Clinic Update 4/29

Things have been running smoothly in the clinic this week. The third years have officially moved on to clinics, and the first and second year students have stepped up to help their teams.

The weather has been great, so the resident birds have been able to go out to their flight cages. They are very happy to get out of the ward for a few hours everyday. They also went to Petstravaganza on Saturday and helped introduce more community members to the WMC are our mission. On Thursday, they will be headed to a high school in St. Joseph.

Orphans are coming in and being shipped off to wildlife rehabbers regularly. 5 orphaned raccoons and 4 orphaned rabbits left the clinic for rehabilitation this afternoon. Make sure orphaned wildlife really needs help before bringing it to the WMC!

We also have several interesting cases in the clinic. Currently, we are treating a mallard duck with a right wing injury, a red-tailed hawk, an opossum, a turkey, and a snapping turtle. Lucy, the goose, has finally gone off to a rehabber.

Snapping Turtle

Turkey
Mallard Duck

Doodle for Wildlife

Doodle for Wildlife, the WMC's annual fund-raiser, occurred last Saturday. Guests had a great time bidding on the silent and live auction items, as well as honoring important contributions to the clinic. All of the resident birds attended the event (including Susie) and their paintings were the hit of the live auction.

Thanks to everyone who attended the event! The Wildlife Medical Clinic sincerely appreciates you support!

Julia with Odin, Pistol, Penelope, Nokomis and Noel

Bidding on the Silent Auction Items

Orphans!

Now that it's warming up, we are getting a pretty regular stream of orphans into the clinic. Remember, our recommendations are to call us when:
1) you know the parents are dead (evidence of a dead parent nearby)
2) the animal is obviously injured, weak, thin, very cold or sick
3) the animal is covered with flies or insects , or
4) the animal is in unavoidable, unnatural danger.

Parents often leave their young unattended for most of the day and will still care for them if they've been handled by humans. If the "orphan" is fat, bright eyed and apparently healthy it is probably best left alone. You can return the animal to its nest (if you can find it) or move it out of the way to a safe location. If a baby bunny's eyes are open or a baby bird is completely feathered, they are typically old enough to fend for themselves.

Michelle and an orphaned squirrel

Orphaned Mourning Doves

Don't forget to buy your tickets for Doodle for Wildlife! The event is Saturday night. We met last night to put together packages for the silent auction, and we have some amazing items!

Rounds 4/8/08

Every week, the clinic volunteers get together for rounds. This provides us an opportunity to learn about important topics and occasionally practice our clinical skills. For today's rounds, we practiced suturing on bananas. Everyone had a great time!

Stacy helps Kelly with her suturing technique