Check Out Some Hope for Wildlife Videos!"I LOVE chewing on fresh evergreen branches. Please make sure I have some." That's the feeding post-it note for this orphaned porcupine, and we have two solid minutes of joyful porcupine chewing for you. But how he came to us wasn't very joyful. "shaking. sad little porky. face covered in mud like he's been laying in it. dried blood in left ear. at same spot for 2-3 days, not moving. face covered in mites" Those are the rescue team notes for the intake for the porcupine a few weeks ago. As it turns out, there was a good reason for this porcupine's sad state. It's possible she/he was hit by a car. The porcupine has suffered head trauma, including a fracture of the right zygomatic arch and a possible skull fracture. Its upper right incisor was broken, and there are some neurological issues and suspected spinal inflammation or trauma, leading to weak motor function. But there's been steady improvement, and as always we are very hopeful for a successful release in the spring. No chewing required. It's feeding time for one of our red-tailed hawk patients. If the animal is small enough, they eat it whole! Just swallow it all down! Whatever is too difficult for them to digest gets regurgitated in the form of a pellet before it's time to eat again. Did you know that a single hawk or owl can eat over 1000 rodents a year? They are excellent predators and they play an important role in keeping animal populations in balance. Keeping a yard that's a bit on the wild side - including native plants, and avoiding the use of herbicides, pesticides, and rodenticides will keep your urban ecosystem healthy and give them a place to thrive, too.
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