Elise Able – Page 10 – Fox Wood Wildlife Rescue

Bats in Homes in August…

As the busy “baby season” of rehab finally slows and a lot of the babies are now wild and free, the season changes to “Bat Season” which is the end of July into Mid-august when people call frantically in the middle of the night to ask for help getting a bat out of their homes. Of course, these often 2 AM calls rarely start off with a polite “Gee, I am really sorry to be calling you at 2 AM in the morning and wake you, but…” No, I usually get a caller that somehow assumes that I am wide awake sitting by the phone at 2 AM on a week night waiting for these calls. Anyhow, I do my best to stay polite and try to help. I often have thoughts if having a “900” number for such calls, as the caller never realizes that my advice, time and sleep are valuable…

Anyhow, why are there bats in homes this time of year? Well, because the young bats are just learning to fly. Those roosting in homes are confused by light streaming in from the living space. That light could be a TV, kitchen light, night light, hallway light…. Bats often follow light (YES… follow light!!!) to find their way outside. Light from inside homes streaming into areas where these babies are getting ready to take their first flight into the great outdoors fools them and they end up inside the home.

So, how can one “bat proof” the inside of the home? With a good cheap caulk, weather stripping and good old duct tape. Attic doors can be taped around the edges – why? Have you ever been in an attic during the day? Well, it is real dark up there! But if you turn on the light outside of your attic door, go into the attic and close that door and look at it from different angles, you will see light streaming in from the other side of the door. That is what the bats see! If you continue to roam the attic and look toward the eaves of the house, you will also very likely see light streaming in from outside. This is how the bats find their way outside.

Look at your fireplace. Rarely does brick or stone match up perfectly to your drywall. Bats will climb up and down the outside of a chimney (not usually the inside as often thought) . If there is a small space between the stone where it meets your inside wall, caulk it, as this is another place that the bat could see light streaming in and get confused. TV’s are usually the light source here. Look for cracks where walls meet ceilings, where ceiling drywall was cut around light fixtures, where windows meet walls. Look where beams meet ceilings and caulk, caulk caulk! How about where the exhaust pipe from your stove goes up and out of the house through the kitchen? Look at the space between that and the drywall. Do you have Pocket doors? You might just as well tape them right up. Do you have unfinished remodeling projects in the house? Well, better get them done once and for all, open walls and ceilings are major culprits for bats finding their way into your living space.

Always be sure your pets are vaccinated for rabies, even though less than 1% of all bats have rabies, why take a chance and have to deal with the hassle of worrying? Never handle a bat with your bare hands. Use gloves and a towel. Never, EVER swat at a bat with a tennis racket, or any other object! What’s up with that???

Always be sure the inside of the home is sealed and caulked. After all, if bats can get in, so can bees, flies, mice, etc.. and of course during the winter, you are also losing heat.

There is only one humane way to get bats to stop roosting in the eaves, attic, walls, etc… That is through exclusion. Never hire a bat control person who will exclude bats during the season when they have their babies – this is June, July and the first two weeks of August. That is baby season and the mothers will be frantic to get back to their babies which will be sealed in. Not only is it very cruel to make babies starve to death, and cruel for their mothers to hear their babies cries and not be able to get to them, but all those dead baby bats will stink and attract bugs- plus you will have to live with the thought of all of those dead baby skeletons in there…. Also, if bats are sealed in, they may find exits into your living room that you never dreamed existed and you could have bats all over the inside of your home.

Never use a bat control person who claims to “relocate bats” – Bats are like homing pigeons and will come back unless taken over 100 miles. That control person is not being truthful.

Don’t use a bat control person who uses a cage or box to “catch the bats” so they can be released. The bats will suffocate, melt to death in the heat or be drowned or gassed by the technician.

Never, ever hire someone who will use glue boards to catch the bats . Despite what the glue board companies tell you, the glue doesn’t come off, and the animals are never “carefully freed with oil”. Glue boards are disgusting, cruel instruments of torture and should be outlawed. Warm Canola Oil has been recommended – been there, done that, it doesn’t work and the animals will die from the stress if you try anyway.

Never allow someone to use a repellent or spray to kill the bats. That is not legal, and again, it is cruel. There is no known “bat repellent”.

Good luck with the high pitched plug in noise makers – they are more likely to attract and entertain the bats than repel them.

