Day 95 - Rehabilitation

So this is it folks. Unless something interesting happens during my drive to Michigan tomorrow this will be my last blog post.  I want to say thank you to all my followers who have stuck with my posts since Day 1. It was sometimes tedious to stick to these posts but in the end it has been worth it and overall you guys helped me keep going. I thank anyone who just started reading and hasn't stopped since too.

Overall this experience has been spectacular, amazing, and I feel like a brand new person because of it. I am not longer afraid to be outgoing and try talking to people, I have a better idea of what it takes to do wildlife rehabilitation, what it is like to take part in education - or teaching people, and overall have made amazing friends that I now consider family (whether they are intern or staff).

There's a loss of words for how much I have loved being here despite the occasional bad days. A very memorable experience that I hope to and probably will never ever forget and overall a place I recommend any one interested in wildlife, vet, or education to volunteer or intern for. You will learn a lot and make amazing friends along the way :)

Now as for my day... it went very well for a last day and we finished everything pretty quickly. In the morning I fed mice just to get them out of the way then started to work on raccoons, inside and outside, and upgraded their diets since they have grown since they have been outside. The rehabber informed to add more fish/venison and other stuff to help beef them up more. We hope to open up the door to their outdoor pen that's connected to their house so that they can start exploring outdoors more.

After this feeding and washing their dishes I brought the rest of the dishes inside and then did some dishes inside. We then grabbed the Snowy Owl and worked on her bandages. We gave her new bandages, some meds to help continue her ongoing healing process, then once her enclosure was cleaned up we put her back. I did the chart while someone gave her new water and food. Then the other intern moved on to her 10am squirrel feeding while I left to talk to the executive director about receiving my check tomorrow. Some checks have been mailed but I want to get home so I need some cash to do so; it will be worked out of course.

We took lunch at 11:30am and with the other intern and the assisstant education director we head across the street to Subway. We picked up a sub for the intern at the front desk and then after we ate at Subway we head back to work and gave him his sub. The assistant education director had to leave shortly afterwards in order to take an intern to the airport today so she could fly back to Washington DC. Three interns down, I am leaving tomorrow so four, and two more left. The last two leave the 17th and then the 24th. A new intern for fall arrives the 17th as well - her name is Kelsey Greathouse and guess where she is from as well... OHIO! Her name sounds really familiar honestly but I can't quite put my finger on it. She's from Wooster though if that helps any of my readers know because I feel like she's like a friend of a friend or something.

Anyway, after lunch we did the 12pm feeding then started catching birds. I learned how to cope a bird's beak (file it down) and trim talons. First time doing it which proves you learn something every day (I literally have since I have been here, even on my last day!). The bird I trimmed and coped happened to be Errol the Great Horned Owl that I had mentioned previously.

Later on I did the 2pm feeding and Marty the Coopers Hawk was grabbed by the other intern and the rehabber. The two coped and trimmed his talons, weighed too, then he was taken back outside. I cannot recall what all I did between lunch and two besides what was mentioned above and sweeping/ taking trash out but after this I grabbed Hortense the Turkey Vulture and took her to the exam room to do her monthly exam. Can I ever forget this particular experience? No. Why? Because she threw up all over the floor and then later defecated. Thankfully she never got any of her mess on me and also I can say I officially was never bitten by Hortense - Woohoo!!! I survived the Turkey Vulture!! haha. She is a vulture with an attitude and if she doesn't like you she seems to make it known.

She is honestly my overall favorite because of her attitude and the fact she throws up is kind of cool though I feel bad because it's a way of self defense so she may feel attacked. She's in good hands, in this moment they were my hands, but this doesn't stop her from still doing it. She's my favorite because she's also from 1988 too so she's older then me!!!

After her monthly exam and putting her back I then mopped all the rooms, especially the throw up room, and then started my 4pm feedings. Raccoons inside and outside were fed, bowls and dishes were clean, then I did their charts. I cleaned inside kitchen dishes then the day basically ended with the rehabber taking out compost. We finished everything up and now I do not have to feed until 8pm so I am actually going to do a bit of packing before heading out to do laundry. Once laundry is taken care of I can finish off all packing, do the 8pm feeding, and then...well....prepare to leave tomorrow.

