Summer Internship Week 4
- Emma Jefferson
- Jun 10, 2022
- 3 min read
June 8th, 2022
I meant to put this out days ago, but I went home this weekend and have been playing catch up since getting back! I'll be putting out two weekly posts just a few days apart.
A lot of our baby animals have been growing up! Older baby animals and animals that have recovered from their illness/injury are moved to pre-release enclosures outside of the clinic. The pre-release enclosures are larger and give the animals a place to "practice" being wild again. This week we moved opossums, squirrels, skunks, weasels, and birds to pre-release enclosures. We have only had time to move animals to pre-release enclosures because Centre Wildlife Care has been closed this week, meaning we're not officially taking new animals. However, lots of people have still been showing up with animals. Usually being closed for a few days gives us a chance to catch up and make more room in the clinic, but the large number of new animals has made that a bit difficult.
We've been getting a lot of baby skunks recently, and we even got a fledgling Great Horned Owl! Luckily the baby skunks don't usually know how to spray yet, but trust me when I say they still smell bad! We don't bring adult skunks into the clinic because they can and will spray. Another really stinky animal is the weasels! I took the weasels out to weigh them, and they smelled like dirty armpits! I was wearing thick gloves since they bite pretty hard, so only the gloves smelled like weasel. Lots of animals are much more stinky than you would think. Since not much new has been going on, I want to highlight an "animal of the week:" the Virginia Opossum!
Also known as the North American Opossum or just "Opossum," these cuties are the only marsupials native to the United States. Marsupials are similar to mammals, but their babies are born underdeveloped when compared to mammal babies. Opossums carry their babies in a pouch so they can grow and develop. Opossums generally favor woodland environments, but they have also moved into urban and suburban areas. Opossums are transient animals, and travel in search of food. Opossums are very helpful for pest control, as they eat lots of ticks, mice, rats, and cockroaches. Opossums are very harmless to humans, as they are very shy and don't carry many diseases. It is almost impossible for opossums to get rabies due to their naturally low body temperature, but a few rare cases have been documented. So you may be wondering, why does Centre Wildlife Care get so many baby opossums?
Mama opossums carry their babies in their pouch when they are small and carry them on their back when they are larger. If a single baby opossum is ever found on its own, it is likely that it fell of its mothers back. Opossums can have over ten babies on their back at a time, meaning one can be left behind on accident. Additionally, a lot of opossum babies are orphaned due to car strikes. Opossums move very slowly, and are often hit when crossing the road. However, sometimes baby opossums in the pouch survive the car hit and can be rehabilitated.
Once at Centre Wildlife Care, smaller baby opossums are tube fed. Tube feeding is when a tube attached to a syringe filled with formula is carefully pushed through the esophagus and into the stomach of the baby opossum. Formula is then pushed out of the syringe, which goes through the tube and into the stomach of the opossum. The reason that baby opossums have to be fed this way is because they don't have the ability to nurse like mammal babies do. Baby opossums eat by swallowing their mother's nipple. Essentially, baby opossums are tube fed by their mother, which is similar to what we do at Centre Wildlife Care. Older baby opossums are fed from a dish and are given some solid foods. When they are just eating solid food, the baby opossums are moved to pre-release enclosures where they learn how to climb and strengthen their muscles for release. After working with opossums, I can say that they have become my favorite animals to work with at Centre Wildlife Care. Opossums are very misunderstood animals, so I hope you appreciate them a little bit more now!
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