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When To Help |
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Professional wildlife rehabilitation is becoming more advanced with specialized knowledge - improving diets, medical care, and a better understanding of behavior. This includes training the young and reconditioning the recovered injured, before release back to the wild.
However, as humans, we can never offer the advantages the parents can give their healthy growing young. Many times our young wildlife may appear to be orphaned but they are really just learning how to find food on their own, how to stay safe from predators and experiencing how to find and even drink water and, for birds of course, how to fly. Just as human parents must give their children freedoms as they mature and learn important skills about life, wildlife parents are watching over their young even though you may not see them. The parents are giving them time to grow and learn these critical skills before they become proficient fliers. This time is important if they are to live a long, healthy and safe life in their wild world. Some basics you need to consider before removing the orphaned bird from the wild.
The parent’s will not abandoned the care of their young if you touch it. Fledglings are birds that can move around on the ground and are learning skills while being supplemented by a parent. They are not quite able to fly well or survive without parental care. Many times they simply need to be put out of danger from cats, dogs, traffic, children, swimming pools, etc. If the bird is healthy, placing them in a dense tree or bush may be all the help they need. The parents will find them by their call, and continue caring for them. Many times people bring in birds because they have cats in the area or their cats are in the yard. It is certainly much easier to train cats to stay indoors then it is to take our wildlife out of the wild. Check out our Link Page: American Bird Conservancy, Cats Indoors link. Nestlings are birds that are not able to move about and have few feathers and still belong in the nest. These birds still require the warmth and constant care of the adults. If they cannot be returned to their nest, check our section, Build a Nest on the Rescue page. Precocial type birds (such as quail, killdeer, or ducks), if not weak or injured, simply need to be re-united with the parents and siblings. They are usually not far away and recognize the parent’s call, as with all birds. They become weak and dehydrated quickly from constant calling for their parents and should be re-united ASAP. If you can’t find the parents then it may be necessary to bring them in for transport to a rehabilitator. Please check out our Transport page if you believe the bird needs to be brought in. Nighthawks and Poorwill have unique behaviors often causing them to be found by the public. Many times confused with owls, check out “Is this an Owl?” section for more information and a photo of this type of bird. Hummingbird chicks are often removed un-necessarily because the mother cannot be seen at the nest. Many times this is because the mother is being exceptionally careful as she realizes the nest is being watched. Please call for advice before removing a nest or the chicks unless there are ants in the nest or other life threatening emergencies. Although it’s tempting to put a hummingbird feeder close to a nest, it can also attract unwanted traffic and aggressive males. It’s better to leave a feeder a good distance away from the nesting area. Ducks are common in the city during the breeding season. Check out our Bird/Human Conflict page for information on ducks. Mammals that are young, as with birds, the parents are probably in the area. Contact the Nevada Division of Wildlife or Wild Wing Project before removing mammals. Inexperienced humans caring for young wild animals are taking the risk of causing that animal to lose it's natural fear of humans and other species. Although this may not seem like it will cause harm to the animal it can literally set the animal up for a disastrous failure to survive in the wild. Many unfortunate young wild animals are crippled or die outright each year at the hands of well meaning, but uninformed humans. If they absolutely must be helped, get them to someone who knows how and has the legal permits and medical assistance from veterinarians familiar with treating wildlife. Why can't I keep it and raise it? There is State and Federal laws that make it illegal to remove native wildlife from the wild. (Unless you are transporting it to a licensed rehabilitator.) There are over 300 species of birds alone that visit or reside in the southern portion of Nevada, from hummingbirds to eagles. There are almost as many diets, housing requirements, specific needs, various methods of being fed by the parents, etc. The wrong diet alone can mean death or serious debilitating physical problems for that bird (one example) MBD "or metabolic bone disease", which (at the very least) can render the youngster crippled. If in doubt, call to see if you have a protected bird or animal. Check out our Identification page for some pictures of ages and species to help compare with the bird you are concerned about. Every situation is unique, so please feel free to call for advice if you are not sure what to do. But if it does need to be taken out of the wild, in the best interest of the animal, please call a Wildlife Rehabilitator, State or Federal agency. In Nevada, call us. Wild Wing Project, Inc. 702 238-0570 |