Alabama’s Only Wildlife "Orphanage" In Dire Need of Help
Contact:
Beverly Crider
The Wildlife Center
205.663.7930
Media@awrc.org
July 20, 2005
"Mother Knows Best" is a familiar saying to most youngsters in the South, but the adage applies to young wildlife as well. Reuniting a young bird or mammal with its parents is crucial to the baby’s survival.
Anne Miller, executive director of The Wildlife Center, located at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, has pioneered several techniques for reuniting wildlife with their own parents and, in some cases, foster parents. However this year’s baby season, which began in April and will continue through October, is putting even Miller’s extensive experience to the test.
Not even halfway through the season, the number of orphaned and injured baby animals brought to the Center is nearing the total cared for during last year’s entire season. Last year, The Wildlife Center cared for 2,479 animals of more than 100 species. Of those, 1,715 were injured or orphaned babies.
The need for funding and more volunteers to help care for these animals is nearing the crisis point, according to Miller. The Center has many volunteers across the state, and as many as 75 work weekly four-hour shifts at the Center. Evening shifts are run entirely by volunteers. But when you consider that one baby wren must be fed every half-hour for 12 hours a day, you can begin to see the work involved in caring for the hundreds of baby birds the Center sees each season. When you factor in the mammals also residing at the Center the workload is staggering.
The Center sets extremely high standards for its Animal Care Program, and keeps its Wildlife Clinic staffed 13 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide each animal the care it needs.
Miller says an additional $150,000 is needed to sustain the nonprofit Center for the rest of the baby season. If more funding is not received soon, the Center will not be able keep its doors open to these defenseless orphans.
The Center launched the second annual "Save Orphaned Wildlife Campaign" this season in an effort to raise the funds needed to continue helping these wild babies as well as to help teach the public about the critical bond between a baby of any species and its mother. In many cases, the two could be reunited without any harm coming to the baby.
"Over the years, I have become increasingly aware that a very large proportion of the juveniles that are brought to The Wildlife Center as orphans have actually just been separated from their parents by some simple mishap," Miller says.
Birds of prey are of special interest to Miller, and her specialty as a wildlife rehabilitator.
"The biggest problem in reuniting a raptor family is locating and communicating with the adult birds," she says. "First, you need to make sure that both parents are still alive and present in the immediate area, and second, you need to make sure they realize the juvenile is there."
A few years ago, Miller discovered a technique that made it much easier to make contact with the parents and greatly increased the likelihood that the reuniting process would be successful.
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I could simply broadcast a recording of the juvenile’s food begging calls, and the parents would be drawn irresistibly—sometimes, even after a separation of three or four days." she explains.Loud food-begging and alarm calls are a common aspect of raptor behavior, making the use of recordings especially successful. However, Miller discovered that juveniles of other species can also be reunited with their parents using the same technique of recorded calls.
In the summer of 2003, two men surprised a mother Bobcat as she was crossing a dirt road near Lay Dam in Chilton County. To avoid being run over, the mother Bobcat ran across the road, leaving her three four-week-old kittens on the other side. The men took home one of the kittens, but were persuaded to bring it to The Wildlife Center the following day.
"As I examined the newly-admitted youngster, it called continuously, a shrill, insistent call," Miller says. "I knew the kitten’s only real hope of returning to the wild was to be reunited with his own mother immediately. I had never thought of using the recorded calls of a juvenile mammal to reunite a family, but as I listened to the very piercing intensity of the baby Bobcat’s calls, I could tell they were designed to communicate with the mother. If it worked for raptors, I thought, using the recorded calls might also work for Bobcats!"
Returning to the exact location from which the baby Bobcat had been removed, Miller placed the youngster in a pet carrier on the side of the road and began playing a recording of his cry through a game caller. She then waited in her parked car some 30 feet away to observe. After just 45 minutes the mother Bobcat appeared. Another baby Bobcat was reunited with its mother this year, using the same technique.
The Center has another innovative technique for orphan care. Two newborn beavers were found near Gadsden in the wreckage of a beaver lodge. When they arrived at the Center, the beavers were cold and hungry and in distress due to the absence of their mother. Beavers are highly social animals, needing the close contact provided by the mother during nursing.
Volunteer Cynthia Boulding made a "mother beaver" out of fake fur, with special fittings to hold two baby bottles. The orphaned beavers quickly learned to nurse from the "mother" and immediately calmed down. Now they are fully weaned and have outgrown the need for the furry figure. They were moved to the outdoor pool, where they will stay until they are old enough to survive in the wild.
The Wildlife Center is a nonprofit organization and receives no public funds. All cash income is generated from membership fees, private donations and corporate and foundation grants. For more information about The Wildlife Center and volunteer opportunities, as well as ways to make donations that will help in the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, visit the Center’s website at www.awrc.org, or call 205-663-7930. For emergencies, call the Center’s hotline at 205-621-333.