So, only good old fashioned one way doors, known as check valves, used properly before or after the baby season will work. Of course if your house has a dozen other entrance ways through the roof, eaves, chimney line, etc… you will need to seal these up as well. This is why a good excluder is often very expensive. It is not as much a “bat problem” you may have as a construction problem. It is the sealing, patching and fixing of all areas that the bats can get back in that becomes expensive. So if you have an old rickety home, the best thing you can do might be to just be sure the inside of the home is caulked and sealed to prevent the bats from finding their way into your living space.

Stay tuned – In the next blog I will tell you how to remove a bat from your living space….

“We Found A Fawn”

The telephone rings and I instinctively cringe. It is mid May and around dusk. The voice on the other end says” “We found a fawn in our yard this afternoon so we brought it in and have been feeding it”

I ask “Why did you bring it in?”

“Because it is cold out and it was all alone and we couldn’t see its mother”

“What did you feed it?”

“We got a baby bottle and gave it some milk” He says proudly

“Cows milk?” I say as my blood pressure starts to rise

“Is there any other kind of milk?” He snaps

I am getting pretty irritated but try to stay civil “Well, yes, there is mothers milk, which is what the baby needs, not cows milk. He is not a cow, he is a fawn and he needs his mothers milk. Cows milk will make a fawn very ill and could kill him. When you found the fawn, was he injured, laying flat or was he curled up?” I ask.

“He was curled up in the front yard. We found him about 2:00 PM and brought him in. it is cold out there. What should we be feeding him?”

I take a deep breath, because I will once again go through the process of explaining fawn behavior and how does protect their young. I am mildly irritated by the fact that an obviously elderly couple could not have ever heard about how not to interfere with wildlife and that it is completely normal for fawns to be lying outside by themselves – even in cold weather, even in ones front yard….

“When a doe has a fawn, the fawn is too young to travel with its mother. It can’t run, so the best protection against predators is to lie very still, since predators hunt by movement. The doe lays her young fawn down and tells it to stay there. She then leaves. It may be your front yard, back yard or doorstep. They do not stay by their babies like humans do, or like many of the domestic animals that we know about, such as cows and horses do.

The does leave the area so as not to attract predators to the spot where the baby is. They are watching though. The does will come back just after dark, feed and tend the baby and move it a bit, sometimes only a few feet, then lay it down again. How much the fawn is moved will usually depend on the age of the fawn and the ability to travel with mom. Once the baby is two to three weeks old, its ability to run is greater and its reaction may be to get up and run, rather than lie still.

People often expect that if they approach the fawn the doe will come charging out and try to keep them away. Not so. The does are hoping the human will react like most other predators, not notice the baby and leave. Unfortunately, many times if a human finds a fawn, they do not leave, they assume the baby is an orphan and take it (kidnap it). Imagine the mothers distress. So, just because you do not see the doe, does not mean she has abandoned her fawn. Does and other wild animals do not abandon their babies! They are very good, devoted mothers. Different wild animals protect their babies in different ways. Deer and Rabbits protect their young by NOT being there and only coming back to tend the baby when there is no one around and / or after dark. So, if you are standing there by the baby outside, I can guarantee that the mother will not be seen as long as you are in the area. To the deer or rabbit you are a predator.

At this time, I would like to dispel a common myth that we were all told as kids… “Don’t touch baby wild animals because their mother will smell your scent on them and will abandon them”. Guess what? Not True! This is nothing but a common wives tale. They don’t care that your scent is on their babies, after all, they are familiar with human scent because it is all over the area and on everything. They felt secure enough to have their babies nearby all that human scent. They don’t care that human scent is on their babies – the mothers instinct is much stronger than the fear of human scent. This goes for baby birds, baby bunnies, baby everything and of course, fawns. This is NOT permission to touch wild animal babies though. It just means if you made a mistake and touched it, its mother will still take it back. A doe will take her fawn back as much as 48 hours after it was kidnapped by humans. The only reason it might not be able to be reunited in many instances is because the humans fed it cows milk or something other than it’s own mothers milk. I have successfully reunited fawns that were kept overnight, handled, licked by dogs, etc.. Momma was there within minutes of the return.

There are certainly circumstances that require rescue rather than reuniting. If you can see blood, open wounds, exposed bones or other injuries. Green Flies sitting on the fawn are an indicator of an injury too. If the fawn was hit by a car, if a leg or legs appear damaged, if it is caught in a fence or trap or has been attacked by a predator. If the fawn has been held for days by a finder or fed the wrong foods by a finder(cows milk is a big No NO!). If the fawn is having trouble breathing or is unconscious. If a fawn has been walking around and bleating for more than a few hours this may indicate trouble. If a dead doe is near the fawn.

