Defiance

Definance, the peregrine falcon, lost his wing when it got tangled in wire. He was left permanently disabled.

However, he has found a new home at Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown, PA.
There he will live out his days with a companion, another peregrin falcon, entertaining and educating all who come to visit him at the zoo.

If you ever happen to be in Norristown, do drop in . . .

Magic Jack

This black-tailed jackrabbit is a bit of a miracle. Few rabbits survive an attack. This little female came in dehydrated and hungry. Her eyes had just opened and the bunny had the blurry-eyed gaze of an animal still not fully sited. This little baby was so small she fit in the palm of the 10-year-old child who gave it to me for rehabilitation.

Here Majic Jack is seen, not quite ready for release. Although she exhibits at the instinctive startle response that one of her species needs for survival; she's still a bit too friendly with her human carer as the rabbit tries to climb onto the carer's lap in hopes of a nibble -- a carrot or a piece of apple -- or two.

The Escapades of Jeremiah the Squirrel

It's been a while and rehabilitation hit with a bang this year, with some 20 raptors from American Kestrels to Swainson and Red-tail hawks, several barn owls and a grey fox. Now I'm down to a black-tail jack rabbit, one rock squirrel and a peregrine falcon which I'm holding for transfer. The jack rabbit and the rock squirrel both are firsts for me, the rock squirrel the first of its species and same for the desert jack rabbit. I've developed admiration for these plucky little species who generally are on the main menu for the most predators around here.

Oh, I've taken care of lots of squirrels, fox squirrels, the largest squirrels; grey squirrels hundreds, flying squirrels, but never a rock squirrel. The fox squirrel is the the most even-tempered; the grey squirrels can be a bit psychotic, and flying squirrels are in a class by themselves, but the rock squirrel so far seems the most intelligent.

She was found in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot, dehydrated, half-starved and the other half, dead. This is the proverbial concrete jungle, adjacent to other hotel parking lots, and to I-10. Who know how the squirrel got there -- most likely carried off by a predator-- and who knows how long she was there? She lucked out being found by a vet tech who was returning to Georgia after a trip to California. The woman was just driving through and found the squirrel by chance as she checked into the hotel.

The baby squirrel's eyes were just starting to open, but she wasn't focusing yet. The first thing she saw was me, a frightening prospect for any species. It was touch and go for a few days, but eventually the squirrel pulled through and she is thriving. A bit fat as she gobbles down nuts in preparation for winter cold.

The psychological ramifications of the incident seem to be imprinted upon her brain. My little baby is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. For the first few days, I was awakened each night with thready screams. I'd run into the room where I keep the critters I found she was sleeping. She was having a nightmare (proving that squirrels like dogs dream.) When I'd awaken her, she would open her little eyes, see my face and then settle back into slumber. When she was awake or if she awoke and found herself alone, she cried, and the only thing that reassured her was my presence. It's only in the last week she stopped screaming for me, and she has been moved outside.

I worried that I had a true case of imprinting, but the separation process is already starting. She is an escape artist. The first cage was not very sturdy; she could have fit into a 1/2 cup container, she didn't need anything heavy, but I needed easy access to accomadate her bottle-feeding schedule. Then she began to do what all babies must do, grow up, and one day as she was chewing on her cage door, she lifted it up. You could almost see the lightbulb going off as she realized that she had found the way to freedom. I used bread ties to keep the doors closed; she learned to remove them, and also learned that they were not good to each, which puts the rock squirrel in the genius category of the squirrel family. Eventually I put her in a heavy-duty air kennel that would have challenged a raccoon, and she found her way out.

Takin' care of buzy-ness

Where to begin . . . when I've not a made a posting for nearly six months. I am like everyone else been busy. Since January, my nursing license came through; I've completed my teaching certificate and signed contracts for three books. Tw0 -- Dark Lullaby and Turkey Creek Adventures -- are reprints or new editions, and one is brand new. I've also received my New Mexico wildlife rehabilitation permit (For details, please see http://jessicalittledeer.wetpaint.com/.)

Now I'm trying to adopt two birds, a barred owl and Mississippi Kite, under what is known as special purpose permit for educators. Then I'll be able to bring animals on any talks. I'll keep you posted, but for now you get sneak previews of coming attractions. Let me introduce, what I hope will be my two new family members, pending approval.

The final chapter

For those of you who have been following the challenges of Beasty Boy, this is the final and very joyous chapter of his release. Although as most stories, it is not without its traumas. Tropical storm Fay made its appearance in Tallahassee on Friday, and soggy appearance at that, with 25 inches of rain falling in 24 hours.

By now, Beasty absolutely refused to be confined in a kennel or a pen, and for a while the conditions were such with the water lapping at the door I could do little more than peer out the door and hope for the best. On day twopf Fau, he was getting tired of staying out in the rain and demanded entrance into my home, but I had been forced to leave by the rising water and knew that he would be better off outside where he could get up to higher. Eventually I returned home and he was so happy to see me that he jumped into my arms.

Again I despaired that I might, for the first time in 8 years working with wildlife, have my first case of imprinting. That night, Beasty scratched at the door, tired of being left outside. This time I relented. Since Beast had no manners and would have insisted on chewing on the cats if he had been allowed, I placed him a large air kennel; but this would not do. He tore at the confines of his cage. He certainly did not understand why the cats were allowed to run around the house and he was not.

Finally, I was forced to take him outside and release him from the kennel in order to prevent injury. For Beasty, four days under a deluge while the cats stayed, fat, happy and notably dry inside the house was the last straw. It was time to check out the real world where he didn't sit dripping wet as the cats sat smuggly on the other side of the glass mocking him, and he took off. The separation process I believe is harder on the rehabber than it is on the animal, for the next 24 hours I worried about him -- fearful that he had been swept away in the flood.

But our story has a happy ending, Beasty Boy the grey fox was spotted the next day pouncing on crickets and having a whale of a time about a mile away from home and there he remains. So Beasty Boy is back where he belongs in the wild, hunting small prey as he polishes his skills until he's ready to stalk bigger quarry and should he return for a visit, I believe we find him a snack.

Night on the town

Beasty, the beastly fox, spent his first night out on the town or in this case country, out foxing around, and it must have tired him out considerably because he's spent the entire day sleeping under the storage shed -- his makeshift den.

More likely, he must have been frightened by something, for on the one and only occasion he stuck his nose out from underneath the shed, he immediately retreated at the first unrecognized noise.

Guess it will be a little while longer before I have to worry about those fast women and wild car.

Beastly

Well, Beasty Boy the fox continues to grow up. He has started to produce the musk that is the fox's hallmark of the adolescent and adult animal. He's free to run about all day long. Beasty reveals his intelligence if not his willingness to go it alone. He has figured out what doorknobs do, and when he decides it is time to come inside the house -- as he has today because it is raining -- he leaps at the doorknob in an effort to open the door. If he ever develops hands, I'm in trouble. Still I know I have raised an animal which at least has the good sense to come in out of the rain. In other ways, the fox is showing his independence as he growls at me if I try to convince him to do something he does not like. However, if I wander outside to sit on the deck I find myself with a lap full of fox who has now decided that I am some sort of humungous chew toy.

And so it goes . ..