Goodbye Northwoods Wildlife Center; staff, interns, residents, and patients. 

It has truly been an amazing experience I will never ever forget!!!!!

Day 94 - Rehabilitation

Today I was back on rehab and my last day here is actually a rehab day too. It was my choice to not do education and it actually helped the schedule by not doing rehab too.

Since I fed squirrels yesterday I decided to take raccoons. I was also still very enraged this morning from last night so I wanted to avoid squirrels completely. I fed them at 8am this morning, four formula but one with solids too, and then was told I was no longer able to feed squirrels for the rest of the internship. Yes its only one day left but this more or less sucks worse then anything and I feel like I kissed my possibility of ever having a job here in the future (if it ever became available anyway...) down the drop. I'm probably over exaggerating but overall I am still highly irate about the situation. After feeding I moved my car to the back parking lot since I am scared to walk to and from the parking lots at night anymore --- This is a story I will have to tell you in person if you are interested; not a story for public blog.

Due to this event I avoided the inside and team work related tasks as much as possible. So I picked solo tasks starting with emptying the water out of Eddie (Bald Eagle) pond, scrubbing off all the green algae from the sides, then refilling it with fresh water. I took some pictures of him while filling the pond - since it took a good 30 minutes or better just to fill it. I think I was out there for an hour at least working on it but at least it was finished. Anyway, I cannot resist taking pictures of this goon anyway. One day everyone needs to meet Eddie, he is just awesome and funny when he makes his "huh huh huh" sound. He's starting to sound like a legit eagle now, slowly but surely, but he's still growing so it makes since that he cannot 100% make the call yet.

He will always be my favorite Bald Eagle.

After this I head back inside and searched for my next task. I intended on cleaning the back room up, since there was stuff everyone and it needed a good sweeping, but a volunteer took care of that already so I just grabbed some bowls and set them on the counter to by washed later. I then decided to grab the bunny green container, now washed, and go outside to pick bunny greens (mainly red clover - I say this since practically everyone wildlife related knows) and then head back inside for a new task again. I think I picked up a tick along the way that's not living in my hair somewhere but not 100% sure if its true or if I am paranoid.

Since my next feeding wasn't until 12pm and it was only about 11am at this time I decided to do some dishes. This carried on for a bit and I ended up feeding at 11:40am rather then 12pm so it was done and out of the way. We took lunch afterwards until 1am. After lunch we grabbed our Snowy Owl and Ethyl the Great Horned Owl and head next door to the vet so that they could look them both over. Snowy's feet have greatly improved to the point she may get moved outside tomorrow!!!! Ethyl's injuries were on the wings and it was mentioned they were bumper injuries; meaning she was recently knocking in the walls. Its a very common injury for birds all together, especially in the wrist joint area, and so it should heal up soon and she should be just fine. We medicated her to help the healing process and will continue to monitor of course. Good news from both, nothing serious.

After appointment I did my 2pm raccoon feeding, giving the one his/her solids, then made more solids afterwards just so I had them. After this I went outside and fed raccoons since the rehabber made their bowls and despite it being almost 3pm. I also spot cleaned their cage while I was out there and filled their water; this and cleaning their bowls took a good half hour. Spot cleaning basically means cleaning up any leftover food and any and all stool that could be found. The raccoons are showing more fear towards humans which is great. Imprint still needs work but even he isn't coming directly to the door as much and is starting to act more like a wild raccoon should so that's progress.

Once they were all cleaned, including the bowls, and I charted everything I discovered there wasn't anything left on the list to do and most of the end of the day cleaning tasks were finished but mopping. So I mopped and then once feedings were finished we were finished until 4pm feeding. So half hour break gave me some time to start working on packing and figuring out what I was going to do tomorrow to make sure I am 100% packed and ready to go home but still had stuff for when I stay at the hotel I am booked with and with Josh's family for fair. I then did 4pm feeding and then later a eastern cottontail came in. He was heavily emaciated though, covered in ticks, and had spinal trauma. We tried to do what we could for the guy - Sub Q (direct fluids to rehydrate) and medication - but sadly it was not able to help him.

