Wildlife Conservation United States Project #9275

Fellow Mortals--Compassion Changes Everything

by Fellow Mortals Wildlife Hospital

Fellow Mortals--Compassion Changes Everything

Project Report | Dec 31, 2022
2000 Reasons Why

By Yvonne Wallace Blane | Co-founder, Fellow Mortals

Young beaver

It's New Year's Eve, and it's time to start organizing for the reports that are due next year.

The days rushed past, always full, sometimes hard, but never without reward because our work is all about making things better for wildlife and the people who find them in need of care.

We work with the best people in the world. We meet over 1000 new people every year when they come to the hospital for help. We are in near daily contact with other community organizations during the busiest time of the year.

All of us are concerned about just one thing -- getting help for the animal that we're working with in that moment.

Imagine there is a place where nearly 100 calls come in every 24 hours, and in every single instance the person calling is compassionate and kind, and wants to know what they can do to help the injured or orphaned wild creature they have found.

That's Fellow Mortals.

We're here because we're needed and we're so grateful that we can meet that need, because of your gifts.

Every animal has a story, and every finder has a story about the animal.

In 2022, we heard another 2000 stories about animals that ultimately received life-saving and compassionate care.

And that's 2000 reasons why I wanted to write to you tonight.

Thank you for making our work possible.

May all you give return to you in abundance in the New Year!

Robin fledgling

Mature bald eagle

Orphaned opossum

Orphaned Canada goose gosling

Eastern cottontail orphan

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Oct 18, 2022
Many Steps to the Sky

By Yvonne Wallace Blane | Co-founder, Fellow Mortals

In the Eagle Flight

Days before Independence Day, a mature male bald eagle was sighted in the ditch alongside a road, and then stumbled into the road where he was protected from harm by a family in a pick up truck, a man on a motorcyle, a delivery driver, and the sheriff's department until a conservation warden could get to the scene.

The eagle was disoriented and, when we opened the door to the box that contained him, he could barely walk.

Emaciated and dehydrated, we knew the bird was a male from his smaller stature than that of a female. Female eagles admitted to us have been as much as 14 pounds, and this male was 8 pounds and underweight. Females of all raptor species are larger than the males by an average of 25 percent.

The phalanges (fingers) of one wing were bruised and swollen, and the flight primaries (the long flight feathers at the leading edge of the wing) were broken, but these injuries were recent, and would have been the last blow to a bird that was already suffering when he landed in the roadway.

X-rays showed no fractures and blood testing showed lead to be low, but there are many perils in the life of a wild bird: viruses, bites and resulting infection, or trauma -- all of which can affect a bird's ability to find food and lead to inevitable decline.

While the soft tissue damage to the wing healed within the first weeks, the broken flight feathers needed to molt (replace themselves by falling out and growing new feathers back in their place), and this took many weeks. During his time with us, the eagle molted both primary and tail feathers, which will be sent to the National Eagle Repository for distribution to American Indian tribal members as required by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Three and half months after he was found helpless and injured, and over 100 pounds of fresh salmon and beef and venison later, the eagle had moved from critical care through a progression of four different habitats and flights of increasing size ending in the 100+ foot long eagle flight where he was able to exercise and build the muscle needed for the strong flight that would take him home.

In the time he was with us, another 600 birds and mammals came into care. Each one has a story.

It is thanks to you, our donors, that this eagle's story has a happy ending, and he was able to return home.

From critical care to outside

In the Eagle Flight

Release Day!

From critical care to outside

Release Day!

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Jul 30, 2022
Avian Influenza and Wildlife Rehabilitation 2022

By Yvonne Wallace Blane | Co-founder, Fellow Mortals

Mallard ducklings

In mid-March this year, just after wildlife rehabilitators nationwide had attended our first in-person conference since 2019 and when anticipation of 'baby season' was starting to set in--highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in the wild bird population, in both migrating and resident species.

Avian influenza isn't new; it has been included in reference books on wildlife disease well back to the 1980's as it is a known virus carried by waterfowl, usually without any ill effects to the geese and ducks that are its natural hosts.

In 2022, avian influenza became much more than a notation in a reference book. No longer was the virus only a threat to domestic poultry; now it was killing wild birds like cormorants, terns, pelicans, bald eagles, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, and even the waterfowl that were normally asymtomatic carriers--some by the thousands, some already endangered as a species, like the Caspian tern.

After getting through SARS-CoV-2, and looking forward to a more 'normal' summer, HPAI was an emotional blow to wildlife rehabilitators, and it was to become a financial one as well.

What made the advent of HPAI especially difficult and even frightening for wildlife rehabilitators is the fact that there is no treatment for the virus, which is naturally carried by geese and ducks, and which is most often fatal to susceptible species. Because there is no rapid test available to screen out sick birds before they are admitted to care, to admit just one bird infected with HPAI could jeopardize the lives of all other rehabilitating or permanent foster or education birds at a facility.

Ducklings and goslings are hatched in the spring and early summer and, without rehabilitation resources, the public would have nowhere to go if they found an gosling injured by fishing line, or ducklings orphaned when the hen was hit by a car. We just couldn't accept letting these innocent orphans die when they needed help, so we built new caging at a separate location, set up biosecurity protocols, and hired a rehabilitator to provide care just for waterfowl.

In July, we released the first of the ducklings raised in this special program. The rest will follow in August.

Separately, our staff continued to work with raptors and other waterbirds at the hospital. We set up a quarantine room so that we could provide care for orphaned owlets, injured eagles, and young crane and gulls.

It wasn't an easy experience to continue to rehabilitate waterfowl and other HPAI vulnerable species this year, but now that HPAI is less present in our region and we are close to releasing the species of most concern, we are glad we didn't back down from the challenge to providing care.

Wildlife rehabilitation will never get 'easier.' Emerging diseases, development, habitat loss, and balancing natural resources critical to both wildlife and humans mean there will certainly be more challenges to come. With each one, we learn more about how to adapt, just like the wild ones who share our world.

While we hope HPAI isn't a threat again next season, at least now we have the experience and the facilities needed to help in a similar challenge.

Most importantly, in every season, and through every change, we are so grateful to be able to rely on those of you who are our recurring donors through GlobalGiving. You give us the courage to continue.

Thank you, for the gifts that save vulnerable lives every day of the year.

Mallards in outdoor habitat

Injured Canada goose gosling

Orphaned great horned owlets

Injured adult Canada goose

Release Day

Links:

Caspian Terns and HPAI Door County, WI

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