Hours Covered: 190-200
It is sort of strange writing this as my last journal because this is not my last day working at the wildlife center. I will have much more to write about in the final reflection, because by then the fawns should have been released. I have completed 200 hours at the wildlife center, and have been there for a total of 9 weeks. I am sad thinking that I only have 3 weeks left working with these animals. I am definitely going to miss this when I am back at school.
So at the wildlife center, we only have 1 lone raccoon left into the raccoon room. All the other raccoons have been moved outside into 12 cages. The one raccoon inside must have been a late birth, because it is much smaller than the other racoons. I was worried that he wasn’t going to make it, because he was disinterested in eating, lethargic, and had diarrhea. However, a few days later, he was eating well and very active (and loud). He most likely just wasn’t feeling well. There are now about 60 raccoons outside in the 12 cages, with each cage being a different county. It now takes so long to feed and clean the raccoons in the morning, especially the cages with 6 or more raccoons in them. The raccoons like to do this thing where you try to move the bag you are scooping poop and food scraps into, and they pull on it and tear it down the side making everything spill. I like it much better when they sleep through the cleaning. I did witness something really cool in the raccoon cages, though. I heard a really loud buzzing from a cicada, and turned around to try and locate where it was. It was in cage 12 with the raccoons, and a swear this raccoon speed-climbed up the cage wall and snagged it out of the air. The raccoon the proceeded to bite its head off, and eat the whole cicada while not sharing with another curious cage mate. It was the coolest thing I had seen in a while.
The coyote has gotten big enough that Jane is making plans for its release, but we do not have a set date yet. I’m a bit worried about it finding food because every day we give him a whole white rat with his dish, and every day he doesn’t eat it. Hopefully he will learn so than he has to eat animals to survive. The wood ducks that were very high stress, and still are, have also gotten big enough to go outside in the small pens for the daytime. The big waterfowl pen on the rehab side is full of mallards, and Jane did not think it would be a good idea to put the wood ducks in with them. The mallards are pretty bad at being ducks right now. Every morning we open a door to let them out into a grassy area, and they never go. We actually had to chase them out there one day so they could learn to forage in the grass. I’ve found that if they see you throwing their dried mealworms into the grass, they will go out to eat too. Hopefully, they will start going out to the grassy area on their own.
To be honest I’ve really run out of things to connect to my coursework. I have more questions than anything really, and topics I’m interested in. I want to learn more about wildlife rehabilitation, such as how you go about treating animals with open wounds and fractures. I’m curious about how the environment affects local wildlife, and the importance of conservation even on a small scale. I’ve learned about a lot of species that I didn’t even know we had native to New Jersey, such as the diamondback terrapin.
Overall, I am still set on finding a future career in wildlife rehabilitation. I know it is hard work and you have to work constantly. (My father was hilarious he thought I didn’t have to go in on July 4th because someone else would take care of the animals). But, I know first hand how rewarding this type of work can be. Those four raccoons that came in with their eyes shut are finally outside, and doing great. The small fawns that struggled to walk are now leaping around their big pen. I think my biggest issue in the future with a career like this, is not getting attached. Sometimes animals are doing well, and then they take a turn suddenly, and you have to be prepared to do what is best for them, even if it is putting them down. But all in all, I definitely think the rewards outweigh the hardships that comes with this job.