Eventually I went out to Hoggie Doggies for the last time with the assistant education director and two interns, one of which is leaving tomorrow, and then we came back just in time for 8pm feeding. After this was over I started working on blog posts and here I am since.

Day 93 - Rehabilitation

Today is my third to last day and a rehab day. I always said 3 was my lucky number but apparently not since today honestly ended horridly and overall I just wanted to go home more then ever.

I fed squirrels at all times but one which off the top of my head is like 8am, 10am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 5pm, and 8pm. I think that's all the times but this is me trying to remember off the top of my head. Needless to say there's a lot of feedings. Its not everyone every time but some get fed at 8, 11, 2, 5, 8 and others are like 8, 4, 8 and so on. Seems random but they are each on their own schedule truly and its matter of fitting the schedule.

I was able to do all the feedings at the correct time except the 5pm one, which is explained directly below. Anything in between these feedings were cleaning tasks such as doing all the tub dishes (including two of three eagle boxes and various buckets), taking out trash and compost, sweeping, mopping, cleaning the squirrels cages of course, making more formula, making sure previous days formula isn't bad, filling out charts, tending to the Snowy owls bandages, talking about job possibilities for the future, helping with raccoons (taking out bowls and filling water), finding food from the walk-in freezer (made attempts three times and failed), but otherwise nothing much out of the ordinary.

I ended up going to REGI as soon as a Ruby-throated Hummingbird entered our doors once we finished our cleaning tasks and 4pm feeding. We made copies and off I went; hoping to make it back in time for the 8pm feeding since there's a lot of squirrels and raccoons. Sadly I did not make it back in time and to make matters worse; I returned to dead squirrel that pretty much ruined the rest of this internship for me. Just being straight up, it did. I didn't realize what time it was when I left for REGI and it turned out, when I checked back, being shortly after 5pm so I missed feeding the squirrel. The likelihood of it dying in a matter of hours doesn't seem possible, in fact it was lethargic like all day and barely ate. I assumed it was due to the meds we were putting on an open wound it had from genital nursing but it doesn't matter what I assumed the only thing is that I missed a feed and most of all the squirrel died. After practically being angrily told to not feed anything at 8pm by another intern I returned upstairs in a fury and shortly went to bed. I grabbed phones later on beforehand and after an hour of angrily tossing and turning was finally able to sleep.

Day 92 - Education

One of the last education days, one more to come, and of course it started off with sweeping and general cleaning. I swept, helped take of bathrooms, cleaned the windows, filled soap in the bathrooms, then went in back to help out rehab. I helped feed squirrels with the squirrel intern then headed back up front to tell the other education intern that I was heading outside to help clean Fritz and DC's enclosure. It needed some work so of course, with trash bag and soap bucket in hand, I picked up any feathers, feces, and food remains then cleaned off any perches. Of course I had to take a few pictures of the two goof balls.

DC (top) and Fritz (bottom) are both Eastern Screech Owls. They are not siblings. Fritz arrived first and has nerve damage which causes him to struggle when flying. DC arrived after with an eye injury that deemed her unreleasable as well since she now lacks the depth perception necessary for hunting. Fritz cannot fly so he is unreleasable as well since flying is a birds most important ability.

After cleaning I head inside and prepared to give my first tour; which was only a few minutes after washing my hands and heading back up front. Once my first tour, and the first of the day, was finished then I recall mainly sitting, answering phones, helping rehab, or waiting to give more tours later. Not much happened during the day and since it's been a few days I honestly cannot remember everything we did 100%. This is why I should have worked on this more after work but was fairly tired I believe.

I ended up cleaning out Sierra and Race's enclosure of all the feathers and some feces. They are both Red-tailed Hawks; you have seen a picture of me with Sierra in the past. I need to take more pictures of everyone before I leave for sure.

In the meantime I do have some.

Walking Sticks

I opened my eyes while Kelcie was feeding me!!!!

