“Leave Them Alone”.
My friend Wes mentions, often, in his blogs, that touching or handling wildlife is never a good idea. Everyone knows about rabies, of course, but many people don’t realize how very serious a deal rabies can be. They think if they see a baby animal, the little one can’t possibly be infected. However, they are most certainly wrong … if the parent was exposed, the babies were exposed. Since the incubation time of rabies varies considerably, an animal can appear healthy, and still be contagious.
Every year, good Samaritans who try to rescue wild mammals have to go through painful prophylactic injections because of exposure to this disease, which is almost always fatal if not caught very soon after exposure.
If a person touches a suspect animal, that animal will often need to be euthanized and its brain material tested. The laws of rabies exposure vary from state to state, so I will not advise on times and details, but if you are around wildlife and tempted to rescue them, please educate yourself on your state’s laws and guidelines. Most states offer education for people who wish to be wildlife rescuers, and if this is an urge of yours, I strongly suggest applying for a rehabilitators license and making sure you are up on the procedures.
If you see a wild animal, observe from a distance. If, after observation, the animal appears to be orphaned or injured, call a wildlife rehabilitator. Do not attempt to handle the animal yourself!
A visit to a search engine such as Google (or if you wish to earn a penny per search for our own NY Wildlife Rescue Center, you can search from http://www.isearchigive.com/NYWildlifeRescueCenter — it’s free to you and our rescued animals will be ever grateful. In the search box, simply type Wildlife Rehabilitators Your State (where you substitute the name of your own state, or if in a country other than the US, your local region); the search engine will return a list of sites where you may find someone near you to help.
Most of the time, when you see a wild animal, even babies, the animal is actually fine and does not need rescuing. Fawns and baby rabbits are two species frequently brought in to rescue centers by well-meaning citizens, who actually do not need rescuing at all. The mother deer will leave her baby in the brush, and often in the most unusual places like back yards and gardens, for long periods of time and only return to nurse it. Mother rabbits only nurse their offspring at dawn and dusk, and leave them hidden in the nest the rest of the time. People who are not familiar with the behavior of these species often think the baby has been abandoned, and interfere.
Baby birds leave the nest before they learn to fly. So many fledgelings are taken from their parents unnecessarily when people think they have “fallen”. If you simply observe (bring in the dog and cat, please!!), eventually you will see the parent birds return to feed the little “ground-hoppers”, and you will see that everything is just fine.
Occasionally it’s necessary to actually handle a baby bird. If a non-feathered nestling falls from a nest, the very best thing you can do, is return it to the nest if possible. If the nest is out of reach, set it up in a safe container, like a strawberry basket lined with plant material, and put it in a safe spot near where you found it. The parents will come to care for the baby in the new location, drawn to it by its cries, as well as the other offspring still in the nest. Contrary to popular belief, a bird will not reject its offspring if the baby has been touched by a human.
Mammals, however, even those that actually do need rescuing, should not be touched. If an animal is truly injured or abandoned (such as in the case of a baby whose parent has been killed by a car, and there is no doubt of that fact), call for professional assistance first. If the rehabilitator you speak to asks you to collect the animal, follow his or her instructions to the letter, to prevent exposure to disease. Boxes, gloves, blankets, even shovels, are possible tools you will be instructed to use — you do not want to have to go through the trauma of possible rabies exposure!
Rabies is not the only disease which can infect humans via wildlife vectors. One particularly nasty zoonotic disease is carried by the adorable and irresistible raccoon. Raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris) is a disease which may be fatal to humans, and always causes serious symptoms. This is one disease you do not wish to encounter, and is the reason that most states insist that raccoons be housed separately from all other species in rehab centers.
Raccoons are not good pets. Everyone has a story of an Uncle So-and-So who had this great pet raccoon. They are certainly cute, clever, and appealing as babies. There is nothing, however, cute about an adult raccoon who has become sexually mature and is frustrated because it’s being held captive. If you are bitten by a raccoon, many states will mandate that the animal, yes, Uncle So-and-So’s beloved pet, be destroyed and tested for rabies. Even baby raccoons should not be handled, no matter how adorable they are.
To handle raccoons, as well as skunks and bats, even licensed rehabilitators must obtain special permits, and receive pre-exposure rabies injections. These three animals are considered Rabies Vector Species and the law dictates very careful and strict measures of housing and handling them.
Animal lovers the world over are touched when they see an animal they believe is in distress. It’s our nature to reach out and try to help. Please, however, don’t reach for the animal. Reach for the phone, after a stop at a search engine to find your nearest wildlife rehabilitators. This way, not only can you help the animal to safety … you can stay safe yourself.
Please visit Wes Laraway’s NY Wildlife Rescue Center blog. Wes posts frequently about the animals which come in to the center, and you will discover the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of helping wildlife. At the bottom of the blog page, are selections where you can subscribe to the feeds through your RSS reader, as well, if you’d like to keep up with updates.
After reading, if you’d like to visit the center’s main website at http://www.redmaplefarm.net , you’ll find a donate button at the bottom of every page, and a Support Levels page (drop down the wildlife center’s menu item from the top and select Donate) which explains the benefits available to various levels of donors.
This is one way everyone can help wildlife in need, without having to worry about the dangers.
