Injured Birds
If you find an injured bird please do not try to treat it yourself. Place the bird in a small, dark, closed cardboard box with a soft towel or t-shirt in the bottom and contact a licensed wildlife rehabber or veterinarian immediately. It is imperative that the bird be treated with as little human contact as possible to avoid stress, which may be detrimental to the bird’s recovery.

Baby Mammals
The first point of business when you find a baby mammal is to determine whether it is truly an orphan in need of care. Many baby mammals may appear small and fragile to the finder but may be, in fact, completely weaned and independent at a small size. Cottontail rabbits are a great example. They are weaned and on their own at 3 weeks of age and, at the size of an apple, still appear small and helpless. Some animals depend on being camouflaged and remaining still, which makes them easy to catch and makes them appear “helpless”. The best course of action if you find an animal that you are concerned about is to take the following steps:

• Do not touch or approach the animal. Put yourself in a position where the animal is unaware of your presence and observe the animal for a while. Does it appear to be feeding on anything? Is it nibbling on grass or rooting its nose around in the leaf litter?
• Make notes of it’s behavior and location and contact a wildlife rehabber for advice

Injured Mammals
If you find an injured mammal, do not handle it. Some mammals have been known to carry rabies. Note the animals location and call a rehabber as soon as possible. Once the rehabber has received the information from you he/she can assess how the situation should be handled.

How Can You Help?

• Keep your domestic cats indoors. (A large percentage of the injured animals brought to us are the victims of “household pets”.)
• Do not let your dogs roam freely outside your yard.
• Check your yard for wildlife prior to mowing. (Rabbit nests, snakes, box turtles etc. are very vulnerable to lawnmowers.)
• Use natural, non-poisonous lawn care products.
• Use extra caution when driving at night, particularly on back roads. (Automobiles are probably the number one cause of wildlife injuries we encounter.)
• Put stick-on raptor silhouettes or sun catchers on windows and sliding glass doors. (Many of the injured birds brought to us are the victims of collisions with glass doors and windows.)
• Don’t litter. (Many animal deaths and injuries can be attributed to discarded fishing line, plastic six-pack holder rings, plastic bags, etc…)
• Support your local wildlife agencies and rehabbers. Most wildlife rehabbers are doing their work on a completely volunteer basis. They work out of their homes and all expenses incurred are paid for out of their own pockets.

Domestic Cats and Wildlife

As wildlife rehabilitators at CMNC, we are frequently faced with the dilemma of how to deal with the injured and orphaned wildlife brought to us as a result of “domestic” pet encounters, as well as the mindset of the pet owner/wildlife lover that went to so much effort to bring us the animal. Domestic cats are not native to the U.S. The introduction of any non-native species into an ecosystem can have detrimental and far-reaching results. Cats are instinctual predators. Even well fed pet cats will continue to hunt. Many species of wildlife are already suffering from habitat loss at the hands of humans. Predation by house cats is yet one more hardship we humans impose on wild animals already struggling to survive in our human-dominated world. There is something we can do on an individual level to help positively mitigate human impact on wildlife. We can keep our cats inside our homes as well as ensuring that our pets are spayed or neutered. Maintaining our cats as inside pets not only decreases the unwanted predation on wildlife but can also decrease vet bills since your pet will be protected from disease, injuries from other animals and automobiles.

For more in depth information on the relationship between domestic cats and wildlife please check out the following links:

http://wildlife.wisc.edu/extension/catfly3.htm http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/ma http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw98/c

Cochran Mill Nature Center   6300 Cochran Mill Road    Palmetto, GA 30268    Phone (770)306-0914