Hours Covered: 40-50
Previously, I had finally had an official orientation led by my boss Jane, but was still getting into the schedule of daily activities. I was putting ducks outside in their pens and then cleaning their inside bins. Afterwards, I would see what animals needed feeding and cleaning inside, since there were not many outside yet. I had been learning some from the other long term volunteers, but the 2nd and 3rd year interns were really helpful in seeing what things are usually like around the wildlife center. I also found out that there is an online tour with images of the wildlife center, so here is where I will include the link if you want to look around the facility. http://www.wildlifecenterfriends.org/tour . It doesn’t show our rehabilitation areas outside or the education environment on the other side, but it gives some good pictures of the facility when it was just starting out. So during these hours I was doing a lot of observation. I saw several more animal intakes, as well as care for different animals. I was able to observe one of the second year interns bottle feeding the baby raccoons, and she showed me the different holds you can use to keep them focused on eating. The one we most often use is to wrap your hand around its jaw with at least 1 finger under the jaw, but making sure the nose is not covered. This hold keeps a good control of the animal and it keeps their eyes covered so they do not focus on you, and they focus on eating instead. However, the intern said that a lot of times the raccoons will move into whatever position they find comfortable, which is not always on their belly. I also observed tube feeding for very small baby opossums. In relation to opossums, Jane told us some very interesting facts. So, opossums have around 20 babies and the first 13 to crawl into the pouch and attach them self to a teat will survive. The babies actually swallow the teat, which is why when an opossum with babies in her pouch is brought in, and the mother is either dead or dying, you cannot just remove the babies. If you try to, pulling them off the teat will end up ripping their organs out, so you have to wait for the babies to come off the teat naturally. From my observations about tube feeding animals, it looks really tricky. At this point I’m not sure if I will be trained on that later in the summer, but I think I would be ok if I didn’t. With animals that small it looks like one wrong move and you could puncture something.
For what I learned and experienced during these hours, I’m finding it difficult to relate it to coursework. As much as I’ve read in textbooks and in peer reviewed literature, I was definitely unprepared for the handling aspect of animal husbandry. For example, having to corral ducklings into a pet carrier is just something I never thought I would be doing. I have seen that different groups of ducklings have different temperments. Some are easy to guide into the carriers, and others scatter and seem extremely stressed out. Thinking back to what I have learned in the animal personality course, this could have a lot to do with the environment they were in, and the nature of their rescue. I have a feeling that if their rescue was more dramatic or stressful to them, then they would continue to be stressed until they became used to their surroundings. However, I wonder if any of their temperaments can be attributed to genetics, such as having a very bold mother versus one that was shy in novel environments. Additionally, I have found myself noting behaviors of animals as if I was going to create an ethogram for them. For example, the stretch and wing flap of mallards and the side step movements of house finches. I don’t think I’ll need ethograms this summer, but I think it’s good to keep in the back of my mind.
So far, everyone I have met at the wildlife center has been so nice, and helpful. Volunteers are glad to instruct on ways to clean and even the directors and staff who are so busy fielding calls and dealing with animals make time for you if you need help or have questions. It has been such a welcoming environment, that I never feel uncomfortable around the center. Many of the volunteers have gone out of their way to find out our (as interns) names and where we go to school, and what we are studying. I mean I knew that people who took time out of their lives to care for animals would be kind to the animals, but I was not prepared for how friendly they would be towards new interns. Overall, I’m still really enjoying the work at the wildlife center, and can’t wait to do more hands on work.