A healthy fawn lays curled up and very still. If disturbed, a healthy fawn may get up and walk around bleating . The fawns bleat sounds like “mmma”. If you have mistakenly disturbed the fawn, leave the area immediately. Let it lay back down somewhere and stay out of the area. Keep pets and children away. If you call around for information from a rehabilitator or other animal control person, please beware of anyone who does not ask questions and just says” we will come get it”. Any rehabilitator or animal professional worth salt will ask a lot of questions about the fawn, how it was found, what it was doing, etc.. ” don’t allow someone to just take the fawn unless it has been truly determined that it is necessary. Fawns do much better when raised by their mommas. They can avoid hunters the best in the fall and really need to be raised by their mothers, not humans.

Simply being in a populated area is NOT reason to take a fawn. Occasionally we have taken fawns that were found by humans out of public parks on Memorial Day Weekend. We bring them back to the center and keep them until dusk when the park closes or human activity subsides that day. We then take the baby back around dusk to the spot where it was discovered and put it back so its mother can take it and hopefully move it to a better location.

There is a wide window of opportunity to return a kidnapped fawn. Many people believe coyotes are the single greatest threat to fawns. Not so. it is humans . It is humans who do not understand the behavior of wildlife.

Weasels, the Coolest Animals to Rehab!

Long-tailed weasel, short -tailed weasel, Least Weasel, mink, otter, fisher, martin are just a few of the members of the weasel family found in North America. The family name, Mustelidae, is based on the Latin word for “weasel”. Anyone who has had the pleasure of raising one of these animals will quickly tell you that they are the coolest animals to raise.

Weasels are usually born in April or May in underground dens, and it is pretty much a given that any infant of a burrowing or tunneling species found above ground is in trouble and should be taken to a rehabilitator. The long , skinny neck is usually a give-away to the fact that one has a weasel, but it can often be difficult to determine what species one has until at least a couple weeks old. But, determining the species of weasel really doesn’t matter when it comes to the care needed, as they are all cared for the same.

Baby weasels are interesting in many ways, and the fact that I find most interesting is that their eyes don’t open for 26 days. I am used to fox pups whose eyes are open by two weeks of age. When their eyes open, they are eating soft solid food. However, weasels are eating solid food WELL BEFORE their eyes open. One of my pet peeves are rehabilitators who bottle feed animals well past the time that they should. I observed a scrapbook recently that a rehabilitator was using for public display. While flipping through the pages, I saw a nearly adult-sized fully furred, eyes open “baby” weasel” drinking formula from a bottle. EEK! I thought. Surely one must have a better feel for mammals than that? Eyes still closed and baby fur still on, offer some canned cat food and watch the baby chow down. I always mix the formula with a product called ‘Missing Link for Cats” It comes in a gold foil pouch and is sold through catalogs and outlets, including PetSmart. Weasels need a basic diet like a cat, not a dog. I strongly believe that a balanced diet is more easily obtained by feeding a canned and dry cat food that has been manufactures to provide cats with a balanced diet. The Missing Link should be added to all foods, including the formula. Feeding just mice is not a balanced diet, as wildlife eats such a variety of things that a single source of food simply doesn’t provide . Small, dead mice should certainly be offered to young baby weasels (and young fox pups), but only as an enrichment, a prey-identification tool, not as a diet. When raised in captivity, animals simply do not have access to the dirt, insects, minerals, and grasses that they do in the wild. A diet of dead or live mice and chicks is simply inadequate

Since weasels have such an incredibly fast metabolism, it is advisable to feed them every hour, right around the clock until they are at least 2 weeks old. I feed a mix of formula, canned cat food, Missing Link for Cats and Pedialyte to help with hydration. I thicken the formula as they show preference for chunks of solid food. When they are three weeks old, I feed them every three hours. I will also give small chunks of chicken or venison.

Even before their eyes are open, I am sure to have them in natural surroundings, with leaves, clumps of grasses, rocks and logs. Of course there is an area that provides warmth and snuggle space. By five weeks old, baby weasels are weaned in the wild – but I find that they are off the milk formula before that in my care, and on to canned cat food, dry cat food, meat, mice.

Here is an interesting fact… Females can conceived while they are still in the nest and their eyes and ears are still closed. By the time they leave their nest, many females are already pregnant. Weasels generally mate in July or August, but the young are not born until the following April or May. The total gestation is roughly 279 days. The young are not actually developing during this period though. The embryos undergo an initial development of about two weeks, then remain free in the uterus, dormant until April or May when they are implanted 23 to 24 days before birth. There are usually 5-8 blind, toothless, pink and naked young.