It was the most adorable thing to watch this Gray Squirrel open her eyes after I finished feeding her. It sounds like I was trying to imprint this squirrel but she does not truly show signs of imprinting and feeding was actually over with when she did so I was able to put her back into her baby box. She was later moved into a cage so she can climb and hide in a den box. She climbs all over the place now, hides in her den box, and is starting to eat solids as well! Growing up FAST!

Other stuff I did was work on the gift shop a bit more but overall it was mainly tours, few phone calls, cleaning enclosures (biggest), or helped rehab feed / prepare food for patients. I think I mopped for rehab too but cannot 100% remember.

Day 91 - Rehabilitation

Today was rehabilitation day. Rather then starting off the day with feedings I actually spent a good 10-20 minutes before 8am to help our executive director load up the canoe and various other canoe raffle supplies so she could set up everything at the farmers market. After this I head upstairs and got ready for the day before returning back down to start my rehabilitation stuff.

I got to feed squirrels today which meant feeding them formula and giving them food trays. Either squirrels later (3 Gray, 5 Red) and they all had clean cages, new food, and were formula fed. I then moved on to mice and cleaned/fed them. Some had little babies! Of course I snapped a picture.

I watched our three new resident snapping turtles also get fed minnows. It's kind of fun watching them go after the minnow because they move so slow then suddenly the minnow is gone in one quick gulp. The two little snapping turtles were just too cute to watch because of how small they were; they ate the minnows in bits and pieces.

Once mice were finished I moved on to other tasks like dishes and going outside to collect pinecones, branches, and berries for our squirrels. I only got so far when an intern came out saying that we had a mountain lion cub rescue. I knew mountain lion cubs were so rare so of course I was excited but it ended up being a prank. This is what us interns do best; particularly the one!!!!! Pranking people!!!

I forget what else happened before lunch besides 11am and 12pm squirrel feedings. For lunch we went across the street as a rehab team (two interns, two rehabbers) and go chinese! Tasted AMAZING and once again I left with a food coma. Chinese is too good to not eat. My weakness.

We then returned to work after, threw in some shenaningans involving clothes, and then did 2pm feedings before grabbing our snowy and great horned owl for their vet appointment next door. The vet was too busy so we simply put them back afterwards and ended up cleaning or feeding when necessary. We actually started closing tasks early because everyone wanted to be finished early so once these were done, 4pm feedings were taken care of, snowys bandages were taken care of, and 5pm feeding was finished we finally called the day to an end.

The other rehab intern took phone for the night (YAY!) and so all that's left is 8pm feedings and letting a rehabbers dogs out via request. As for the rest of the night I am thinking relaxing and maybe heading to bed early again to catch up on any possible lost sleep and to hopefully sleep off this back pain that has been bothering me the last three days.

Day 89 - OFF / Day 90 - Canoe Raffle

DAY 89

I was off today so I decided to finish watching the remaining episodes of New Girl. Now I will just have to wait for the next season to start playing on TV. If I miss any I can watch them on Fox's website. Love the series!!! Later this night I went out with all the interns, except one, and a rehabber to a mexican restaurant. It was our last dinner together as a group before everyone left. Funny thing was when there was a random Bald Eagle sitting on a building's roof next door. Random eagle just relaxing on a roof; normally in Ohio it's random crow or something but never an Eagle. Needless to say I was rather excited! Besides this nothing else really happened besides me being lazy.

DAY 90

Today was a canoe raffle day at Torpy Park; a park in "downtown" Minocqua. I went with a volunteer and together we sold roughly 70 raffle tickets which isn't bad! A rehabber showed up and we ventured around the park to look at all the booths. This event was a craft show which made me very excited! I LOVE craft shows around here because they are all northwoodys-like stuff or forest/animal/wildlife related which is nice! I bought some silver Common Loon earrings. I wanted to buy some pine cone earrings and a pine cone charm bracelet too but I didn't have the money. The loon earrings are enough to sum up and remind me of my whole Northwoods adventure here in all honesty. Loons are what made me fall in love with this, is something everyone here loves, and overall represents everything to me. I kind of wish our logo animal was a Loon. Still, more loon stuff will probably be purchased for me or for others as gifts before I leave (and if I have the cash). Im trying to save up what money I can for gifts and travel expenses back to Ohio.

