wild bunny emergency

Hey somebody, where is the JERK forum to send Mike to?

Mike, just because you call a wildlife office doesn't mean they can or will do anything for the injured animal. We called the Fish Wildlife and Parks guys a few years back about a fawn that had been mauled by a ranch dog and it took them 4 hours to come out. Did they take it with them to care for? NO. They shot it!!!

Hell, we could have done that ourselves and put it out of it's misery much sooner instead of it having to suffer for so long. I lost respect for wildlife management after that and even more after trying to find help for my baby bat.
From your post and sencing your attitude towards Texas Artist, you must be associated with these heartless people...or maybe you are even one of them!

I don't think berating anyone is the answer here. I do believe getting a hold of a wildlife rehaber would have been the best thing to do. Just because one person felt they had a bad experience once doesn't mean they are all "bad". When you call these people they can only take what the people are telling them and trying to make a mental picture. I have worked in an emergency vet. hosp. and know how some blow things WAY out of proportion where others don't tell you enough. You gotta put yourself in others shoes. And first and foremost we are not here to judge anybody. Everyone has their own opinions wether anyone likes them or not, it's there opinion.

I guess what I am saying here is....lighten up folks!!!

Tracy
Southwestern NY

Umm..No Witch...If you go back and re-read what I said, the only reason I suggested contacting the state fish/wildlife office was so that they could possibly supply the original poster with contact information for a local WILDLIFE REHABILITATION SPECIALIST. There most definitely IS a difference and trust me, I'm not at all impressed with some of the wonders that are working for my state fish & game. In some of the circles I associate with they are affectionately known as fish & "blame". Our own state veterinarian admitted that he knew nothing of venomous animals and said he would've called ME when I called him with a combination scorpion/tarantula problem that I ended up dealing with because of an exotic animal seizure I was called in to assist with. And as far as what I "am", I WAS one of those people that, among other things, ran a specialty animal rescue. I stopped because there simply were not enough hours in the day to care for the myriad of animals that I was asked to take in on a daily basis and still work my normal 40 to 90 hour weeks to put food on my table. When John/Jane Q. didn't know what they were getting into when they bought the cute little iguana that would turn into a 6' lizard with miniature shark's teeth or the pretty little yellow and white snake that would eventually turn into a 25' plus 400 pound or greater eventual GOAT eating Burmese python that could literally crush a human were it not properly cared for, I was one of the people that both John/Jane and the local police/animal control called to take care of those animals.

The "attitude" that you sense actually comes from several years of having to repeatedly watch situations such as this one play themselves out because John or Jane Q. Public think that they can do better by breaking state and/or federal law by removing wildlife from "the wild" regardless of their intention. And contrary to popular belief I am NOT trying to pick on Texas Artist because, truth be told, s/he is nothing more than someone trapped in this little box on my desk much as I am to everyone reading this. Texas Artist's choices may have been well intended, and I do belive that they were. HOWEVER the fact remains that in bringing a quite possibly injured wild animal, in this case a rabbit, into his/her home TA potentially exposed both human and animal inhabitants to a variety of bacteria, virus and/or disease. Had this particular kit been carrying anything contagious (I'll keep words like zoonoses out of this conversation for simplicity) it could have potentially adversely affected the health of every living thing under that roof and I won't even go into the possibilities that abound by keeping a wild, undiagnosed animal ON TOP OF A REFRIGERATOR WHERE FOOD IS STORED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. Do I have to paint the picture of what was possible had TA been a commercial meat rabbit breeder for human or animal consumption? How about if a necropsy were performed on the kit and it was found that the kit had sustained severe, life threatening injuries that may have been reversed had it been brought to someone with the proper training? THEN, technically, TA could be charged with animal cruelty believe it or not. I'm not saying that anyone WOULD but the possibility is there. If the rabbit had been brought to someone that knew what they were doing any potential injuries could possibly have been diagnosed and either treated or the rabbit could have been humanely euthanized. In all honestly, none of us, probably not even Texas Artist (who is really the only one that actually knows the situation) knows how much the rabbit suffered before it died. Was it injuries, hypothermia, starvation, dehydration or something else that finally caused it to cease to be?

For better or worse advice was given, options were chosen, and the results are in. If one or two questions had been asked of properly licensed and trained individuals the results might have been different. No one will ever know. I'm sure that TA feels badly enough about the kit passing. Hopefully someone, anyone, has learned something from this exchange. As for your bat situation, I know of three individuals/organizations that either have experience with or specialize in bat rehabilitation. And I'm sure you can do your own research on bat guano and the long term effects on human health when exposed to it and the associated ammonia gas (among others) that it produces.

