| Creature Thoughts
Keeping in touch with the animals… …and the people who love them June 2010
 Free at last! The Call of the Wild As everyone who frequents my blog knows, I’m up to my ears in little featherlings at the moment. I’ve got ten baby birds–three house finches, six starlings and a grackle–all in various states of transforming from helpless little bottomless pits to healthy juveniles of their species. The finches are ready to go outdoors and acclimate to the environment–or would be if I had a place to put them. I’m still working overtime trying to convince the starlings and the grackle that they really can pick up that food by themselves and eat it. We’re working on getting an outdoor facility set up, and the day it’s secure, those finches will be the lucky three to christen it. Working with wildlife has been an incredibly rewarding experience over these past three or four years. I’ve learned so much, in so many ways, not the least that communicating with wild animals is a very different experience from talking to animals who’ve been raised, as have their ancestors, under the care of human beings. More than once, as I’ve sought to calm or soothe or encourage a wild creature in rehab, I have received back from them strong distrust. Though they do seem to understand that the rehabilitators are trying to help them so they can return to the wild, they rarely, with some very rare exceptions, will relax their hearts and allow themselves to trust their caretakers. More often than not, to them, the word for the humans who tend them is not caretakers–but captors. Even with the little birds, though they grow comfortable with me, understanding that I bring their food and keep them safe, I can always feel the pull which steers them back toward their natural environment. These birds will perch on me, allow me to feed them, even gape and cry for the food when they see me coming. Yet I know that the day they are ready to fend for themselves, and the door opens toward the blue sky above, the joy of freedom will erase all of that. It’s the rare wild animal who will grow comfortable in human care, and approach true domestication. Certain species, particularly of birds (European Starlings come to mind for some strange reason, ahem) will sometimes relax and enjoy “pet-hood”, but for the most part, wild animals are just that…wild. They should be respected as such. At NY Wildlife Rescue Center live two victims of humans who attempted to keep wild creatures as pets. As most often happens, once these female bobcats reached maturity, they became unmanageable. Due to the fact that they had been spayed, declawed, or both, they could never be returned to their natural lives. They were too wild and dangerous to be kept in a home. They now live out their lives in spacious, airy cages, being fed a natural raw diet, and given the best of care. They are safe, they are secure, they are relatively content to be cared for this way…but they never feel truly fulfilled. Other animals who cannot be released have communicated that they would never agree to live in captivity. The pull to return to the wild is so strong, they would prefer to forfeit their lives, than live behind bars. This is why I strive toward getting that outdoor facility up and running. I long, with those little fluttering hearts, for the day I know they’re ready, and I can prop open the door to freedom. I hope, in that moment, I will be able to remain connected to those wild minds long enough to feel the joy along with them. Returning to injured and orphaned wildlife the freedom to be what they were born to be…this is the goal behind wildlife rehabilitation. If you think you might like to learn more about becoming a wildlife rehabilitator, a Google search for your state’s, or your location’s, nearest Department of Environmental or Wildlife Conservation should lead you in the right direction. In addition, feel free to look over the reviews of some of the following books:
Watch This Space….Later this summer, or early in the fall, Fehrman Books will be publishing my first novel in the Junior Handlers Mystery Series, The Corpse That Wasn’t There. The book will be available in paperback format from FehrmanBooks.com and Amazon.com. I’ll be sure to let everyone know as definite dates are announced! Free Help For Our Animal Friends at NELRNortheast Llama Rescue and Barnyard Sanctuary and New York Wildlife Rescue (an IRS 501(c)(3) charity) accept Paypal donations through their website at http://www.redmaplefarm.net. In addition, we have a totally painless (and free) way for anyone to support the care of the animals we rescue. If you sign up to shop online through iGive.com, at no cost to you, every purchase you make through the iGive gateway will earn a donation for the animals. http://www.igive.com/NYWildlifeRescueCenter And even if you don’t sign up (but why would anyone not sign up since it’s free and painless?), you can still earn money with each internet search you do simply by logging in to the iGive search engine rather than Google or whichever other search engine you normally use: http://www.isearchigive.com/NYWildlifeRescueCenter ================================ Gayle Nastasi (of Gazehound’s Animal Communication) is a professional animal communication consultant and writer, who hopes her connection to the animal world can serve as a way to help her fellow humans enrich their relationships with their animal companions. By better knowing our non-human friends, we ensure a kinder future for our world and we learn what it means to be a unique and essential part of all that is. Permission is given to forward this article to anyone you feel might enjoy it, as long as it is understood that copyrights are held by Gayle Nastasi, and the author’s name, and links to her website(s) are left intact. If this publication has been forwarded to you and you would like to subscribe to Gazehound’s free monthly e-newsletter, “Creature Thoughts”, just visit the newsletter link below. |
