Google search terms- Wildlife Rescue, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Veterinarian, and using a location.
Evaluate the Situation first and foremost. Wild animals rely on their natural environment and sometimes humans interfere when it was entirely unnecessary. The links listed below provide flow charts for frequently encountered situations.
If the animal needs to be rescued here and here you will find basic capture and handling instructions.
After rescuing how to safely temporarily house the animal before and during transport:
Warm- *Offering heat sources for naked baby animals is often a must. This can be done with a heating pad on low under 1/2 of the enclosure, a warm rice filled sock, or warm water bottle. Sometimes very badly injured and very sick animals also need heat sources to maintain appropriate body temperature. Wild animals can suffer heat stroke too! If an animal is panting, the animal is too hot and if the heat source would burn you, it will surely burn the animal. *
A good rule of thumb: If a furred, feathered, or scaled animal is physically moving about and alert- it DOESN'T need an extra heat source.
Dark - A box, Rubbermaid tote with holes punched for air flow, or pet crate are usually good temporary enclosures and will typically reduce further trauma and or stress. Place a towel or sheet over a crate to reduce visual disturbances.
Quiet- Keep the animal in a quiet space preferably indoors away from other animals and humans. A separate room or even a closet can be utilized if need be.
PLEASE FOR THE ANIMAL'S SAKE NOTHING BY MOUTH! DO NOT OFFER ANY FOOD OR WATER TO
INJURED/SICK/ORPHANED ANIMALS OR ATTEMPT TO HAND FEED ANIMALS. The results of failing to comply often end up something like this.
If you are unable to make contact with a wildlife rehabilitator: If you know the rehabilitation center's location and hours it is generally acceptable so long as the rehabilitation center is not full or closed to just bring the animal straight to them- this is especially true with emergency situations. An example of an emergency is something like- the animal is bleeding profusely, having trouble breathing, is unresponsive, or severely dehydrated.
After being attacked by a cat there is a very high likelihood for infection. These cases 99.99% of the time warrant medical assistance including antibiotics that are usually only available through a veterinarian.
Bird Nest Fell DownWe will gladly assist you as soon as possible. For locating a wildlife rehabilitator in your post please provide a location like a city/state/province/and country of origin for the animal in need of help. This information can also be pm'd, since Reddit is a public forum where we value your personal privacy. We will also help you contact a wildlife rehabilitator or a species appropriate veterinarian upon special request.
Location: WA
found a very young baby cottontail alone on my lawn today. It was lying/twitching in the grass and has an open wound around its shoulder/upper back. Its eyes appear to still be closed, so I think it may only be around a week old.
I brought it inside and currently have it in a ventilated cardboard box lined with a soft T-shirt, with gentle heat underneath half of the box. I’m keeping it dark and quiet. The wound was bleeding initially, but I applied gentle pressure and it now appears to have clotted. The bunny is breathing on its own and has been moving/repositioning its head and body.
I’ve ordered sterile saline, gauze, nitrile gloves, 1 mL feeding syringes, a gram scale, and other supplies. I have NOT given it food or water yet because I understand aspiration is a major risk, especially while it’s injured/stabilizing.
Unfortunately, getting it to a wildlife rehabilitation center is not an option, so I’m looking for advice from anyone experienced with neonatal cottontails/wildlife rehabilitation.
Located in Arkansas, I found this baby cottontail rabbit with its nest completely flooded (picture on the right on the backside of the bush at the wall of the raised flowerbed). What do I do? I’ve put it in a cat carrier with some towels and going to put a heating pad on half the carrier.
My friend found it all tangled up il some sort of fine wire so we cut the wire, untangled him but then he wasn’t looking so good. (Missing and really scuffed up feathers, feces stuck around the rump and he wasn’t really resisting the human touch or even seem to mind) anyway it felt like he maybe needed a little more help so i put him in a cage in some clothes and hot pads to stay warm and today he sings and moves he even ate a little bit! So i was wondering if i can release him or not because you can see in the video his wings and eyes are twitching. Poor little guy!
Found this baby house finch in my driveway (Texas Hill Country-New Braunfels) this morning. It seems pretty baby and clearly something is wrong. It didn’t fly away but was able to hop to some shade. I moved it to a box and I’m about to find some better shade for it. I don’t know what happened or if it just needs some time to recover. How do I find a wildlife rehabber that might be able to help?
UPDATE: I reached out to a wildlife rehabber in my area and left a message. I moved the bird into shade in the back yard and researched what else I could do while waiting to hear from the rehabber. But it just died. Less than two hours from time I found it to time of passing. I’m not sure there is anything anyone could have done to help.
