Paws 'N Claws Newsletter, January 2018

ATW Newsletter, January 2018

Paws 'N Claws
News from All Things Wild Rehabilitation, Inc.

A quick and easy way to support ATW!
Randalls Good Neighbor Program:

-Saturday, January 13 at 11:00 am: Lunch & Learn with Sarah Robertson, an aquatic biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s River Studies Program. Click here for more information.
-February 26-March 3: National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association Symposium "Partnering for Wildlife" in Anaheim, CA. Click here for more information.
-Saturday-Sunday, February 3-4: ATW will host the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council's Basic Wildlife Rehabilitation Course in Georgetown. Click here for more information.
-Saturday, February 10: Lunch & Learn on owls with Roger Rucker.

Nutmeg the Goose

Wildlife Rehabilitation Education

Winter is a slow time for wildlife rehabilitators because no wild babies are born. However, our rehabilitators take in injured animals and occasionally hang on to growing babies who were too small to release before the cold weather set in.

Nutmeg the Goose
by Marcy Buffington

Living in a rural setting here in Central Texas has made it possible for me to give my children some experiences a suburban upbringing might not afford. One of those experiences has been raising ducks. I was surprised and pleased when my daughters became enthusiastic waterfowl custodians, pouring through books and working hard to keep their mixed flock healthy and safe.

My girls’ obsessive enthusiasm for waterfowl is well known amongst our friends. So when Helen Laughlin mentioned to a mutual friend, Jim, that she had received a sad Chinese “swan” goose from animal control, he naturally thought of the Jordan sisters. He gave me a call, told me about his friend Helen and her work with wildlife, and I agreed to take the goose.

Jim didn’t tell me, though, that the goose was blind—I assumed I was taking on a goose ready to be placed with our farm flock. But when Helen arrived with our new adoptee, we knew we had a much compromised goose on our hands. Her feathers were dirty, she didn’t groom herself, her eyes were cloudy, and she was obviously unable to see beyond a sense of light and dark. She ran into things. She had a seizure. She couldn’t be with our other ducks and seemed unable to forage, or even know that the grass beneath her feet was the natural food that geese eat. She seemed depressed and lethargic, standing mutely in one place until we moved her back into her cage.

Continue reading Nutmeg's story...

Nutmeg at intake in April 2016. A healthy Nutmeg today.

International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council's
Basic Wildlife Rehabilitation Course

Registration for the upcoming Basic Wildlife Rehabilitation Course in Georgetown will close on January 20, two weeks before the February 3-4 class. The International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC), the organization responsible for the instructor, text, and class content, has designed the class to be a “flipped classroom experience.” Students are challenged to complete homework and reading before the class begins. However, anyone willing to commit to the reading and homework by February 3 will be allowed to register after the January 20 deadline. To register, go to iwrc.org/product/basic-wildlife-rehabilitation-course.