Overall it was a nice breezy day and we enjoyed the relaxing time selling tickets and exploring. I did laundry today and was going to hang out with interns afterwards but thanks to a head pounding migraine I ended up going to bed a half hour earlier then usually. I slept it off and felt better the following morning but sadly did not get to hang out as said! Thankfully we went to dinner the night before.

Day 88 - Education

Today was an education day which meant starting off with cleaning tasks. The other intern swept and cleaned windows while I used the vacuum to sweep rugs and mopped. After that I honestly sat down because I felt both sick and very tired so my energy was gone. I later realized I forgot to take my iron pill and did so. I also drank some Advocare Spark (Cherry) so by combining spark and advocare's Coreplex with iron I was able to get the energy I needed to get through my day without crashing. Im personally getting tired now because I am finally relaxing but still have energy to continue if necessary. Though I must admit I hope not to currently because I am thinking of watching Season 2 of New Girl and heading to bed early.

Other then cleaning tasks this morning I had to set up a sign stating we had an educational program today at 4:30pm. Guess who's program it was today? Mine! I had my second/last Bat Ecology program which went very well. I had a crowd of about 15-20 people who were very involved and overall enjoyed my program! I was very happy! They even added in their own experiences and overall a very involved group with a lot of brain storming questions I was actually able to answer :)!

Between placing the sign out side and ending my day with this program I gave excellent tours people (both new and old visitors) were pleased with, did a lot of call backs, and answered phones in general. Basically call backs are where we call people back who called us regarding animal calls. Its our way of following up with the status of the animal or what may have happened to it if someone sighted one but never brought it in. I covered at least 10+ but there are still a lot more left that hopefully others will work on tomorrow.

I do not have pictures for this post in all honesty; I wish I could have had one snapped of me doing my program but it was dark in the room with a powerpoint so it wasn't truly possible anyway. Other then tours, phones, and program not much honestly happened today.

Overall, excellent day and tomorrow I am off. It may very well be my last day off because I will be returning to Ohio in less then a week :)

Day 87 - Rehabilitation

Sorry this post is late; once again it will make sense why after reading!

Today was a rehabilitation day and I was in charge of feeding squirrels for today. So this morning I stated off throwing out all formulas that went bad this particular day and made all new formula for all the squirrels (and rabbit). Once everyone had new formula I quickly made three squirrel trays up. The two gray squirrels and our three babies (who are growing fast!) each got a tray. We had another single red squirrel that recently was moved from the nursery to the cage room; he also received a tray. All squirrels mentioned had their cages cleaned and got fresh water as well. After doing all this I started to formula feed all the squirrels previously mentioned and a single red squirrel baby, that came in recently, in one of our incubators. His eyes are not even open yet just like the other three we had!

Once all squirrels were fed and cleaned I finished up all their charts and with that morning feed for squirrels was finished. We had volunteers in so they took care of any resident feeding and cleaning/feeding mice so I helped out the other intern by starting raccoon bowls for our outside raccoons. A volunteer, other intern, and myself worked together until I started doing dishes as requested. I then went back into the nursery and later bleached the counters to keep things sanitary.

Besides this I had other feedings at 11am and 12pm depending on the squirrel so I fed whomever. Not sure what happened between all this time but we took lunch after 12pm feedings were finished until roughly 1:25pm. After lunch I realized we had a Great Blue Heron come in! Not an adult but a younger bird (fledgling?). I managed to snap a picture of him in our isolation room. After 2pm feeding we loaded him and a possibly Chipping Sparrow fledgling into one of our vehicles to transport both birds to Raptor Education Group Inc (REGI). It was truly nice/pleasant to leave so early rather then late at night and driving back later; it takes up most of your evening.

 

I ADORE Great Blue Heron! LOVE LOVE LOVE them!
This is all thanks to my Capstone project; I had to right a research paper and had a presentation on Great Blue Heron. They are VERY interesting birds! Which one isn't though right? Still!

Okay I love birds in general.

