Day 34 - Rehabilitation

Today started off kind of slow. A few of the older people here went out last night to celebrate our education staffs birthday so they were all mostly out late. I was feeling major "jet lag" from driving so much so I was super tired. I could only think bed most of the day and I'm pretty sure I was on auto pilot all day. Only reason I am up right now is because I just drank a Fanta orange soda from Trigs across the street (like a Krogers) so I gave myself some energy because I want to crank out all these posts in order to catch up.

So today we had 8am Raccoon feeding. An intern and I did this. While I was finishing off all the dishes from these rascals the other intern went on rescue. There was a red squirrel that needed picked up. Once I was finished I discovered all squirrels and mice were fed so I checked out our daily list for a new job. This led to checking a cage that was already reset by someone else which then led to cleaning and resetting two cages in the bunny room. I washed both aquariums we place them in and all their dishes. All bunny cages were given new paper towel bedding as well. By this time the others seemed to reappear again from rescue and such. Soon after I was finished a young bird arrived. He/she was very tiny and we think it was a young Sparrow but unsure which one honestly (Tree Sparrow?). The adorable little guy fell asleep in my hands! :)

Sadly though...this little nugget did not make it. There are a number of reasons why this bird may not have made it but honestly out of all the animals so far this young bird and a Red Crossbill we got in that also died have both depressed me quite a bit. I think I took it a bit hard this time because of how adorable the little nugget was and the fact it fell asleep in my hand. Now all I have is pictures and a memory but life goes on. The bright side of all this - a Mourning Dove and American Robin were transferred to REGI and survived. The Bald Eagle, Saw-whet Owl, and American Robin I had transferred before are all doing very well and should be released very soon as well! So some of the birds we have received made it but sadly some could not be helped: trauma, paralysis, etc.

At some point I went next door to the Northwoods Animal Clinic and took part in an xray for an Eastern Chipmunk. We were walked through the process and I got the chance to stay inside and watch a button get pressed. We checked out the xrays and the poor guy has a broken leg that I believe will be pinned in order to help it heal back up properly. I honestly am not sure what happened after the whole Xray business but im sure the munk is fine.

We received a Southern Flying Squirrel munchkin as well. It should be released in a few weeks since its mostly healthy. The family dog went after it apparently. It seems very active and okay :)

After returning from REGI I helped clean up by taking out trash and mopping the floors. This was when we received a call about a Canada Goose whom we the rehab intern and I went out to rescue. We took gloves, box with sheets, and a net which were all used to capture this Goose. The Goose was not using his legs/feet at all - only his wings and neck as a means of maneuvering but it was not getting him anywhere far. From what I could tell the bird is very fatigued from over using its muscles and we hopefully did not stress it out too much. I netted the bird while the other intern grabbed its body; wings pinned to prevent wing injury. We put it in the box together and placed a sheet over the box to provide a dark place. I noticed the bird was shaking while in the water which makes me wonder if it were cold from staying in the water too long but unsure at all. I am not where near experienced enough to make any sort of official calls besides "it seems fatigued". We intend on transporting the bird to REGI or Wildwood tomorrow due to both of us interns suffering from tiredness due to my traveling and the others late night. We fed raccoons again at 8pm.

Once raccoons were fed I went out to get groceries (FINALLY) as Trigs and of course am here now typing this out and trying to catch up on all previous blogs. Overall I am growing very tired and can honestly say I am a bit sad because I miss home, boyfriend, and both of my families. It was so great to see everyone and I am enjoying it here, no doubt about that!!!, as well as enjoying the company of the people here but still - home is home. I did the math and its crazy to think but I only have 9 more weeks here before the internship is over. 12 more weeks till college.

Time flies when you're having fun. Need to make sure these 9 weeks are experience loaded and adventure packed full of fun (which the last 4 have been already). Today is technically week 4, day 4. I did take the 5 day vacation but I still count it as time here since I am technically still considered an intern but was just on vacation. Judge how you want but that's what I say!