Julie's Journal July 2002 - Helping Wildlife

Have you ever found a baby bird that had fallen out of the nest, or an adult bird with a broken wing? Have you seen an opossum hurt by a car, or a skunk with his face stuck in a jar? When you run across wildlife in need of assistance, do you know what to do?

We should all know that wild animals are dangerous to approach, and injured wildlife can be especially aggressive. It's always best to call the experts, and there are usually organizations and trained volunteers in every area that respond to calls concerning animals in distress. I'll list some names and resources of places you can turn at the end of this article, but first, let's find out the things we can all do to prevent some of these tragic incidents from happening in the first place.

Some of the most common injuries are those caused by humans in one way or another. Entanglement in trash like six pack rings, cut fishing line and netting is a big threat to wild animals, most of which could be avoided with a little effort on our part. Cut six pack rings so birds and small animals don't get caught in the rings around their neck or legs. Never cut fishing line off the rod and leave it in the water or on the ground. This is one of the most common ways marine animals become injured, often resulting in death. Large nets out in the ocean, or small pieces drifting into shore are often the cause of drowning, as animals get tangled in the net and cannot escape.

Wildlife injured on roadways is another common occurrence. We can help prevent this happening by slowing down in rural or wilderness areas, turning on your brights when no oncoming traffic is near and supporting wildlife corridors, overpasses and under road tunnels so animals can cross roads more safely.

Hitting windows, power lines, and communications towers is the cause of fatality to millions of birds each year! You can help to minimize the chances a bird will become confused by the reflection in your home, office and school windows. Planting trees or shrubbery next to windows will usually act to slow a bird down, reducing chances of fatal injury. Decals may work for small windows, but you need to cover 80% of the window space to be really effective. Like it or not, the best solution to date is to let your windows stay dirty - they will be less reflective and more likely to be seen as barriers which cannot be flown through. Now you have a really good reason not to do windows! Look for opaque window film as an option in the future, when it hopefully becomes available to the general public.

A great project for home or school is to build bird-houses - for everything from song birds to owls. This will give them safe places to avoid predators, build nests and raise young. Plans for specific species house sizes can usually be found on the internet, or by calling conservation organizations like Audubon, or the World Bird Sanctuary.

Believe it or not, one of the best things we can do to assist animals is nothing! That's right. If you see wildlife, you should never approach, and definitely don't feed wild animals - for your safety as well as the animals. Why? The animal loses its fear of humans, which can lead to injury or death of both the humans it encounters and ultimately the animal itself. It may begin to look towards more populated areas for handouts, and then is vulnerable to cars, dogs, and even more people. Wild animals fed regularly, on purpose, or just because pet food or garbage was left out, may become dependant on that food source and not look for other natural foods. This is especially bad for young animals, which may never learn how to find their proper food sources. Wild animals are often given foods that can be harmful or even fatal to them as well, or they may approach someone who does not want it near and is afraid - most often these animals are killed. Not approaching or feeding wildlife is one way of doing nothing. Another way is to never touch injured wildlife - but you should call the proper people that can help. Local zoos, aquariums, and animal control offices often know where an injured animal can be taken for rehabilitation. SeaWorld parks in San Diego, San Antonio, and Orlando rescue, rehabilitate and release marine animals under the authority of the government - in fact, they rescue and release more marine animals and birds than anyone else in the world! Most cities have wonderful people who volunteer time and expense to rescue and rehabilitate local wildlife. Where I live in San Diego we have two great organizations, Project Wildlife and Wildlife Assist. Together, these organizations save thousands of animals each year and are operated totally on donations and caring volunteers.

So remember all the things you can do - like disposing of trash in receptacles with lids, so animals can't get in them. Support local and federal legislation preserving wild space for animals to live, and conserve the resources we need to share with them like water, trees, and natural lands. Use less pesticides in your house and yard, and plant native species to provide food and shelter for local and migratory species of birds, mammals, insects and reptiles.

People have affected the Earth drastically and forced wild species to keep up or die. The least we can do is to help those critters in trouble, and perhaps give them just the fighting edge they need to survive.

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