The most common predators of weasels are man, cats, dogs, owls, foxes, hawks and snakes. Weasels are very susceptible to distemper and it is advisable to vaccinate them with a safe vaccine, such as PUREVAX, a canary vector vaccine made by Merial. Any other distemper vaccines give to animals especially prone to distemper can actually cause them to come down with the disease. PUREVAX is a new vaccine that has proved safe in wild animals.

Turkey Season And Coyote “Attacks”

May 1st, Turkey hunting season begins. This is also the time when we start to hear stories of how a hunter was sitting in camouflage clothes, making turkey noises for an extended period of time and then was suddenly approached by a coyote. Sometimes, the coyote will actually make contact with the camouflaged blob, and then we have a “coyote attack on a human”. Hmmm…. A camouflaged blob making turkey noises attracts a coyote….. no surprise there.

Because it is the pup season for coyotes, it is perfectly normal for a female with hungry pups to become interested in a continuous turkey noise coming from a single spot. It sounds like an easy meal to any intelligent animal. However, all too many times, the female is then shot for responding to what is a food call for her. This type of encounter is what creates the orphans we get every year, as well as the illegal pet coyotes that are confiscated by conservation law enforcement from time to time.

Coyotes are attracted by noises, but hunt primarily by sight and movement. A non-moving camouflaged blob is unidentifiable to a coyote. If a hunter realizes that he has called in a coyote, the best thing to do if he wants to let her know that he is indeed a human is to simply stand up and wave his arms and say something, such as “hey, I am a man!” , or whatever utterance he feels is appropriate. This allows her to realize her mistake and leave, though somewhat embarrassed. Unfortunately, many of these coyotes will be shot and their babies left to die of starvation. Certainly a good conservationist wouldn’t wish that upon any living being?

Lets talk turkey. Studies have shown that coyotes do not have a negative impact on the turkey populations. They actually help keep the populations healthy by catching the slowest of the flock. The slowest turkey of the flock is usually the bird that is coming down with a disease that could decimate the entire flock. It is impossible for a coyote to kill off an entire flock. It is simply impossible. Turkeys roost in trees and coyotes can’t climb, so catching them asleep won’t happen. Any turkey hunter will tell you they are a very wary bird. It is the rare coyote that can sneak up on a flock of turkeys, and if he does, as soon as he gets close, they will take off, the slowest one becoming the most likely victim. The others won’t hang around to watch and become victims themselves, and the experience will make them all the more wary and wise. Some people believe that coyotes will take a hen off a nest of eggs. The more likely predator is the Great Horned Owl. Hen turkeys sit on their nests very quiet and still. I have rode two feet from them on horseback without them moving. Because they are quiet they don’t attract coyotes . Because Hens sit still and coyotes hunt by movement, a coyote could just as easily walk to feet from the hen without noticing her. The only affect that coyotes have on the turkey population is that they keep it healthy.

Coyotes are often blamed for killing off “all of the fawns”. Not true. Fawns lie perfectly still and have no scent. A predator must literally stumble upon them to find them and what are the chances of that? Slim at best. We all hear tall tales of guys with cameras setting them up near coyote dens and counting high numbers of fawns dragged to the dens, yet so one ever seems to be able to produce these photos. Lots of talk, no authenticated proof. One would wonder why if these photos are so fantastic why no one has a copy, or better yet, no one has posted them on the internet. No doubt, someone will now take the time to create them with Photoshop…

Of course there will be triplet fawns who become weak and are abandoned by the doe, there will be fawns whose doe is hit by a car, there will be ill fawns. These fawns may become coyote food because instead of lying perfectly still, they will walk about and bleat, attracting coyotes, domestic dogs – and worse yet, humans who will bring them into their homes, over handle them, feed them cows milk, try to raise them as pets, etc.. etc.. So yes, a small percentage of fawns will become coyote meals, but most of them were doomed to die by some other means anyway- something called Compensatory Mortality.

The other morning I listened to a female fox in distress for hours because a turkey hunter was sitting near her den. She squalled from 5 am until 11 am, and obviously the hunter didn’t notice or care that that he was causing such a disturbance with his presence. Would have it been so difficult to get up and move to a different spot? I, the fox, and her babies I am sure thought him quite inconsiderate.