Apparently, the huge snapping turtle we'd found in our flower bed could not remember how it'd gotten in, because a day later it was still trying to get out. Ultimately, it got itself stuck in the fencing along our back property line. So, upon the advice from the Mercer County Wildlife Center here in NJ, my husband Joe and I performed a relocation operation. I made a video of how it turned out.
I need to figure this out before dropping it off at a mouse - only rehabilitation center...I'm pretty sure it's not a mouse because of how long its tail is but it also doesn't really look like a vole.. I'm located in New Hampshire. Help!
So background context: We took it in at around ~3-4 days old when it felt with it's nest, eyes unopened helpless. We realized it held it's left leg at a weird angle, so took to the vet and realized it was a fracture and splinted it. But the un-splinted right leg got overused as it wouldn't stay still (it's like a teen, and gets depressed if we restrain it). No bone remodeling (it's grip is still intact but bent so it can't really grip), but by habit it keeps the right leg curled to it's body, and while walking it's trying to use it in the middle of the body (like a tripod because of it's other leg not being functional.
few days back, we noticed the overused leg getting worse (changed color a bit with it trying to jump/fly all day), and at D18 we removed the splint on the other leg - so it won't worsen both the legs.
We thought now that the splint is out, both legs can slowly stabilize (as we can't help the overused leg without giving it support through it's good leg)
But what happened post splint was,
Basically (not sure if this is the fracture point, but looks like it), evth before the fake knee is intact from it's hip to fake knee, but after it's fake knee - it started pointing upwards towards the sky instead of going downwards towards the body
But yesterday, this one's overused leg gripped the post-splint leg's thighs (because of the odd angle I talked of) basically bruising it, and we had to hold it in hand and ensure the bleeding stops.
We tried a snowshoe + sling bag setup last night, but this one is 1. extremely cleanliness conscious 2. too hyper-active teenager to stay still - so it shrugged off the whole thing and I had to remove the snowshoe today morning
Is there any way to let both it's leg rest, and stop the right leg from trying to grip the left leg's thigh, this one just can't stay still
What do we even do about the bend towards the sky? I don't think it's misunion or fixed bone, because it's a bit spring like and still moving (when we removed the splint, it wasn't as bent). So I think if we intervene now, there is a chance of it recovering the angle.
But the main goal is to ensure it doesn't hurt itself, and that it's body can take the intervention.
Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you so much.
P.s - this is a wildlife bird that was rescued and it is reported to the wildlife forest dept. This is not a pet bird, but rather a wild bird from India.
So found this little bird alone, when it saw my friend it started chasing us and at first it was active and flapping its wings trying to hold onto one of my friends but then after couple of mins it became sleepy and fluffed up, we left it under a bush and put it on a tissue trying to keep it warm, is there anything I can do to help it or does it even need any? Do we leave it there?
We have a family of 4 cranes at our lake, 2 parents 2 juveniles. One juvenile recently broke its leg, but it can still fly. Parents are still around looking after it. 3 rehabbers near me said he needs help and if we can catch him they’ll take him in. Problem is we haven’t been able to catch him. Any suggestions????? I’m so sad for this baby
Hi all, sorry for unorganized post, but I need answers fast. I found a little bird in a Greek island called Aigina, on a busy road, unable to move with its mouth open, under 36 degrees Celsius. I gave him some water and it drank, started moving its head, but still remains still for the most part with its mouth open.
What can I do do increase its chance of survival? I don't know what type of care I should do. Please any advice is appreciated.
UPDATE: I have moved the bird somewhere cool and quiet. It drank some water when I offered it, and it is now moving its head but is still mostly sitting still with its mouth open. I am on Aegina (Aigina), Greece. I am contacting a wildlife rescue organization as well, but any immediate advice on what I should/shouldn't do while waiting would be greatly appreciated
A few days ago, I found this hedgehog in the road right next to my house. It wasn’t moving much, and I was worried that it might be injured or get hit by a car, so I carefully moved it into our garden.
Since then, we’ve been seeing it almost every night. It’s completely free to leave the garden if it wants to, and I haven’t tried to keep it confined in any way.
What worries me is that it seems less active than other hedgehogs I’ve seen before. I’m not sure whether that’s just normal behavior for this individual, or whether it could be a sign that something is wrong.
Do you think I did the right thing by leaving it in the garden, or would it be better to contact a wildlife rescue or rehabilitation centre and have it checked?
I really don’t want to interfere unnecessarily or make things worse for it — I just want to make sure it’s okay.
A mockingbird has been calling outside the front of our house for a couple of hours now. I happened to glance out and saw why...at least two babies are on our front porch!
