Skunkets!

Hello! Before I get into talking about the "Day of Hell", I will catch you up on the past week a bit. Last Tuesday was a very short day and I have no idea how we finished in only two hours, but we somehow managed to. I fed the squirrels, gave them their antibiotic, cleaned the cages and fed the opossums in the barn, and did the dishes. Mondays and Tuesdays we have the most volunteers working so we end up finishing earlier those days.

Thursday I started with the baby squirrels (they are always how the day starts and I'm usually the first one there besides Kelly, so I usually get to do the squirrels). They are still being syringe fed and given antibiotic, then their carrier is cleaned out. Thursday was kind of crazy because Hope was busy almost the entire day because a volunteer from another rehab center, came to visit and see how we do everything with our animals. Her rehab is huge and they are more concerned with quantity over the quality of how the animals are taken care of. Their raccoons have ripped up their noses from pacing and scratching them on the metal cages they are in and when she tried to fix it by placing a towel over the metal, she was told that that was not the way things were done there and she was forced to take it off. At WBR, all opinions and ideas are taken into consideration, while at that rehab, all new ideas are turned down. So Hope gave her a tour and gave her ideas of how to help their center. Then once she left, the 6 new skunk kits came in from a wildlife veterinary center. They were also given a tour because we will be working with them. They have a mother opossum with babies that has a broken jaw that they are going to do surgery on and give to us to care for. Hope's vet that she goes to now will be retiring soon and we are going to need someone to go to for animals with injuries. The skunks that were brought in are about 5 weeks old.

Okay, now today Hope called the "Day of Hell" because the fawn that was brought over the weekend from a shelter was infested with maggots and died this morning either from the maggots themselves, or from the medicine used to kill the maggots that were inside her. Then, the squirrel brought in that was caught and dropped by a crow or hawk was found dead in his cage. Plus today and the rest of the week are going to be 90 degrees or more. Yoda's cage outside was cleaned out and he was put back outside after being treated for mange because he was loosing TONS of fur. His back legs are bald. I somehow got out of doing opossums today, but did all of the squirrels, folded and did laundry, sorted the crates of produce, and went to bring Forest Gump (squirrel) in to get his teeth clipped again. He will never be able to be released or he will starve to death, so he will be re-admitted every year, otherwise he would have to be euthenized.

At the moment we have 2 bunnies, 12 coons, 19 fawns, 23+ opossums, 11 skunks, 3 red fox, 1 grey fox, a groundhog, 4 squirrels inside, one in the barn, and a bunch outside.