Wood Thrushes are back!

Ahh. The ethereal sound of the Wood Thrush. Hylocichla mustelina. Ee-o-lay! My favorite bird song, and this morning, May 2, 2006, they are back. This is the first morning that I have heard this plain brown bird with the flute-like voice and the rusty head in 2006. Wood thrushes prefer mainly deciduous woodlands and I am fortunate to live in such surroundings. I can hear their liquid call echo gently from the woods surrounding my home.

The arrival of the wood thrush means that the Veery, catharus fuscescens, another thrush will be back soon too. This small plain bird also rivals the most beautiful calls in the world with a breezy, flute like downward spiral made with dual voice boxes that harmonize with each other.

Another one of my favorite songs is the song of the Eastern Wood Pewee, a small sparrow-sized flycatcher with a sweet and slow plaintive whistle. Pee-o-wee that slurrs down and then up the follows it with pee-ow. We often connect songs that play on the radio with places and times in our lives. I make mental connections with favorite times and settings and the bird songs I heard. The Pewee I connect with deep woodlands, warm still mornings, many of these coupled with the gentle sound of hooves on the forest floor as I ride my horse through the deep woods. It is times like these that make me glad to be alive, as well as glad to be an early riser.

Washington Coyote Nips boy

Someone sent me an article about a boy in Washington that was nipped by a coyote. Apparently others had been nipped by the same animal. Since this is not typical behavior for a wild coyote my educated guess about this particular animal is that it was raised by a human and was then released when it got to be a problem for the person who had it. This happens a lot with wildlife and this is exactly why I never release habituated wildlife.

Every year countless fawns, baby raccoons, baby birds, fox pups , baby squirrels and of course coyotes are found and kidnapped by well meaning persons who don’t understand that these are not orphans and their mommas are close by. The person feeds them whatever they think would closely match the diet of this baby animal- usually cows milk or a cheap dog or cat food void of nutrients. They coddle, take pictures, show everyone and brag. Most of these animals will die due to stress, complications from the wrong diet or an “accident”. But many will live to become dysfunctional members of the wild. Countless coons, foxes, squirrels, fawns and coyotes will be released by their captors as poorly developed, tame animals with no survival skills . These animals know nothing about their own species and will seek out humans for food. I strongly believe that the Washington coyote is a victim of this action.

The Memorial Day holiday weekend has always been what I have termed “fawn weekend” and as always, I will stay close to home to field the many calls from the public finding an “orphaned fawn”. I will work hard to explain that fawns are left alone by their mothers as a protection. They must stay perfectly still to avoid predators, and they do avoid predators this way. But they can’t avoid humans…. And hunters and coyote haters are worried about coyotes taking the fawns??? No, humans are the greatest predators on fawns. Spend a Memorial Day weekend manning the phones at a wildlife center and you will understand.

More on Fawn Weekend coming in later posts…

Congenital Hydrocephalus in Red and Grey Fox Pups

Congenital Hydrocephalus Hydrocephalus is an accumulation of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) within the cavities (ventricles) of the brain. Hydrocephalus has been reported in most species of domestic animals and is one of the more common congenital malformations of the canine nervous system. In a recent study, small toy breeds with large skulls (i.e. Maltese, Pomeranian, Chihuahua, Toy poodle) and the brachiocephalic breeds (Boston terrier, Pekinese, English bulldog) were identified as being at high risk. The smaller the adult dog (whether dwarf or miniature in size) the higher the risk of hydrocephalus.

Viral transmission in utero is suspected to be a potential cause in the red fox. Diagnosis of hydrocephalus is based on clinical signs and is confirmed by radiographic demonstration of enlarged lateral ventricles by ventriculography. Plain radiography will often reveal a ground glass appearance throughout the cranial vault. Unfortunately, anesthesia is contraindicated in animals with suspected hydrocephalus. Cranial sutures and/or open fontanels may be evident after normal age for closure and skull ossification. Prognosis is poor. Treatment of animals with congenital hydrocephalus is futile because of the large amount of tissue destruction and atrophy. Shunting is risky and cost-prohibitive. Dexamethasone (0.25mg/kg PO q12h) may be used to temporarily relieve symptoms (not as a treatment. This is thought to primarily affect brain bulk and CSF production, not CSF absorption. USE FLUID THERAPY WITH CAUTION- DO NOT OVERHYDRATE A HYDROCEPHALIC PUP.

