Can I Keep Him? No!

If you have found a wild animal that is truly in crisis, you may be facing a dilemma. Of course, you want to do what’s best for the animal, but you may find it difficult to turn him or her over to a rehabilitator. Letting go can be hard when the animal is a baby. The temptation to care for the baby yourself may be strong. And having eager young children in the house begging to raise him or her does not make the decision any easier. So why can’t you keep the animal?

In almost every case, keeping a wild animal is illegal. Native wildlife species are protected by state laws, federal laws, or both. To keep a wild animal in captivity for any length of time, for any reason, requires a special permit. Most cities and many counties have passed local ordinances that prevent individuals from keeping wild animals in captivity. Many neighborhood associations or covenants also prohibit keeping wildlife within property boundaries.

More importantly, wild animals deserve the best possible care. Providing the proper care is challenging because each species has specialized needs. Orphans need special diets and formulas to grow strong and healthy. They must also learn survival skills including how to recognize and find food, how to escape predators, and how and where to make a nest, den, or burrow before they are released back into the wild. Young animals need to be raised in the company of their own kind for proper behavioral development. Infections, parasites, and injuries are difficult to detect and treat in wild animals.

There is also the welfare of your own family to consider. Wild animals can be dangerous, especially when frightened or injured. Wildlife diseases, such as distemper, may pose a threat to companion animals, while others, including rabies, can be transmitted to humans, too. Turning the animals over to a permitted wildlife rehabilitator is the best way to safeguard human and pet safety while providing the wild animal with the best chance of survival.

Most people who want to care for a wild animal themselves plan to release the animal once it is grown or has recovered from its injuries. That is the goal of wildlife rehabilitation, but rehabilitators have an advantage when they return their patients to the wild-they have years of experience in letting go. Learning to avoid becoming too attached to a patient is an important part of becoming a good wildlife rehabilitator.

If you are tempted to care for a wild animal on your own, please ask yourself these questions first:

 

1. What is the best thing I can do for this animal?
   
    
2. If I’m having a hard time letting go of the animal now, how will I feel after I’ve really grown attached?
   
    
3. Am I prepared to deal with the legal and financial consequences of keeping a wild animal illegally? How will I feel if the animal is discovered, confiscated, and possibly euthanized?
   
    
4. Can I be certain that, once I’ve released the animal back to the wild, it will be capable of surviving on its own? Am I providing the best possible chance for survival?
   
    
5. How will I feel if the animal does not survive or is permanently impaired by improper care?

What is Wildlife Rehabilitation?

The goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to provide professional care to sick, injured, and orphaned wild animals so they can ultimately be returned to their natural habitats.

Wildlife rehabilitation is not an attempt to turn wild animals into pets. Patients are held in captivity only until they are able to live independently in the wild. Fear of humans is a necessary survival trait for wild animals and every effort is made to minimize human contact and prevent the taming of rehabilitation patients. Often this is an elaborate and time-consuming process.

Wildlife rehabilitators work with veterinarians to assess injuries and diagnose a variety of illnesses. Rehabilitators must be able to administer basic first aid and physical therapy. And-because wild animals are so different from domestic animals-rehabilitators need extensive knowledge about the species in their care, including natural history, nutritional requirements, behavioral issues, and caging considerations. They also need to understand any dangers the animals may present to rehabilitators.

Almost all birds are protected by federal law; state laws protect most other kinds of wildlife. To work with mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, wildlife rehabilitators must be issued special permits from their state wildlife agencies. Before receiving their permits, they must meet various requirements such as specialized training, participation in mentorship programs, facility inspections, and written or oral exams. Rehabilitators who wish to care for birds must also get permits from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Once they receive their permits, conscientious rehabilitators continue their education by attending conferences, seminars, and workshops, by keeping up with published literature, and by networking with others in the field.

Because of their training, wildlife rehabilitators can help concerned people decide whether an animal truly needs help. Young birds and mammals should be returned to their families if at all possible; even well trained rehabilitators are not equivalent replacements for biological parents. Rehabilitators can provide instructions for how to reunite wildlife families, keeping the safety of the animals and the rescuers in mind, and they can suggest humane, long-term solutions when conflicts arise between humans and their wild neighbors.

Why Contact a Wildlife Rehabilitator?

Every minute of the day, somewhere in the world a wild animal is injured, orphaned, displaced or falls ill. Many of these animals can be helped, and can eventually be returned to the wild.

People who find wild animals, particularly orphaned animals, sometimes want to care for them. We strongly discourage this practice for various reasons:

• First, there are local, regional and federal laws that may prohibit you from having a wild animal in your possession, even while temporarily caring for it with the intention of release. Wildlife rehabilitators or care centers are permitted to keep wildlife for rehabilitation.
• There are diseases that humans and pets can contract from wildlife. There are also diseases that domestic pets animals can transmit to wildlife.
• Rehabilitators are trained to recognize and deal with injuries, illnesses, parasites and other conditions that may be present. They can administer appropriate medications, manage wounds, and stabilize an animal that is in shock. Not all veterinarians have experience with wild animals. A rehabilitator will know an appropriate veterinarian for consultation.
• Rehabilitators and care centers have the necessary equipment, caging, and environment required by different species.
• Rehabilitators are trained to care for an animal while preserving its wildness. Young birds and mammals suffer as a result of human impact. An animal that has lost its normal or innate fear of humans will not survive in the wild. Releasing a tame wild animal is signing its death sentence.

