Hours Covered: 0-10
This journal will cover my first and some of my second day at the Mercer County Wildlife Center. On the first day, I was thrown right into work, with the promise of an orientation when more interns start (I guess I started early?). My first task was in the “Pond Room” where the Mallard ducklings and other waterfowl are put. They live in large bins with mats and have a heating lamp for the smaller ducklings to keep them warm until they are bigger. Usually when it is nice, they all go outside in mobile pens so they can eat bugs and be in the sun. However, it was very rainy and cold, so the ducks had to be kept inside so they would stay warm. For each bin of ducklings, which are separated by case number, the ducks had to be gently corralled into a pet carrier, so the bins could be cleaned. Mats had to be hosed off, cleaned with soapy water and lightly disinfected. The bins themselves also needed to be cleaned and wiped down. So far I had learned that ducks are pretty dirty and make huge messes. Once the bin was clean, the ducks went back in but also got a dish of turkey starter feed and a water jug overturned with a lid to allow water to gather in the rim for them to drink from. After cleaning, the ducks get checked on every 2 hours to make sure they have enough water and food. The rest of the day included a lot of cleaning pet carriers, reptariums for birds, and meal prep for the animals. Meal prep included cutting up whole hams, dicing fruit for birds, and making dishes for the next day. A big part of the day is laundry, as there is always something to clean. I found out the raccoon make the most mess, and some of their stuff even needs to be hosed off before putting it in the wash. While doing all these tasks I managed to look around and see that there were several different rooms, including the Pond Room, Aviary Room, Mammal Room, Mammal Nursery, Isolation Room, Mammal ICU, Triage, Lab, X-ray room, and Darkroom. Overall my first day was very fast paced, as well as my second day. There was never really any “down time” because there is always something to do.
Relating to my coursework, there was a significant emphasis of preventing imprinting from the animals. Nearly every room has a sign describing that it is “baby season” and to stay silent so that the animals do not get used to humans. My boss also emphasised the goal that when animals are released that they should have a healthy fear of humans. Some of the animals are at greater risk for imprinting, such as fawns because they need to be bottle fed frequently and will nudge and even try to nurse on you. I know imprinting on humans can be extremely dangerous for wildlife, because if they become to familiar or friendly with humans, it can have dangerous consequences. For example, a too friendly fawn might approach a hunter, or too friendly foxes and raccoons might venture too close to roads or residential areas. These consequences can all lead to death. Therefore, it is important to minimize human contact, so there is of course no petting the animals no matter how cute they are. Even the fawns that get bottle fed eventually learn to drink off a rack so that we do not have to be so close to them.
A lot of the information I learned on my first two days was new to me. I had very little hands on experience with animal husbandry, and soon I had seen first hand how certain animals, like the ducklings act like. It was also interesting to see the meals different animals get to try and emulate what they would get in the wild, such as ham, fish, fruit, and formula for babies. Overall, I loved my first two days, even as hectic and confusing as they were. It made me excited to be able to care for other animals such as the fawns or raccoons (as soon as I finished my rabies shots). I feel like it is too soon to say if this is the path I want to follow for my future career, but I know I made the right choice in the broad sense of working with animals. One of the directors made a very good point to me on my first day. She discussed how immediate the rewards can be for animal husbandry. If an animal is hungry, you feed it. If an animal is dirty, you clean it. Of course there are longer goals, especially for animals who come to the center wounded or very young and still need to grow up before they can be released. But to me, it felt wonderful being part of something directly helping wildlife in my home state. Also looking at how much the directors and permanent staff enjoy their work was inspiring. Some of them have been working at the center for twenty plus years, and have an incalculable amount of knowledge to share. I really look forward to learning about the wildlife in New Jersey, as well at other animals the staff has cared for.