So between 2 and roughly 5 or so I was driving to/from REGI. When I returned I had time to type this up but ended up playing some facebook games for a while, fed squirrels at 8pm, and then all interns watched a movie called "The perks of being a Wallflower". Rather interesting movie I never heard of before. I kind of liked it. I went to bed shortly after this though; was just tired after the REGI drive in all honesty.

At some point today our three new resident snapping turtles came in (no names yet); two are babies and one is an adult female. The previous owner attempted to raise them and many more to eat but the DNR found out and confiscated all turtles. Poor turtles! I don't mind people eating turtles but at least follow the laws and hunt like everyone else. Little guys never had a chance to even live life outside! Since turtles require a specific home range that cannot be released or would die otherwise. So they must live their life in captivity now. At least we can use them for educational purposes rather than turtle soup!

Day 85 - Canoe Raffle (Pig in the Pines) / Day 86 - OFF

DAY 85

So today was a canoe raffle kinda day. Another intern and I set out this morning around 10am (we got to sleep in some!) and head to St. Germain, Wisconsin where the Pig in the Pines was taking place. Normally canoe raffles are at craft shows but this event was more of an eating/music kind of event. There are five different BBQ vendors with stuff like rubs, pulled pork, and more. There are ice cream vendors, kettle corn, funnel cake, and cheese curds.lots of food and directly to our left is a live cover band playing country music - Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Jason Aldean, and more. More of less this is my kind of event! The weather, although breezy, is spectacular! Earlier it was chilly but in the afternoon it was in the comfortable low 70s. Later that night it got cold of course! We ended up selling 100 tickets, tried some good food, got to listen to some good music, and so overall it was a great day!

I actually was able to finish half of a book and in the afternoon I participated in a rib judging! Basically they brought out 5 different ribs (Two in a box) from the five vendors and we judged based on tenderness, taste, and appearance. It was difficult because it was all so good!!! My favorite ended up being a place called Pigfoot but the two Ohio vendors were close second and third (one point difference). Overall the Texas vendor one (go figure).

Not much to say otherwise besides we stayed until roughly 9pm, when it got dark, and enjoyed out day! Very relaxing and almost felt like a day off!!

Live band and our canoe!

DAY 86

So lets be honest, today was another day I did not go anywhere. I watched the remaining first season of New Girl and intend to start season 2 on my next day off. I did leave the center for roughly 30 minutes to an hour by going across the street to a Chinese buffet for lunch with a rehabber, an intern, and an interns friend. Good food. Otherwise I hate two granola bars and a pork sandwich I bought at the Pig in the Pines today. Needless to say didn't eat much, move much, and overall rellllaxxxedddd. Today was a good day!

Day 84 - Education

Finally back on education after what feels like two weeks! Not sure if it was actually that long and it was my fault for switching with everyone. I truly enjoyed the rehabilitation and days off but sometimes education side of things feels almost like a day off when not many tours roll through the doors. I want to say I gave at least five tours today and even got two hugs out of one! My longest tour was today; 50 minutes! Truly I was not supposed to go this long at all but people surely enjoyed it and there wasn't any tours waiting afterwards so everything was okay.

Besides tours I answered a few phone calls; one of which was about the swan rescue from yesterday. It turns out since Mute Swans are considered invasive we cannot rescue it and therefore the Wisconsin DNR must be called to take care of the swan any further. I was sad to inform both people who called about the news but they completely understood and appreciated that I went out yesterday to check out the situation. At least they understood and someone was able to go out and identify the swan correctly. Originally it was mistaken as a snow goose based on the descriptions but after some analyzing and looking back on a book things were figured out.

Since the swan could not be rescued the rehab side had time for other things to tend to instead. Meanwhile we had tours and phones as said until 4pm. The day literally FLEW by. One minute I thought it was 12:30 and the next it's 4. Overall it went very well for education stuff.

