Fellow Mortals--Compassion Changes Everything

It's July 14, and we're at the peak of our busy season!  Every room and cage is filled, and the outside habitats have a waiting list for the many patients growing up or recovering inside the hospital.

Nearly 500 animals are currently in care, including dozens of orphaned cottontails, songbirds, ground and tree squirrels, ducks and geese, hawks and owls, woodchucks and more...

Every day that Fellow Mortals is able to provide care for injured and orphaned wildlife--and accept new patients from the public--is a cause for celebration, Thanks to You!

Even as we continue hand-feeding the tinest newborn mammals, or newly-hatched birds, we are also busy releasing those who have 'graduated' from critical and nursery care to being able to survive in the wild.  Just today, we released flying, grey and 13-lined squirrels and robins, grackles, house sparrows and a woodpecker.

One very special release just a few days ago was that of two red-tailed hawks.  Both had come to us with fractured wings, but one in particular was in very critical condition, its 'fingers' (the phalanges of the wing) smashed past surgical repair.  It was also an older injury; infection had set in and we wondered if the bird would lose the tip of its wing. Despite the odds, we decided to do what we could to battle the infection and keep the bird quiet to see if healing was possible. Not only did the bird not lose the wing, but he flew beautifully on release!

Every one of the animals you help has a special story.  Each one wants to live and, more than that, be free. Thank you for all the Happy Endings you make possible.

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Every individual animal that comes to Fellow Mortals has a 'cycle of healing.'  This is one month in the life of a Red-breasted Merganser.

The merganser was found on March 5 in the road.  He was nearly 25 percent underweight, and had just been hit by a car.  X-rays taken back at the hospital show a skull fracture and fractured leg.  He was in very critical condition.

The next few days, the merganser was tube-fed (a tube is put down the animal's throat and nourishment provided to the stomach when an animal cannot feed itself).  A few days later, the merganser ate a live minnow for the first time!  The skull fracture had not affected his ability to see and procure food.

While the merganser's leg was healing, he could not be in the water, and so we had to give daily small baths to keep his feathers clean, resplinting the leg after each bath.  After 14 days, the fracture had stabilized (callused) and he was able to stand for the first time.  The splint was removed!

Recovery came quickly after the splint came off and the merganser had access to water, and fish and bathing 24 hours a day.

6 weeks later, the merganser is healed and acclimated to the outdoor temperature, and will soon be released.

Every animal has its own 'cycle of care' from critical to release.  This is one story.

Thank you--for making happy endings possible...

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