A complaint was received by Hays County Game Warden James Michael of a fawn being tied to a front porch at a residence. Michael saw the fawn upon arrival and a man came out to meet him. When asked about the fawn, the man said, "Just a minute." He went back inside the house, returned with his wallet, then handed Michael a valid hunting license with a deer tag missing. He pointed to the fawn where he had attached a deer tag, and said they wanted some tender venison for Labor Day. Case pending, fawn relocated to our facility. Upon arriving to our facility, the game warden assisted in cutting the deer free from the collar and rope.
THE POOR DOG:
I think my all time favorite is the time this lady brought us these precious little bunnies in a basket she said we could keep. Okay, bunnies in a basket sort of makes sense. Especially if you consider the whole Easter bunny and basket connection. But this basket had some interesting bedding in it. I asked the sweet lady who brought them “what type of bedding is this?” In the sweetest voice ever she replied “Oh. I read where they love to snuggle up to their mother’s fur, so I shaved my dog and put his fur in there.” You did WHAT? Poor dog. I hope she doesn’t find any more bunnies just before winter.
HURRICANE IKE AND THE SQUIRRELS:
October 18, 2008, I was reading an online article about how the hurricane had inundated the Houston wildlife rescue center (TWRC) with over 550 baby squirrels! I found this number a little hard to believe until moments later they called me and were up to 900 Eastern Grays and Fox Squirrel babies! I got on the horn and started calling other groups in Austin to see what we could do and together we agreed to take 100. The next day 18 boxes of babies arrived at my door. Over the next few hours we sorted, fed, cleaned and distributed half to other area agencies and kept about 40 here. It was feed, clean, record, nap, and start all over for days. Things learned: Eastern Grays are adorable but mean little suckers from birth. Luckily they grow quickly and can be weaned fast. They are due to go back to Houston to be released soon. Yea! Glad we could help our neighbors~
RACCOON LESSON LEARNED:
We got a call yesterday that an adult raccon had his head stuck for the entire night and half of the day in a bird feeder in a tree. As I got there sure enough, he had wedged himself to where he could rest on the edge of the feeder as he contemplated his problems. I told the lady that I could save the coon but not the feeder. She suggested that they have a warning for purchasers of said bird feeder that it could also capture raccoons. I got on a ladder and proceeded to unscrew the feeder and remove it from the tree. So far so good. I quickly realized that the coon was not coming out of the feeder without a chisel or saw and some serious drugs (for the coon of course). I decided to put said coon and feeder in the back of the suv and take him the 8 miles down the road to the house where Dr. Johnson (Ray) could tranquilize him and we could then figure out how to release the raccoon from his feeder. Halfway home, I have visions of the coon releasing himself from the feeder and kicking my ass in the car all the way home. Luckily for both of us he was quite stuck and we made it home. Ray was almost laughing too hard to sedate the bugar but we got it done and although he never completely passed out, he was docile enough to unscrew the rest of the feeder and chisel the wood from around his neck without so much as a scratch on him! He looked at us and groggily ran off without so much as a thank you so I figured I would embarrass him by posting the photos for a good laugh! Enjoy!
BOB:
Bob came to us on Christmas Day 2008. He was about 7 weeks old and cute as a button. Cute in the "I have claws and teeth and know how to use them" kind of way. For some reason, people still think that all little wild animals drink cows milk. Unless it is a cow, they do not do well on cows milk. After getting him over the scours and his weight up, he soon started to fit right in with the rest of the crew. He ate mice in nanoseconds and soon was jumping up on everything and getting more mischevious by the day! 7 weeks later it was time to move him to a larger facility. Bob had grown 4 times the size he was when we got him and ready to mingle with his own kind. We transferred him to another much larger facility outside of San Antonio where there are 12 other bobcats and he will be released onto a 1000 plus acre refuge. We will miss him but as with all our animals, are blessed to have them and be able to give them the care they need for the time we do. Enjoy!
BUNNY TAILS:
A lady called today 4/15/09 and she had a golden retriever mom with puppies. To her surprise, when she was looking at the litter, she noticed a tiny little "puppy" among all the others - It had unusual ears and was tiny tiny. Upon further inspection she realized it was a tiny cottontail bunny. She called and brought it over to us without a scratch on it. She has no idea how long it was in the litter or why it did not get squished but he is healthy and thriving however he thinks he is a dog. Every time our dogs get close enough for him to smell he hops towards them as they all run away!
These little bunnies, about 6 days old, were attacked by a dog and orphaned.
Two out of the litter of five did not survive, and these three were not doing very well.
Noah is a non-releasable, one-legged homing pigeon that we have here in rehab. Noah kept going over to the bunny cage and looking in...even sleeping in front of the door to the cage.
Then, 2 days ago, I only counted 2 bunnies in the cage, so I hurriedly picked Noah up from the front of the cage so I could look inside. And to my surprise...there was the tiny bunny...under Noah's wing...sound asleep! The bunny had crawled through the cage....preferring a featherbed, no doubt.
Now, they are all together, and the bunnies are doing GREAT. When the bunnies scoot underneath Noah's feathers, he extends his wings out to surround them..and they snuggle. When one of them moves and they start sticking out here and there, he gently pushes them back under him with his beak!!!!! This is amazing!!! Moral of the story - The instinct of a mother knows no boundaries!
NEVER LET THE BUZZARDS GET YOU DOWN:
Ray and I were driving down the road and I saw something on the side of the road just up from the house. I had him pull over and it was an adult vulture I assumed had been hit by a car. Well, we nabbed him and threw him in a cage and took him home for an exam. Upon getting home I reached in with gloves to carefully remove him. I HAD FORGOTTEN vultures defense mechanism is to VOMIT partially digested ROADKILL on its intended captor. It missed me but the stench was enough to make ME vomit! I have a tough stomach for a lot of things but that was not one of them! I almost put him back on the side of the road at that point! Turns out nothing was wrong with him other than old age. He ate and drank and stayed hopping around the property for over a week before he peacefully passed away in his sleep. Meanwhile I was still trying to get the smell out of my mind. Lesson learned! SCORE: Vulture 1 Me 0!!