Common Intake Scenario: Pup found in an open area with no others around Often in the morning, sometimes after a rain- presumably because momma didn’t want to be trailed? Pup appears to have been left behind Often not near any roads it could have been hit on- though it can be mistaken as hit by car if found by the road. No visible injuries or illness, though they sometimes have Sarcoptic mange Fox pup acts very friendly and either very docile or very excitable May have even run up to people “out of the blue”

Two Age Groups and Scenarios:

Age Group 1: 3-5 weeks old “fat and fuzzy stage” All the hydrocephalic pups this age that I have gotten in had the very obvious dome shaped skull The base of the skull was very large and wide. They eyes protrude and appear to have bags under them. Visual impairments including blindness, non-reactive pupils. The eyes may remain a bluish color Often the pup can not seem to lift its head and acts as though it has a severe headache. Inappropriate vocalizations (sick puppy cry or cerebral cry) Behavior and condition may come and go. One moment the pup seems down and out, and a half-hour later it is up and around and acting normal, barking for its mother. Be careful not to set a pup that appears immobile on a counter top or in a cardboard box that is not tightly closed – they can suddenly come around and end up taking a dangerous fall The symptoms may be temporarily relieved with a dose of Dexamethosone. Careful examination by a veterinarian may reveal that the fontanels are soft. Soft spots remain at skull sutures or junctions. The swelling in the brain prevents the fontanels from coming together. Hydrocephalus is extremely painful for the animal. The animal is suffering, will continue to suffer and should be euthanized as soon as possible, preferably by injection by a veterinarian.

Age Group 2: 6-16 weeks old These animals are often mistaken for being tame. Often they have been in captivity for a few weeks before being turned over to a rehabilitator. The people may say that they found the pup in their front yard or that it ran up to them. In the past I have considered that inadequate diet may be causing the odd symptoms, but after careful observation and the time to correct the diet have found this not to be the case. Pups that are older like this are generally showing more of the behavioral than the physical symptoms. The symptoms will come and go. The dome-shaped skull may not be obvious or even present. The pup may have a completely normal skull with no obvious doming.

Behavioral symptoms may include: Difficulty with sense coordination i.e. can smell the food but can’t seem to find it even when it is right under their nose. It will hear a noise, but not be able to determine from which direction it is coming from Hyperactivity Eyes may appear to have bags under them Excessive panting or respiration rate Unusually intense vocalization “banshee scream” Unusually deep sleeps – you could partially pick up the animal before it wakes. Sounds that would cause a normal fox to wake and lift its head from sleep will not awaken a hydrocephalic pup. This condition comes and goes. The fox runs in circles instead of straight lines. The circling is often in just one direction. Hyperextension of one or both forelegs when moving. This is often noticed during circling. The leg may actually reach as high as to scrape the ear. Unusual intensity of tail wagging and vocalization when excited. Self-mutilation, biting of the tail Inability to see Weakness, easily fatigued Respiratory distress Frequent pacing, circling, gait abnormalities Hind leg paralysis Hypersensitivity to loud sudden noises Sitting with head tilted down as though with a severe headache Seizures after a meal.

Please note that unless you are observing the animal 24 hours a day it may be having seizures without your knowledge. Often a seizure is followed by death. A visit to the vet for a sonogram or radiography and or careful observation over the course of a few days, or even longer may be needed to diagnose hydrocephalus. The condition comes and goes and the symptoms change. This makes euthanasia a very difficult decision to make. Especially when you are observing an animal that may appear cosmetically perfect with no broken limbs, obvious defects. Pressure on the brain is a very painful condition and an animal that is hydrocephalic is suffering. It can not be cured. I have tried holistic methods as well as steroid therapy, also time to try to allow growth. None of these treatments work. If you are a wildlife rehabilitator and you have a fox pup that you need help with, please contact me.

On Deer and Coyotes

A good friend and neighbor, John Merriman wrote this piece and is kindly allowing me to reprint it on my blog.

It was mentioned that “coyotes have no known predator, except man” What predator species does have a predator? Predators prey on prey, not other predators. Predators are regulated by the availability of food. The deer population is controlled by availability of food too. Has an artificially and unnaturally high population of whitetails in the hunting areas raised the browseline so high that now deer must migrate into the suburbs (where there is limited hunting) to browse on gardens, Christmas tree farms and suburban trees and grasses? Have they had to come into farmers fields for food, and those farmers obtained nuisance permits to kill them?

Coyotes are mousers. They are a farmers best friend as they prey on rodents and woodchucks and rabbits, not cattle and horses. How many farmers do you know that would love to have the woodchucks gone? Hire a coyote.

