Author: Carolyn

Hours Covered: 20-30

At this time, I had started my second week at the Mercer County Wildlife Center. I was working on Sunday mornings 8-4, Monday mornings 8-4, and Tuesday evenings 12-8. My morning shifts usually start by taking the mallards outside and putting them in their pens so they can begin to learn to forage in the grass. We had about 3 or 4 bins of mallards that needed deep cleaning. I found out that once they get big enough, there is a waterfowl enclosure on the outdoor rehabilitation side that has a pool and a large grassy area. I will be looking forward to cleaning the pool, which is about 5 feet by 12 feet and needs to be drained, scrubbed, and refilled 3 times a week. This is because the ducks always defecate in the pool, and the constant sunlight causes algae to bloom. So to keep the pool clean for the ducks, the pool must be cleaned at least 3 times a week. For now, there are no ducks in there, so it won’t need cleaning until later in the summer. Since I was still just starting working here, I was still doing a lot of meal preparation, cleaning, and laundry. But, during these hours, I was also able to experience some drop-offs of animals. I was not able to partake in the intake and initial examination, but I did see the process of taking in an animal. So one I saw was a baby bird someone found that must have fallen out of the nest. First, someone takes the animal and brings it into the adjacent triage room. For a baby bird, and other baby animals needing incubation, they get placed in small containers similar to those that crickets are kept in. The containers are lined with either a white hand towel or washcloth. All fabrics in tiage are white so we can see any blood, parasites, or fluids coming from the animal. For larger animals, we also have various sized pet carriers that are ½ put on a heating pad so there is a warm and cool area for them. These are often used for raccoons, woodchucks, and skunks. For larger animals like fawns and raptors, there are also metal cubicles. Another important aspect is that all cages, carriers, and incubators get covers or privacy sheets so that the animal cannot see what is going on outside of the space it is in. This is to limit stress and prevent their injuries from being exacerbated. So, after the animal is put in a safe and quiet space, the person doing the intake goes back to get the information from the person who brought in the animal(s). We get their name and phone number, the location they found the animal, and the nature of the rescue. Then we input information such as sex, life stage, and any injuries found. It is really important to make sure we get the location of where the animal was found, because we try to release the animal in the same county or preferably, as close to where they were found (as long as it is safe). 

I was able to understand the importance of releasing the animal back to where it was found because I remembered learning about the importance of territory. Especially for animals that burrow or have dens, like woodchucks and foxes, it is important to try and get them back to where they are familiar with. This will ultimately affect their survivability because they need to be able to successfully find food sources. Another important thing I remembered learning is about conservation. By releasing the animals back to the same country and territory, this prevents overpopulation of a species in one area. Overpopulation would lead to more competition for resources and mates, and might cause the species population to decline overall. 

During these hours, I really enjoyed getting to see the intake of several animals, even though I did not get to participate in the exams. I am definitely looking forward to that in the future, and maybe seeing x-rays and how to treat certain injuries. Looking forward, I’m not sure I would want to be a wildlife vet, and do that sort of care for a career. While it would be rewarding to see success, I know that a lot of times, animals with injuries too severe just have to be put down because they will not be able to heal properly enough to survive back in the wild. Of course, I have not had experience with vet work yet and the vet technician only comes in a couple times a week, so my opinion could change. However, I was really interested in looking forward to seeing an exam later during my internship. Even though it had only been about 4 days working at this center, I was so excited. I had honestly never been more excited about my work before this, which is just a great feeling. 

Hours Covered: 10-20

This journal will cover part of my second and my entire third day at the wildlife center. At this point, I had not had a formal orientation yet, and had just been following directions from my boss and the other directors. There are several people in charge of the center. Starting with the woman in charge of interns and volunteers, is my boss Jane. Other directors include Diane, Nichole, and Audi. For my second and third day of interning at the wildlife center, I was again dealing with the ducklings in the pond room. It was still raining on these days, so they had to stay inside again. Cleaning them overall took me about an hour and a half, but overall, it went faster than my first day. One of the things that took up a lot of my time on my second day was organizing the freezer. We received a huge donation of dog roll that foxes, raccoons, and opossums love. However, there wasn’t much space in the freezer, so Audi had me pull some stuff out and put it into the fridge, and then make space for all the boxes of that were coming in. I found out later in the day that a large shipment did not mean 20 boxes; it meant about 75. From this I learned that it is important to stay stocked on all the food we know the animals like, so that they never go hungry. Additionally, I found out that opossums can be cannibalistic is they are not given enough food. On my third day, Jane showed us interns how to syringe feed baby birds. Even though they are not native to New Jersey, we accept Starlings, because there are so many. I found out that they are good to train on because they only accept the food they are hungry for. Other birds, like robins, keep begging even if their crop is full and will eat until they explode. It was interesting to see that you have to insert the syringe so far into the birds mouth to go past the glottis so it does not choke on the food. Birds for the most part get fed every hour and the amount is determined by size and species of bird. I also learned how to clean the birds. First, it is very important to make sure their face and cloaca is clean. For birds still needing to be in an incubator they get small plastic containers with toilet paper in them to create a simulated nest. Of course, I learned quickly that birds do not like to stay put. The incubator is stage 1 out of 3 for birds. Stage 2 is a small reptarium, which is a rectangular netted enclosure. This space gives them more room to grow, and they no longer need the extra heat from the incubator. One the birds are big enough and are trying to fly, they move into stage 3, which is a much larger reptarium about 1.5 feet by 3 feet and 3 feet tall. Also, by this stage they are picking up food on their own, but still get offered food every hour like all the other stages. 

Learning how to properly care for birds reminds me of learning about parental care in different species. Because the baby birds who arrive at the rehabilitation center are often so young, they cannot care for themselves yet. In the wild, they would be relying on their parents to feed and clean them, but here, we have to care for them. This is why they need almost constant attention, because they cannot do anything themselves yet.  Like I stated earlier, it is very important to make sure their cloaca is clean otherwise they can not properly eliminate waste and it could lead to health issues. For birds like crows, caring for them at a young age is especially difficult because talking or too much handling can cause imprinting. And once an animal has imprinted on a human, it makes release nearly impossible because once in the wild they will head right back to humans. 

After working with birds for a couple days, I was feeling a couple different things. To begin, it was wonderful getting more hands on experience with a new species of animal. Handling the baby birds is much different than handling baby waterfowl. But, I was very nervous around the birds for a couple reasons. As they get bigger, they are a flight risk, but when they are very young they are so fragile. With very little experience, I was really scared to accidentally harm a bird when cleaning or feeding them. Eventually, I got more confident working with the birds, but I was still really looking forward to working with mammals in the next couple of weeks. I still had two more shots for finish before my rabies series would be completed, but from what other volunteers and second year interns had been saying, the raccoons are a lot of fun to work with. Overall, I was still getting settled into the routine of the wildlife center, but I was really excited to be spending my summer there. 

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.