I'm a jerk? Fine. Better have called me worse and I guarantee that it's not the last time that it will happen. It's part of life in general and my feelings are by no means any worse off because you think that of me. But maybe if more people took the time to stop and actually THINK about the consequences of their actions they might be able to avoid much, much more serious situations than "just" whether a wild baby rabbit lived or died. It was a big price for the rabbit to pay but a small one for everyone else involved - THIS time. What could be at stake NEXT time?

Hey MikeD you said exactly what I was thinking and I didn't have to do all that typing.

Well done. I salute you sir.

I'll lighten up alright..by the light of the slippery moon.

In my situation, calling for help was the first thing I did. Got shut down immediately! I first called the VA Tech vet hospital to see if they could help. The girl on the phone just laughed and said bluntly that they don't do that sort of thing. So, I asked if she had a number for a wildlife re-habber in the area. The number was for an organization 60+ miles from my house, and I don't have A/C in my car and it was mid-summer. I did call them to see if I could meet them halfway, and they NEVER EVER tried to call me back. When I finally got them 2 days later, they said they were full and couldn't help me.

So much for trying to go through proper channels. Sometimes things just don't work out that way. If someone with the proper training were to step up to the plate, those rabbits would've survived probably.

Well then you did the best you could in your situation Breezie, although I have to admit I'm not sure why not having A/C in your car would stop you. Unfortunately, in many cases there IS no "organization". There is only a single individual and sometimes they are quite simply "full" meaning they cannot physically take on one more animal. The point here is that you did what you could to get the animal the proper care that it needed.

While I don't entirely agree with a university veterinary program refusing to even triage an injured animal I could understand if they just took the time to stabilize the animal in order to safely transport it. You might want to talk to the department head if your situation was fairly recent.

No, things don't always play out the way that they should. Trust me, I know that. The problem lies in when individuals decide to attempt to handle situations they know little or nothing about on their own to begin with. Example: I simply cannot believe how many people think that it's ok to take an animal in from the wild for however long a timeframe (regardless of the situation), keep it penned up with themfor x amount of time, and then just turn it loose again one day. The number of problems, both legal and healthwise for both human and animal, that abound with that scenario are simply staggering - IF you take the time to think about it. Otherwise, no one ever sees anything wrong with it. I may be more sensative to the situation because I dealt with reptiles and amphibians which are literally walking/crawling/slithering cases of salmonella waiting to incubate if nothing else. Literally, 90%+ of all reptlies/amphibians carry it BUT if you practice proper husbandry there are no problems. I've been keeping snakes and lizards for upward of 15 years off and on and have yet to have any problems with disease or bacteria.

The bottom line here is that, instead of taking on a problem that you have little to no experience dealing with, make the effort to contact the appropriate people that ARE experienced. Yes, sometimes they cannot/will not help for whatever reason. But at least then you have the opportunity to ask questoins of knowledgeable people which, in turn, may increase your chances of properly dealing with a situation. My right thumb isn't functioning properly at the moment. Doesn't mean I'm going to grab a butter knife and attempt to fix the problem myself - especially since I'm right-handed...

In your situation, Breezie, it sounds like you exhausted all of your options - and in the proper order. That's all anyone can ever ask.

It's so sad..the poor thing DIED over an air conditioner malfunction! :waa:

__________________
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Well, the hot car would have just killed the poor things outright, since it was late summer when it happened. But since the rehab place wouldn't have taken the rabbits anyway to help them, there wasn't much of a point, huh? I had no idea where the place was, just the phone number. I don't see what good it would have done to ride around Roanoke county for hours looking when I didn't even have the guy's name or anything.

But gee, I thought I stated that point pretty plainly in my above post.

Did some of y'all ride the short bus in school?

No Lavender, Breezie's rabbits didn't die because of an A/C malfunction. From what I've read, Breezie did what was possible to do in that situation. If a rehabber was able to be located within reasonable distance and willing/able to help I'm sure Breezie would have made the trek necessary. Please don't get the two incidents confused....

By golly, perhaps SOMEONE up here has a vested interest in this conversation. Kinda funny, every time someone is defending something to the bone, it ends up that they happen to be in that profession, or were at one time, and they happen to have a "degree" in this area. SIGH Totally goes against the homesteading mentality, but hey, what do I know? I think she did just fine, and I think she did a good job, unfortunately, it didn't make it. That's life, us homesteaders should know that, and we have more experience with animals in general than most Americans. Obviously if baby bunny was sleeping like that, not waking up, then it was majorly hurt. That would usually happen from being in a dog's mouth! As far as taking wildlife in and putting it back out, hello, what do you think the rehabbers do???? So because they hold some job title, we can't do the same? Does anyone else see how this totally goes against the homesteading mentality? Goushhhhh, I mus jus be sum redneck countri bumkin, I dount know a daern thin!

Amen Sister.
Just Like The Dog Pound Doesn't Actually Pound On Dogs.
Well Maybe In Your Area But Not In Mine.