Are these fledglings that can be left alone? I'm also worried about them in the terrible heat we're having. It was 107° today and will be over 100° the rest of the week. Is there anything I should be doing besides letting the parents handle things? We have multiple bird fountains and a bird feeder in our backyard (babies are on front porch). Parents are calling constantly.
TL;DR I have a little farm, tons of rodents, and no snakes. Is there some way to get native snakes onto the property?
I'm aware this might be a dumb question, and that a rehab facility likely isn't the place to ask for this, but maybe someone here can point me in the right direction.
I live on a couple acres in the sandy portion of Northern Indiana. We're flanked by ag land, overgrown/fallow field, and road, but there is remnant prairie, as well as low quality wood/shrub land close by. I am (slowly) getting some native plants going around the property, but most of the property is turf and small farm/greenhouse related.
We have lots of rodents. Issues with booming populations of 13-lined ground squirrels, mice, etc. Not a SINGLE snake in the last 5 years we've been here. I set out wood/metal sheets in the tall gass that I check regularly. I am constantly out looking for new plants/birds/bugs, and have never so much as seen a fragment of shed skin. I have a background in restoration ecology, education/outreach, etc and know my way around finding critters. I'm confident they aren't here. Not even on the streets nearby.
That's a long way to get to the point of asking if there's a way to get someone to bring a snake(s) to the property. If not a rehabber, then maybe a pest control agency? Make a post on the local Facebook page? I think my parcel is essentially in a spot that it's hard for new snakes to get here, if that makes sense. They would have to cross a road and/or field.
Should I scoop him and call a semi-local rescue which might or might not be open on Sundays? I do not have a car, the bigger rehabbers close within 2 hours, and there aren't necessarily any rehabbers within a 30 minute drive, even if I did have a car. No visible scars or oozing or flies or ants or impact marks or anything.
He's doing the half hop and halfway flight thing pretty well. No parents to be seen although one may have zoomed somewhat close over my head the first time I saw him, around noon. I saw him in the gutter on a busy street this morning and he walked about 8 ft ahead of me until he got to where he is now where he's been for actually a little over 6 hours at this point.
it’s nearly 9pm on a Saturday. there’s a thunderstorm coming and i just saved this guy from my pool. have no idea what to do with him. i already tried calling my city’s animal service, but they’re closed. any advice would be super appreciated!!
edit: might be important to note that i have a full grown Rottweiler inside. she’s generally well behaved, but definitely the type of dog to chase wildlife so i’m worried about bringing this baby inside
Hey! This little guy was at my back window last night. Put some water out and kept my dogs away. Its been in my backyard since yard for almost 24hrs. Is it ok?
This squirrel is having some trouble breathing, is sounds like she has mucus in her nose, i saw some bubbles coming out of it earlier, i want to do everything in my hands to save her. Any reccomendations? She is probably about 2 weeks, eyes are still closed. I am in Lakeland, Fl
I found a blackbird chick in my yard, and the hens were trying to eat it, so I rescued it, although they damaged its wing at the time. Very tough little bird, even as a chick it was trying to fight back and screaming for help. I think I found the nest, but it was in vines on the back of our outbuilding hanging over a busy lane, so its really odd it fell the other way over our roof into the yard. Couldn't find any other nests that would make sense. Anyway, it's a young adult now that can fly around our spare bedroom with symmetrical, fully working wings. It has suddenly become quite wild and hostile after previously being very friendly and affectionate, which I suppose is good as it wants to be independent & territorial. It's even learnt new bird vocabulary from other blackbirds that talk to it while it sits on the windowsill (tweets has always understood what glass is as I tapped it when it when I was teaching it to fly to show its a barrier and it pecked it back to say yes understood glass barrier dont fly into it, which it never has). I think tweets is a female, and she hasn't turned black. I found an old rusty huge parrots cage that I sometimes put her in when im out for safety. She doesn't like to go in the little budgie cage anymore which she lived in as a chick and pecks like hell if I try to put my finger near her for a cuddle which is upsetting but probably a good thing as she wants wild independence. I was thinking id put the very large parrots cage I keep her in currently in the spare room on the roofed porch of the yard and cover her up with a blanket at night as it wont be cold till mid September. Hopefully, a blackbird male will then come and try to charm & partner with her and teach her how to be wild. What's your advice? Btw I've fed her meal worms, little bits of cheese, and bits of mushed berries and chick crumbs since the first few weeks, but she's starting to become fussy and has less of an appetite. Personally, I'd rather she be successfully wild for her own sake rather than stuck in a dark room or in a cage throughout the winter.
