July 26th, 2022
This week has been a really amazing week at work! We've been able to leave on time or early since things have gotten quieter. I've also been learning how to tube-feed birds. I got to tube feed a red-tailed hawk, barred owl, duck, and a pigeon all on my own! Tube-feeding birds is easier than tube-feeding opossums in some ways, because it is very easy to tell where to put the tube into the bird's stomach instead of the lungs. On opossums you have to tube completely by feel. The hard thing about tube-feeding birds is that some of them have very sharp talons and will try to claw and bite. Some of my co-workers have gotten severe injuries from red-tailed hawks and eagles. That's why tube-feeding birds isn't something interns get to learn right away. In spite of the potential danger, tube-feeding birds is a really cool thing to learn, and I am glad I can do more to help out at Centre Wildlife Care. In addition to learning how to tube-feed birds, I also got to help out with something else that's really cool!
This week has been the culmination of all of our work this summer. We released 40 baby opossums as well as most of our baby squirrels. I released 9 of the 40 baby opossums in a wooded park near my house. The park where I released the opossums was far away from houses and busy roads. It's important to release animals near a water source, so I released the opossums near a pond/marsh area deep in the woods. Some of the opossums were extremely hesitant, but others were very excited to go back to the woods. Some of their reactions to being back in the wild were very cute! One opossum didn't like the feeling of dried leaves under her feet. Every time a leaf got stuck on the opossum's foot, she would shake it off with a funny look on her face! One of the opossums tried to climb a tree, before realizing it was a bit too big for her! Some of the opossums I released near a hollow tree had a fun time exploring inside it! We have been taking care of these opossums since May. It was amazing to see baby opossums I had helped raise since their eyes were closed finally strike out on their own. I won't lie that I had some happy tears on the drive home.
Other than opossums, the group of three weasels and some of the skunks were released as well. It's been so hot that we made sure that all of our animals ready for release were released. It is much cooler for them to be in the woods than to be in our pre-release enclosure. I hope that all of our babies are doing well and that they live long and happy lives in the wild.
