Hours Covered: 30-40
By this time, more interns had started working at the center. Apparently, I started a little early, so Jane who is in charge of us interns decided to wait to do an orientation until more of us were working. Now that there were like 4 of us during my shifts, she decided to do the orientation. She showed us around the different rooms, and explained a lot of the work we would be doing. A lot of the volunteers do inside work, like the raccoons, since we we’re all vaccinated yet. Jane gave us a tour of the rehabilitation side. There are 14 raccoon cages, but cage 13 and 14 need repairs before use. There are also 12 mammal cages of various sizes to accommodate for small mammals like squirrels to larger ones like the foxes. There are also many aviary cages labeled from A to K. The waterfowl have a large enclosure as described in a previous journal, and the fawns have a large grassy enclosure too. Except for a couple aviary cages that have sand floors, the raccoon, mammal, and other avian cages all have a smooth pebble substrate floor. The reason for this is that it makes scooping leftovers and feces easier. It also allows us to hose down the cages daily to keep them clean without getting extremely muddy. Jane explained that hosing the cages is really important because the flies will swarm leftover or spilled food as well as feces. Keeping the cages as clean as possible with an animal or animals in it keeps them comfortable and helps them rehabilitate quickly. Jane also went over what kinds of animals to expect this summer. Because summer is “baby season” there will be a lot of fawns. She explained that mother deer do not abandon their babies, but sometimes they are unable to return or are scared away from where they baby is. Additionally, a lot of people accidentally fawn-nap because they do not know that fawns are often left by themselves while the doe goes off to forage. So they bring them in to us, even though they the doe would most likely have returned. Jane also talked about that there would be lots of raccoons (about 75 over the course of the summer), and an influx of baby squirrels during August. She said that while we get a lot of birds, their rehabilitation time is much less than mammals, and are usually released after 2 or 3 weeks. Mammals like the raccoons and foxes have an age/weight they have to reach before they can be released. Jane also gave us a “warning” that things will get busy really fast, and as interns we have to be sure to get animals fed and enclosures cleaned by certain times. The Outdoor Education Environment animal gets cleaned and fed in the morning, except for the raptors who get fed in the afternoon. On the rehabilitation side, everyone gets cleaned in the morning. Everyone also gets fed, except for the raptors and the nocturnal mammals like foxes, skunks, and opossums. We try to get all this done before noon. Around 2 and 3 pm, we feed the nocturnal mammals, as well as the raptors. At this time there are no raccoons outside, but they will get fed twice a day, with the majority of their diet being given to them in the afternoon. Animals inside have different schedules, because they are mostly babies. For example, mammals get fed about every 3-4 hours. To keep track of all this information, we have papers on the doors to the different rooms to keep track of feedings and instructions. Additionally, each animal has its own set of paperwork that is kept in binders or above the animals’ carriers.
During orientation, I was given a lot of information I did not know. For example, I learned how important it is to make sure the fawns have clean butts when they go outside. This is because any fecal matter will attract flies, which will lay eggs in the fawn’s anus, and the larva will eat the fawn from the inside out. In relation to my coursework, the only thing I am reminded of is attention to detail. Such as when you are observing the behaviors of an animal for data collection, it is important to observe the animals while they are rehabilitating, even outside. This is because once outside, they are usually observed less, so if something is wrong, it needs to be caught quickly to help the animal. For the indoor animals, it is especially important during the first couple hours after the animal is brought in. Not everything that can be wrong with an animal will be visible on an x-ray. Sometimes, such as neurological issues, only the behavior of the animal will provide clues as to what is wrong.
Hearing from Jane the expectation from us interns was a little intense. However, knowing that I am part of a team and will be working with other interns and volunteers makes it seem less stressful. The people I have met have been so nice and I am really looking forward to spending my summer with them. Orientation also got me really excited to imagine what animals will come in over the course of me working there. Online they keep a log per month of what animals were brought in, I saw some really cool things, such as a coyote, otters, great blue herons, snakes, and bats. I am really hoping that I get a chance to work with a wide variety of animals, so I can see if I prefer working with any one species over another.
