Water Rescue
In wildlife rehabilitation, the people you meet often make as big of an impression as the animals you care for. That’s how it was today.
The rehab center called at 3:30 to ask if I could help round up an injured duck and its 10 ducklings. The gentleman who called the center said the duck had been hit by a car trying to cross Wendover Avenue in Greensboro, and was now in a retaining pond near Wal-mart with 10 of her ducklings. There had been 11 ducklings; a Canada goose protecting a nest at the other end of the pond had already killed one.
Waterfowl are difficult to capture, especially when they’re near water. So I wasn’t very optimistic as my boyfriend and I headed out Wendover Avenue.
Greg, the man who called in the report of the injury met me there, later to be joined by his fiancee, Ruth. Another volunteer from the rehab center who happened to be in Greensboro , also showed up to help, driving clear across town in rush-hour traffic, and standing up her husband who was waiting for her elsewhere.
When trying to catch waterfowl, the more people, the better.
Greg caught the injured mother first, and we placed her in a carrier. He and Ruth were determined that none of the ducklings would be left behind.
Easier said than done.
It took two hours to capture the ducklings. That was two hours of running along the bank of the pond, coaxing them, trying to frighten them away from the Canada goose pair, and many times coming dangerously close to falling into the murky water. I lost count of how many times we came oh, so, close to capturing them, only to have them swim away, calling for their mother.
A tourist who had stopped in the Wal-mart parking lot in his RV saw us at the pond and joined the effort. He brought two long-handled brooms from the RV, and using gauze bandages I carry in my car, we were able to tie them to the handles of the nets so we could reach further into the water.
By 6 p.m., Greg and the tourist had captured the last duckling. As we were ready to leave, another volunteer at the rehab center arrived. In all, we had seven people who interrupted their day to save the mother and her ducklings.
Tonight, the ducklings are safe at the rehab center. The mother has a broken leg and wing. The vets will examine her tomorrow.
If we hadn’t captured her, she certainly had no chance of survival. Nor did her babies.
I often read about business executives bemoaning the lack of teamwork among their employees. Here’s a suggestion: maybe they should send their workers out to rescue an injured duck.
In wildlife rehabilitation, the people you meet often make as big of an impression as the animals you care for. That’s how it was today.
The rehab center called at 3:30 to ask if I could help round up an injured duck and its 10 ducklings. The gentleman who called the center said the duck had been hit by a car trying to cross Wendover Avenue in Greensboro, and was now in a retaining pond near Wal-mart with 10 of her ducklings. There had been 11 ducklings; a Canada goose protecting a nest at the other end of the pond had already killed one.
Waterfowl are difficult to capture, especially when they’re near water. So I wasn’t very optimistic as my boyfriend and I headed out Wendover Avenue.
Greg, the man who called in the report of the injury met me there, later to be joined by his fiancee, Ruth. Another volunteer from the rehab center who happened to be in Greensboro , also showed up to help, driving clear across town in rush-hour traffic, and standing up her husband who was waiting for her elsewhere.
When trying to catch waterfowl, the more people, the better.
Greg caught the injured mother first, and we placed her in a carrier. He and Ruth were determined that none of the ducklings would be left behind.
Easier said than done.
It took two hours to capture the ducklings. That was two hours of running along the bank of the pond, coaxing them, trying to frighten them away from the Canada goose pair, and many times coming dangerously close to falling into the murky water. I lost count of how many times we came oh, so, close to capturing them, only to have them swim away, calling for their mother.
A tourist who had stopped in the Wal-mart parking lot in his RV saw us at the pond and joined the effort. He brought two long-handled brooms from the RV, and using gauze bandages I carry in my car, we were able to tie them to the handles of the nets so we could reach further into the water.
By 6 p.m., Greg and the tourist had captured the last duckling. As we were ready to leave, another volunteer at the rehab center arrived. In all, we had seven people who interrupted their day to save the mother and her ducklings.
Tonight, the ducklings are safe at the rehab center. The mother has a broken leg and wing. The vets will examine her tomorrow.
If we hadn’t captured her, she certainly had no chance of survival. Nor did her babies.
I often read about business executives bemoaning the lack of teamwork among their employees. Here’s a suggestion: maybe they should send their workers out to rescue an injured duck.
posted by Brenda Hiles | 5:47 PM
3 Comments:
Could you tell me how to contact the wildlife rehabilitation center? Google is being quite annoying in this respect. I have found a baby bird in fairly good condition who needs help.
Thanks,
Jessamyn
The phone number for the rehab center at N.C. Zoo is 336.879.7644.
The N.C. Department of Wildlife Resources also posts a list of licensed rehabbers on its Web site at http://www.ncwildlife.org/
Go under coexisting with wildlife in the menu at left, then click on contact a wildlife rehabilitator. They're listed by county. Rehabbers must have a federal permit to care for song birds because they're protected under the Migratory Bird Act.
Good luck. And thanks for taking the time to care for our wildlife.
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