A good guard dog will protect your livestock. Try a Great Pyrenees — they will protect your sheep, goats and alpacas from stray domestic dogs (the real threat) and curious coyotes. While coyotes do take some deer, they are mostly compromised, young and infirm. How many deer wind up with slugs and broadheads lodged in their spines after hunting season? I have personally seen more than a few that are succumbing to the gangrene and infection during and after the season. How many deer are hit by cars, and while they appear to bound off looking well are actually mortally wounded with internal injuries or fractured pelvises? People who claim to have seen coyotes taking healthy deer don’t really know that the deer was healthy and not injured or starting a disease process that was not visible to the human eye. Did they frighten the coyotes away, do a complete necropsy, send tissue and organ samples, x-rays and determine “yes, this was a perfectly healthy deer” I think not.

There is nothing wrong with coyotes taking down those injured , ill, dying and dead deer. That is what a predator does.

What about turkeys? One virus can wipe out an entire flock. Do we want the “slow one” removed from the flock to protect flock integrity and guard against disease in the flock? You bet we do. Coyotes will weed out the slow one that is possibly beginning a disease process. Turkey’s are smart, they are designed to avoid predators. The rest of the flock will fly to safety, and be the wiser.

Ask some people, they will tell you there are too many deer – So which is it? I know several tree farmers who were brought to their knees by deer browsing their stock. Ask anyone who has hit a deer with their car, some people have already been killed in such accidents. Ask the automobile insurance agents how they feel about the deer population. Have we bred a smarter deer through natural selection- shooting the ones that walk into the sights of our guns, and not shooting the ones that are more wary, travel to protected lands or adopt a more nocturnal lifestyle once hunting season begins?

Have we bred a lazier hunter through instant gratification in other areas of our lives, where patience and time are limited? How many hunters actually have the time to spend out scouting, sighting in their guns, sitting for hours in a tree stand? Not if you have a full time job and a family these days. Life is faster in 2006 than it was in 1980, 1970, 1960 and so forth. How many of the “no deer” complainers have spent the time to really hunt their deer – sitting in the same tree stand year after year, do these guy’s realize that deer move to find new food sources? Have their woods changed over time with natural succession and are their stands really where there are deer anymore?

While there are genuinely good hunters out there who practice their shooting, do the scouting, spend the time watching, even selecting their specific deer, there are more than a few who do none of this. They take opening day off to go and then blame and point fingers at everyone and everything when they don’t bring a deer home to their family. Are the coyotes to blame? Of course not.

Now, Coyote Control? Certainly not by hunting and trapping and otherwise killing them. Again, biological fact is that this actually stimulates the population. Coyotes under pressure from hunting and trapping increase their litter size, the viability of the pups is much greater and the survivability of the pups is astounding. Coyotes with larger litters and stronger pups will need more and larger prey to feed those larger litters. When the alpha female is killed, instead of her being the only breeding female in a territory, all of the subordinate females who were behaviorally sterile before can and will now breed. Where there would have been only one litter, now there are four. Hmmm…. so killing creates more. Will killing coyotes result in more deer? Not according to study after study and history.

In keeping with the finger-pointing theory that “coyotes are killing all the deer”, it will actually result in less deer as larger litters and more viable pups will need “more fawns” to raise them. Ask anyone who hunts coyotes, they will tell you that they get the same numbers of coyotes year after year in the same places. Nature abhors a vacuum and more coyotes take their place. If killing them actually worked, why can these guys hunt the same areas year after year and take the same numbers of coyotes. Wouldn’t the population of coyotes in that area disappear, thanks to their hard work? In conclusion, there are many reasons why deer hunters aren’t getting their deer, coyotes being only the most minor factor. If you want more deer and less coyotes, leave the coyotes alone and plant trees and food plots for the deer.

Incentives Not To kill Coyotes

By Guest Author, Robert Ward of East Otto, New York

I read a lot of complaining about coyotes from deer hunters that think coyotes are killing all their deer. Not so. One big reason that our deer are not in the woods is because they are in farmers fields eating crops and in suburban back yards eating ornamental shrubbery because the browse line is too high in the woods. The browse line is too high because of unnaturally high deer populations for many past years. Hunters wanted lots of deer and they got lots of deer for many years, and now must pay the price. Do you want more deer? Don’t shoot coyotes, plant food plots.

