Last year, a call came in that an Osprey nest had come down with three young birds. They were almost old enough to take first flight. We had gotten so much rain that the nest was saturated with water and it broke loose from its resting place in the tree. Osprey nest high in the…
It is with a heavy heart that I report that Godzilla, our educational Great Horned Owl, had to be put down. She was in her 20s and was an amazing education bird. Godzilla had spent ten years at another facility before being transferred to Operation Orphan Wildlife Rehabilitation. She was in our care for eleven…
Today I would like to share with you a special Christmas Memory that I think many of you will enjoy. It’s about Stubby, our first educational groundhog and one that I think about every Christmas season. Earlier in the spring of this particular year, a farmer was working with a backhoe when he accidentally dug…
Almost everyone likes surprises—to some degree or another. On the other hand, some are better if they never happen. This type of surprise is true of the story I am about to tell. One November evening, I was doing a program at a local assisted living facility. When the program was completed, a couple of…
It was Easter Sunday when the call came in about two baby Great Horned Owls. One baby was injured, but the other seemed all right. The woman who called said she had watched for several hours to see if a mother came in to care for the young and it was clear that no parent…
A number of years ago on a cold rainy day in April, I received a call from a Tallmadge dispatcher for the police and fire departments. The fire department was at the scene of an abandoned house fully engulfed in flames. When the firemen went into the house they could hear something crying and thought…
I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again: 85% of the baby animals picked up ARE NOT ORPHANED and should have been LEFT ALONE. Mom usually is not far away. Below are some of the most common things that people DO WRONG when they find an animal and what’s THE RIGHT thing…
I have made so many memories in all of my years of wildlife work. Some of those memories are good and some are not, but they are all a big part of my life and my biggest motivators. For today’s Throwback Thursday I thought I would ramble a bit on some of those memories. My…
That’s what it is like here at Operation Orphan these days. Add some opossum and 25 baby squirrels that just came in this week. Did I mention that they all need to be handfed? Yes, folks, baby season is NOT over yet! With no time to write a TBT this week, I want to repost…
Every day, I am reminded of the harshness of nature and what our wildlife has to endure to survive. Today’s story will give you a glimpse into their world. It was around 10:00 pm last summer when the phone rang and on the other end of the phone was a very distraught woman. In the…
Here at Operation Orphan Wildlife Rehabilitation Inc, we have to carry a large variety of foods to care for the animals, since every species has their own diet. Today’s story illustrates the challenge of keeping these different kinds of foods around for the animals. One unusually hot summer, several years ago, we had several Green…
Back in the early 70’s, I received a call from my sister-in-law, Sandy who was at work in a factory located in Barberton. They found a baby bird and was afraid it wouldn’t make it until the workday ended without any help. I was on the case! I immediately drove to the factory thinking that…
After 53 years of rehabilitation, I have come across a new species of wildlife. I was notified of this new species when a man came to my door with a litter of four bunnies and an egg. The egg was in with the nest of bunnies (looked just like a robin egg, but how much…
In the late 80’s, my husband, Ron, and I came home from a Memorial Day camping trip. I was tired after unloading the camper, so I went upstairs for an early soak in the bathtub. After getting into my night clothes I had my mind all set for a quiet, relaxing evening. Anyone that knows…
It was the early 1990’s when a call came in about a baby porcupine. The woman that called had taken it from a neighbor who stole it from the mother in Canada. We have the Lacy Act which is an Act of Congress. In that Act, one of the laws states that it is a…
Without thinking about it, each of us do little things each day that impact our environment and wildlife in a negative way. For example, who would ever think that something as simple as throwing away the ring that is attached to a bottle cap could cost an animal its life? One year when I was…
Unless they are roaming and non-stop vocalizing for several hours, they are being cared for (Mother is not far away). PLEASE LEAVE THEM ALONE! Deer are giving birth now and I’ve been getting calls non-stop about fawns, so I want to get this message out to everyone. PLEASE SHARE. If you see a fawn in…
It was one of those crazy winter days that we had first been handed a lot of snow, only to be followed by at least three hours of freezing rain and then more snow. Two days later, a phone call came in about a beaver. The night before, the young man had come home and…
Rabies is a deadly virus that strikes the central nervous system of mammals and almost always results in death if not treated. The virus is spread through an infected animal’s saliva. People and pets do not have to be bitten in order to contract the disease; there only needs to be an open cut, scratch, pimple or…
He may be little, but he is mighty! Earlier this year we received a Screech Owl that had been hit by a car, suffering head trauma and severe damage to his left eye. He spent several days at Dr. Riggs’ Vet Clinic and once he was stable, came back with me for continued care and…
Drum roll please… I’d like to introduce to you our newest education animals at Operation Orphan Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc., Thelma and Louise! These two opossum sisters came to us earlier in the week from The Ohio Wildlife Center in Columbus. Their center has a program at the local Marysville prison where inmates help to raise…
This week, I wanted to address an important upcoming event… BABY SEASON!!!! It will be here before I know it, especially with the unseasonably warm weather that we are having. Baby season is my busiest season by far and recently, that season has started earlier and lasted longer than ever. (That is a whole different…
All too often I come across stories of wildlife that are euthanized, die of starvation or die in captivity due to improper care or killed by homeowners because they become a nuisance. This often happens because someone thought they could raise an orphaned animal on their own. There is so much that goes into preparing…
Back in the early 90’s, Ron and I traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to release a rehabilitated baby porcupine. On our journey to the UP, we camped at a state park near Mackinaw. The park ranger saw the Operation Orphan sign on the camper and was curious, so he came over to talk…
Many summers ago, I had baby hummingbirds brought to me for the very first time. We had just had a storm that was so bad that it shut down the power at the Akron/Canton Airport, and it also caused two baby hummingbirds to be orphaned. Shortly after the storm was over, I got the call…