Hi, Arby here! I am so excited about what happened this weekend that I cannot wait to tell you! We were playing in the backyard when I smelled something. I looked everywhere and finally found a little animal in the grass. I thought it might be hurt, it was so small and not moving. My mom and dad came over to see what was so interesting to me. They had to bend down and look very hard because their eyes are not as good as mine. That is when they saw it too. Mom reached down to pick it up dad stopped her.
He told her that remember it was a wild animal and that they needed an expert. He also said that no matter how small we should not handle it. My mom said that’s right and remembered the article by one of my fellow CritterFacts authors, Emily Stauss, explaining about what to do if you find a hurt or abandoned baby animal. My dad then said he knew the right local wildlife rehabilitator that he could call.
A wildlife rehabilitator is someone that rescues hurt or orphaned animals. They take them and treat them for their injuries or feed them until they can be released back to their natural habitats. The animal will have to be able to function on their own before they can go back to where they are supposed to be. They know the proper way to handle wild animals, especially hurt ones.
Sometimes they work closely with veterinarians, the local Department of Natural Resources, or The U.S Fish and Wildlife Services. Local rehabilitators will also know if your wild animal is on the state endangered list. Most rehabilitators are volunteers and depend on others for donations to buy food and medicine for the animals they help.
If you don’t know your local rehabilitator call your veterinarian or you can go to here and search by your state. Find one close to you and ask them how you can help them. Oh, and the small animal was a young American Kestrel and is at Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky until it gets a bit bigger. Then they will release it back to the wild.
I hope this helps you know more about what to do if you come across a hurt animal in the wild! Thanks for stopping by and until we meet again!
– Arby