Coyotes are primarily rodent eaters. They will also scavenge the rich supply of deer carcasses produced by year round auto collisions and gun and arrow injuries sustained during hunting season. Small thin deer that can’t reach the browse line may also be taken by coyotes before or after they die – but these weak and injured deer are going to die anyway, something called compensatory mortality. Deer Biologist Ken Koerth is quoted in North American Whitetail Magazine April 2005 as saying “Coyotes normally can’t control deer numbers on their own”

If you want to control coyote numbers the last thing you want to do is hunt or trap coyotes. Billions of dollars, many years of history and biological studies show that coyotes respond to killing by increasing their populations. Killing them causes more females to breed in a territory, breeding females to produce larger litters and more viable pups. Studies also showed that when left alone, coyote numbers declined naturally on their own. It is the people hunting and trapping them that are creating higher coyote numbers. Trying to control coyotes by killing them is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. Breaking down the social structure of a group of coyotes through the loss of a dominant male or female causes subordinate pairs to breed, where normally they would remain behaviorally sterile. More breeding pairs and breeding by younger members of the group create more and larger litters. Larger litters need larger prey (such as deer) to feed them.

As far as killing fawns, coyotes hunt primarily by movement. Fawns (and nesting turkeys!) stay absolutely still and quiet – this is their natural defense to predation. Any predator must literally stumble on them to get them. However, triplet fawns, ill fawns or those orphaned when the doe is hit by a car or shot with a nuisance permit will be taken because they walk about bleating. These fawns are doomed and is it necessarily bad if they are used by coyotes as food rather than rot on the ground?

Deer hunters , do you want more deer? Leave the coyotes alone. Plant a food plot.

Are You Seeing Foxes Suddenly? This is Fox Pup Season

The phone calls and e-mails are rolling in- it is fox pup time and a lot of people are seeing adult foxes near their homes and becoming alarmed. What they don’t realize is that foxes are coming in close to people to raise their families because coyotes are in the further out areas. If a coyote finds a fox den, it may dig up the den and kill all the young. Foxes know this so they choose what they believe to be the lesser of two evils and come in closer to humans and away from the coyotes to have their litters. Please be kind and “rent” out your space to momma fox. You will be glad you did.

People tell me “My gardens were never better!”

And “Thank you for talking to me about the fox family. We watched them instead of TV. They were so wonderful!”

And “We hope they come back next year!”

Foxes may have a den under your shed, porch, barn or in the back yard in a hill. The family will likely be moved in a few weeks to a new place. When the pups are older (July, August) they will start to be seen less and less. By September, the fox family will be gone and everything will be back to normal. Red foxes will not live in a den year round. They only den to raise their families. Out of a litter of 6, it is likely that only two or three foxes will live to see September.

People are often alarmed, thinking their family pets and children are being stalked. Stalked by a 10 pound fox? I don’t think so. In fact, foxes do not want to kill or eat your child, cat or dog, no matter how small . They eat primarily mice, rats, rabbits and woodchucks. They may certainly watch your pets with concern, bark at them and may even chase your cat back into your yard if it goes near the den- Of course good cat owners realize that they shouldn’t let their cats roam free. Your 16 pound kitty will be able to hold his ow her own against the fox. Remember, it is the outdoors and the fox belongs there.

Please allow the mother fox to raise her pups in peace. Do not hire someone to “relocate the family” this will not work! The most that will happen is that one or two pups will be caught (and surely killed by the hired person) and the mother will get scared and move her family. Most states have laws that state captured wildlife must be killed. Be patient, enjoy the fox family. it is a lot of fun to watch the pups scampering and tumbling with each other. In fact, it is a lot better entertainment than most TV shows on these days. Enjoy the breath of fresh air and the beauty in your back yard- it may be a once in a life time event for you.

Many people are afraid they can’t let their animals out to go potty now. keep in mind that before you realize the family was there, you let your pets out and everything was OK.

Inform your neighbors not to shoot the foxes they see crossing the yards during the day . Red foxes are Not nocturnal! Momma works very hard to feed her family. She will work all day and night catching rodents, snatching roadkill and bringing it back to her growing babies. Foxes also eat a great deal of grasses and insects too. They are omnivores.

If you really can’t have a fox family in your yard, you may place an object such as a chair or a bucket near the den, but not too close as to scare momma away from grabbing her pups and moving them away from the scary object. About 10 feet from the den should be enough to concern her. Think about this though, momma felt safe enough in your yard to have her pups there. Where else will she be able to move those pups where they will be safe?

Please, appreciate this gift of nature.