We then helped out on rehab stuff. I swept and cleaned off some counters while the other education intern did dishes and later mopped. Meanwhile I helped the rehabber grab a bird that needed some wing maintenance; antibiotics on a wound. We hope to take the bird and our Snowy to the appointment thursday; meaning hopefully the vet is back and able to do the appointment. We then returned inside and the other education intern grabbed the snowy owl while I did her bandages while the rehabber left. After Snowy I fed the squirrels and the other education intern fed raccoons. The rehab interns were outside cleaning the ORC and filling out charts from feeding our residents. One ended up leaving and the other had to go to REGI because of a a young robin and a young blue jay that came in so she preparing for that and ended up leaving as well.

When we finished up though we returned upstairs and have been up here since. Currently we are watching a movie "Hes just not that into you" and shortly after will probably be bed! Tomorrow I don't have to wake up until around 9/930 to go to St. Germain for a raffle. So I get to sleep in, yay!

One of our three Red Squirrels we released. I saw two of the three today.

Video of our three red squirrels. Remember the new borns? This is what the looked like now! They have been upgraded from the incubator to the heating pad and now the cage with a heating pad beneath. Hopefully they will start eating solids very soon!!! Growing up fast!!

Day 83 - Rehabilitation

I cannot recall much from today because I had to type everything out the next day. I never had time on this day to actually type out everything due to being busy.

Basically when the other rehab intern and I went downstairs we started 8am feedings. We managed to feed all the raccoons and squirrels, and then worked on charts for all the critters. I personally fed raccoons and had help carrying out bowls. We had three volunteers in today because one normally helps feed mice and doing cleaning tasks while the other feeds/waters residents. She was helping out the third volunteer by teaching her the ropes of feeding, watering, and charting everything when it comes to our residents.

Once 8am feedings were finished, the other intern and I grabbed a flamethrower and head out to the mammal enclosures where we proceeded to flame throw two cages. All the wood chips had been scrapped out since the raccoons were moved to the ORC so the flame throwing process was next to 100% disinfect the cage so that more animals could be put inside. I must say, flame throwing was awesomingly fun and I know for sure that I have a touch of pyro to my nature haha

After this we honestly were not sure what to do since the rehabber was not quite around yet. He had to run some errands because he was trying to get our truck phone fixed. There's been some difficulty involving verizon so hopefully it will get taken care of soon. We basically went inside and looked for jobs the other two volunteers had not covered. For example doing dishes, cleaning off counters, and doing whatever feedings when necessary. The rehabber showed up but I cannot recall what all we did by then. Eventually lunch rolled around so we finished 12pm feeding and took lunch for an hour.

Once finished we went back downstairs and since the rehabber was not back from lunch yet because he had to pick up a squirrel near his home. So we came back down and I grabbed a bucket with soap water, a trash bag, and some plastic gloves then went out to Errol the Great Horned Owls enclosure and started picking up any feathers, feces in his gravel, owl pellets, and scrubbed at some dirty spots when necessary. I wasn't able to 100% finish because by 2:20pm I rushed back inside because the Snowy Owl had a vet appointment. However when I returned inside it turned out the vet was on vacation so the appointment was cancelled.

Instead of cleaning more owl enclosures I head into the Raccoon Isolation Room (RISO) instead and started scrabbing and disinfecting any cage I could. The trays were removed and were meant to go outside but I ran out of time because the other intern needed help with the snowy owls daily maintenance. I managed to finish all the interior parts of the cages but the doors still need work and the trays till need washed. The carrier inside needs removed and washed as well but either I will get to it when I am back on rehab or someone else might end up washing the stuff but who knows.

After helping with the snowy owl we eliminated 4pm feedings, did our closing tasks (sweeping, mopping, dishes), and just before we were about to load up a Bald Eagle that came in earlier in the day (due to being caught by a leg hold trap) a call came in about a goose with a broken wing. So instead of going straight to REGI the goose situation had to be taken care of first. I drove to it with a box and everything by myself and it turned out the goose was actually a Mute Swan. The rescue was unsuccessful since it went straight into the water but afterwards I was able to take the Eagle to REGI. I didn't arrive until roughly 10:30ish but Eagle was taken care of, I got to watch the initial examination and process after, then I got to see a juvenile red-tailed hawk before heading back to the center. I didn't get back to the center until 12:30am. Shortly after I went straight to bed. 5 hour drives are becoming easier to me but still are very tiresome!