When animals need help, Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation steps in
LAKE CORMORANT, Miss. Lying on his stretcher of blue nylon on a frame of PVC pipe, the injured juvenile bald eagle not yet crowned by his distinctive white hood was eyeing the human activity intently at the All Animal Hospital in Olive Branch.
The legs are totally flaccid, theres no function, Dr. Lynn Cox told Valery Smith, executive director of the all-volunteer Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation Inc.
He had just done X-rays on the bird, at no charge, for the nonprofit group, and now, suspecting spinal injury, he recommended an MRI or CT scan.
Theyre a couple grand but maybe someone can donate one. Without a functional spinal cord, hes not going to be able to hunt and so he cant go back to the wild, Cox said of the worst-case, euthanasia scenario. An eagle in a wheelchair wont work.
Smith, like Cox, wasnt about to give up: Well look for an MRI donor, and meanwhile contact our volunteer network to bring him down to LSU.
She was referring to the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicines Raptor and Wildlife Rehabilitation Unit.
The eagle, found a week earlier in Walnut in Tippah County, was likely hit by a car. Wings useless, he was in bad shape. But he was in the best of care now.
Through Smiths Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation, and volunteers like Cox, hundreds of abandoned critters are helped each year, with the goal of returning to the wild.
Its been fast and furious in 2011: Smith and her core of trained MWR assistants have sheltered more than 600 injured or abandoned animals and they keep coming in.
Theyve logged some 12,000 miles taking the groups conservation and preservation message to libraries, schools festivals, fairs and festivals such as the annual Hummingbird Migration Celebration in Marshall County.
With winter, the needs dont slow. Animals have to try harder to find food, and that leads to collisions with humans: We get more animals hit by cars, owls and hawks caught in barbed wire, Smith said.
Though she and her fellow volunteers do the lions share of care, she gives the credit to donors and supportive agencies such as the DeSoto Economic Development Council and the county Board of Supervisors.
Our supporters have helped us take in a record amount of injured wildlife this year, Smith said. Without them, we wouldnt have been able to fund the mammal, songbirds and raptor patients we admitted.
Officials return the kudos: Theyre just an amazing bunch of people, doing a lot without a whole lot of money, Supervisor Bill Russell said. Its a hard job they do.
Indeed, looking after wild animals isnt easy. Each type requires species-specific housing and care.
Food eats up much of the rehabs modest $15,000 budget. Hawks and eagles devour fish and mice (Smith estimates she buys a thousand rodents a month); smaller snakes might prefer insects, while mammals during the spring baby season require formula.
Weve been able to ask for help on Facebook, and people have gone fishing to get food for us, Smith said. Social media has been a blessing.
Meanwhile, human foster parents have to be mindful not to bond with their charges because the goal is reintroduction to the wild and its survival challenges.
Animals like an injured broad-winged hawk that Smith is rehabbing on her acreage in west DeSoto are an exception; Smith is awaiting the special federal license that will add the hawk to the groups troupe of animals kept for education.
We havent given him a name yet. Maybe well have contest, she said.
Theyre a couple grand but maybe someone can donate one. Without a functional spinal cord, hes not going to be able to hunt and so he cant go back to the wild, Cox said of the worst-case, euthanasia scenario. An eagle in a wheelchair wont work.
MWR signed up a record number of volunteers donating time to transport and feed animals, clean and build cages and owl and squirrel boxes, process paperwork and most vital, rehabilitate our patients, she said.
Reptile rehabber Andi Lehman of southeast Hernando took in a speckled king snake injured in a canine encounter; she wants the world to know that vermin-devouring snakes are beneficial animals to humankind.
Four orphaned river otters, raised for a year even taught to swim by mammal rehabber Petra May near Eudora, were successfully released in March.
All four boys were fat and healthy and boisterous, May said.
Shes currently caring for a brain-damaged bobcat.
And Bens Eagle Fund has reached than $5,000.
The son of volunteer Missy Flanagan died at 16 of heart ills.
Ben was a wonderful kid and Christian who loved things that flew, from airplanes to eagles, Smith said.
The funds will be used to build an eagle enclosure at the ARK, the site 10 miles west of Hernando where the rehab plans a nature center in partnership with DeSoto Greenways and the Corps of Engineers.
Congress freeze on earmarks has stalled funds for the $6 million project that envisions a 27,000-square-foot structure on the 154-acre tract off Miss. 304, but Smith says, well just proceed one day at a time, one step and one project at a time.
She points to the completion of almost three miles of nature trails at the ARK, bridges over low-lying areas and signs along the trails identifying local wildlife.
Our amphitheater is finished, and next are a pavilion and an ADA trail with several wildlife stations for an outdoor experience thats compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
As winter and Christmas approach, theres plenty people can do to help fill Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitations stocking.
Purchase or renew an annual membership for yourself or as a gift, said Smith. Or better yet, sponsor a raptor or mammal as a holiday gift.
People can take advantage of the Honors/ Memorial program and honor a wildlife lover by donating in his or her name, or make a donation to Bens Eagle Fund to help build an eagle enclosure.
Check out the rehabs Need List. Simple things such as donating a few rolls of paper towels or boxes of tissue will really help during spring baby season.
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Online:
MWR, wildliferehab.org>http://mswildliferehab.org
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com
