wild
once it was able. Please, please, everyone, if you find an animal, handle it as little as possible and get it to a wildlife
rehabilitation center as soon as possible!

Please take a moment to review the information on our Find A Critter? web page for more information on rescuing
wildlife and on rabies issues. Our Links web page can refer you to other websites for additional information.

Duckling Rescue

Shasta Wildlife received a call that a mama duck was dangerously leading her babies across the I-5 northbound on
ramp off of Cypress Ave. We were told traffic was brought to a halt as cars honked their horns and waited for the
duck family to cross.

A volunteer rescuer immediately went to the location and tried to find the ducks. We searched the oleanders on the
side of the on ramp for quite some time with no luck of finding them.

We were about to give up when animal control arrived. They had received the same report. With the help of the two
animal control officers, we finally found the duck family.

We retrieved the 6 baby ducks, which were about a day or two old, but the mother flew away. We waited to see if
the mother would come back. We thought if we could have caught the mother, we could have relocated the family to
a better location and keep them all together. She did not return. SWRR took the babies in, and they were cared for
until they were released in a safe location.

Typically mother ducks will find nice nesting spots, hatch their eggs and will begin to walk leading their ducklings,
until they find water, which could mean crossing dangerous streets and in this case, a freeway on ramp.

Happy Ending for Baby Killdeer

The day before the 2007 April Baby Shower, my Monday morning crew and I were decorating and doing some last
minute cleanup at the Center. While we were doing our thing, someone brought in a baby killdeer only a couple of
days old. I asked where they got it from and they said they picked it up there in the park. They didn't see any adults
around so I picked it up. We went to the spot where they found it and I looked and walked all around and couldn't see
any adult killdeer. So we took care of him while we finished decorating and I was planning on taking him home with
me for home care. They get the same set up as the baby quail except they also get live blood worms and I was
planning on getting some at a local pet shop in Redding. By the time I left the building, the baby had been away from
its family for about 3-4 hours.

Before I left the park, I got my binoculars out and drove really slowly and stopped and scanned the open fields
looking for adult killdeer. I did eventually find 2 down the hill from where they found the baby and figured this was
Mom and Dad. So I went out into the field and put the baby on the ground. Funny thing is when it was at the center
and in the car, it was peeping all the time. When I was walking outside and it could hear the adults, it stopped calling.
Then when I put it down, it stayed crouching down instead of running around in a panic like it had been doing the
whole time it was in our care. I had to look for it once and thought I'd lost it even though I knew about where I had put
it. Then I went to where my car was sitting in the sun (it was over 80 degrees), sat and watched.

Pretty soon it was walking and making it's way towards one of the adults and the adult was watching out for it.
Eventually the other adult called the OK signal and two more babies that were hiding came out. They were the same
age! Then the one with the baby eventually walked it over to the other ones and they all went about the business of
feeding and the little one even went under Mom to be warmed up. After sitting out there for an hour sweating my
head off, looking through the binoculars, making sure no people came to that area where they were, I left feeling
wonderful that I was able to reunite the baby with its family.

Lesson learned: parental instincts are very strong in the animal world if we humans would only give them a chance.

River Otter Pup and Kids

A couple of years ago a distressed father of a young boy called the Center to say that his son and a friend brought
home some baby otters. One of the mammal team volunteers went immediately to the home and found out why
these two young boys had the pups. Apparently they were playing by a small creek close to home and found a hole
under an overturned rowboat. Upon investigating the hole, they found the baby otters and took them home with
them.

The volunteer asked the boys to take her back to where they found the nest and the boys showed her where it was.
Upon arriving, she saw that the top of the “hole” was caved in, apparently from the children stepping on top of it. The
volunteer proceeded to build it back up as well as she could and deposited the babies as far back in the hole as she
could reach. After a stern lecture to the children not to touch baby wildlife, they all parted company.

Across the creek was a home where an older gentleman would watch the adult otters coming and going. He stated
that he would watch out for them and call her with the news whether or not the adults stayed with the young or
abandoned them.

The following morning our volunteer couldn’t wait for the phone call that would give the results of her efforts so early
that morning she went very carefully back to the nest to see what happened. It seemed that the parents rebuilt the
entrance to the nest and the gentleman across the creek told her that they had been seen going back and forth from
the nest so our volunteer deducted that the parents were continuing to care for their babies.

Another happy ending for everyone!

Mama Squirrel Reclaims Babies

One summer the Center received a call from some people that were trimming their trees only to discover that a
squirrel nest was in the tree. Too late, the branch was already cut down and in the nest were 5 very young baby
squirrels.

A volunteer took the babies home to home care and discovered that one of the babies had a broken leg from the
fall. She set the leg and put it in a little cast and proceeded to care for the babies that night.

The following morning, the family that cut the tree down called to say that the mother squirrel was circling the tree
where the nest was and the family was hoping that something could be done to reunite the mother with her babies. It
is a known fact that mother tree squirrels usually have two nests, one where she raises her babies (the nursery) and
an alternate nest in case something happens to the nursery nest or danger occurs at the nursery nest, say for
example a predator discovering the babies. If something happens to the nursery nest then she’ll move the babies to
the alternate nest.

Knowing that fact, the volunteer brought the babies back to the house, put all five babies at the base of the tree and
waited inside the house to see what would happen. Well, mama squirrel showed up and proceeded to take the
babies one by one to her alternate nest. She did, however, leave the baby with the bandaged broken leg behind and
that one was successfully raised by the volunteer and released back into the wild.

So even though the babies were handled by humans and gone all night from their mother, she still took them back to
care for and raise them.

Mama squirrel knows best!!!

Bald Eagle Rescue and Release to the Channel Islands

This juvenile Bald Eagle was rehabilitated at our center and then flown by a private plane to the Channel Islands to
repopulate the area with Bald Eagles. Six other young ones were flown in from Alaska so this 7th one will bring in a
new gene pool. For more info see: Bald Eagle Restoration on the Northern Channel Islands - (pdf file, 2.1 mB)

Red Shoulder Hawk Rescue

When SWRR received this Red Shoulder Hawk, he looked in very poor shape. He more than likely had eaten from a
poisoned food source. He had to be wrapped in a towel and tube-fed by Judy, one of our volunteers. Four days later
he had improved greatly as can be seen in the center photo. He was later released by another volunteer, Eloise to
join his fellow hawks in the wild.

SWRR Rescue Stories in the News

Redding Record Searchlight
Bird's-eye view: Visitors to Churn Creek post office spot young bald eagle
Eagle healing after shooting
Eaglet, lone parent are healthy
Fawn rescued by student after being found along Anderson roadway
Pelican port: Ocean bird gives Redding Jet Center crew chuckles
Pelican update
Thirsty, cold duck pays couple a visit

Other News
Bald Eagle Rescue
Caltrans News - February, 2008

Bald Eagle Rescue Letter of Appreciation
Caltrans District 2 Newsletter (pdf file, 1.3mB)

Lynx Finds New Home
USDA Forest Service News Log - August, 2006

PG&E Helps Rescue Barn Owl Trapped in Kite String Between Trees
Anderson Valley Post - February, 2008
PGE Brochure (pdf file, 405 kB)

Additional Photos of the Barn Owl Rescue:

Daryl Chase rides the bucket

The bird is safe

A Barn Owl up close

Photo contributed by Steve Hobson:
http://steves-digital.net/

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