The field of wildlife rehabilitation is a discipline with its own body of literature, training and certification. In the best interests of wildlife, we urge you to have their well-being as your first priority: entrust them to the capable hands of a trained, experienced, permitted rehabilitator.


Why do wild animals require rehabilitation?

Wild animals are admitted to rehabilitation centers suffering from any number of problems. They can result from natural disasters (forest fires, severe weather, earthquakes), accidents and 'natural' outbreaks of disease, but the greatest percentage are sick, injured or orphaned due (either directly or indirectly) to humans.

In breeding season, many dependant young animals are the secondary victims of the accidents, diseases, poisons etc. that killed their parent or parents. Youngsters are also separated from their parents when they are trapped and relocated, when nests are destroyed in storms and when they are 'kidnapped' by well-meaning people who do not understand the natural behaviors of wildlife. Some young animals are confiscated from poachers who have captured them for the illegal wildlife trade, or from people who have captured them to keep as pets. These young animals must be fostered, taught to become self-sufficient, and be carefully prepared for release.

While it is difficult to guess which particular problem results in the highest numbers of wildlife casualties, the list of problems is significant:
 

Domestic Animals

The introduction of domestic animals has had dramatic impact on wildlife. Native species have no resistance to many of the diseases of dogs, cats and livestock. Infectious diseases that originate in domestic animals sicken or kill countless animals, and for many, there is no treatment. Domestic and feral cats and dogs also injure, kill or orphan many millions of birds each year in North America alone.

 

Emerging Diseases

Diseases imported to countries where they did not occur devastate wildlife populations that have no immunity to them. West Nile Virus, Rabies, Exotic Newcastle Disease, Chronic Wasting Disease and other emerging diseases sicken and kill untold numbers of wildlife. New diseases may arise from the import or export of infected pets and other domestic animals, and from wild animals smuggled into countries through the illegal trade in wildlife. Insects and animals such as rodents that stow away on ships, airplanes and vehicles may be other transporters of new diseases. Wildlife suffering from such diseases are often cared for by rehabilitators, although many die without being found.

 

Collisions

Collisions with automobiles kill and injure innumerable animals daily. It is estimated that every thirty seconds, a bird is injured or killed after
striking a window, power line, or communications tower. In the world's major cities, birds become confused by, and collide with, heavily-lit tall buildings. Up to 100 million birds are killed each year in such collisions.
 

Pesticides, Poisons and Chemicals

• Research published by the American Bird Conservancy finds that on farms alone, some 672 million North American birds are exposed to pesticides each year. It is estimated that about ten percent of these -- 67 million birds-- die. Global estimates are staggeringly high.
  
   
• Industrial and agricultural chemicals poison wild animals that are exposed to them via water, food, soil, etc. Poisons such as rodent bait are also lethal to non-target animals, or those that eat poisoned animals.
  
   

Pollutants

Each year, oil spilled from large ocean-going vessels and smaller pleasure craft result in wildlife casualties. Entanglement in marine debris, fishing line or nets, and collisions with boats injure or kill both individuals and groups of animals. Some air pollutants return to Earth in the form of acid rain, which corrodes statues and buildings, damages crops and forests, and makes lakes and streams unsuitable for plant, fish and other animal life.

 

How Can I Help?

Domestic animals:

Vaccinate your pets for diseases that can be transmitted to other animals, both domestic and wild. Do not allow your pets to chase or harass wildlife. Keep your cats indoors. Spay and neuter your pets, so that the problem of feral cats and dogs is reduced. These simple solutions are to the benefit of your animal companions, as well as to wildlife.

Collisions:

You can reduce the chances of birds hitting your windows by moving feeders well away from the house, and by hanging plants, mobiles or plastic strips in front of windows and glass doors. Research shows that the instances of collisions by migratory birds with skyscrapers are greatly reduced when lights are turned off at night. Simply reducing driving speed, especially in areas marked with wildlife crossing signs, can reduce vehicular collisions.

Pesticides, poisons and chemicals:

• Dispose of unused motor oil, paint, antifreeze, cleaning solutions, etc., safely.
• Find alternatives to pesticides. They are indiscriminate killers, and are harmful to humans, domestic animals and wildlife alike.
• Find humane solutions to nuisance wildlife problems, rather than risk injuring or killing non-target animals by using poisons or glue traps. Contact your local wildlife rehabilitator for advice.

Trapping and removing:

Do not risk separating wild youngsters from their parents by trapping and relocating animals that have taken up residence in or under buildings. There is little more heartbreaking than finding suffering, starving, or dead babies, because you didn't know they were there. Contact your local wildlife rehabilitator for guidance and information, rather than resorting to extreme solutions. If you see a young animal that appears to be abandoned or orphaned, call before you act. Mother may be protecting her youngsters from a watchful distance. In many cases, animals that truly have become separated from their families can be reunited with them. Keeping families together, and animals that are not in crisis in the wild, is always the best alternative.

Support environmentally friendly products, habitat restoration programs, and wildlife conservation efforts. Support legislation and legislators that safeguard wildlife, habitat and biodiversity.

Support your local wildlife rehabilitator or center. Wildlife rehabilitation is rarely financed by government funds or grants. Most individual rehabilitators or groups pay many of their costs out-of-pocket. They may hold fundraising drives, apply for small grants, sell merchandise or appeal to the public for donations of materials, foods or money. Hold a car wash or bake sale, donate what you can, support their fundraising drives or merchandise sales, and become part of the solution.