The December 2022 Newsletter for All Things Wild gives you a vibrant picture of the animals at All Things Wild and the volunteers who are rescuing animals there every day. The newsletter is included below for your enjoyment.
Note--the links embedded in the newsletter may not work.
ATW Newsletter, December 2022
In This Issue: 2022 in Pictures
This past year at All Things Wild was a very busy year. We took in almost 3,000 orphaned, sick, and injured wild animals. The quality of our medical care for the animals increased dramatically during the year with the addition of medical equipment, including an anesthesia monitor and ultrasound. We are also working on our new education center, to be called the Little Red School House, where we will teach kids and adults about the wonder of wildlife. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our staff and our loyal volunteers who showed up rain or shine to care for the animals and the center and to everyone who donated making it possible for us to save so many wild animals. Thank you!
We hope you enjoy some of our favorite wildlife pictures of the year.
Ambassador fox squirrel Ozzie has selected a pecan to bury somewhere in the center.
Ozzie has been a much-loved ambassador at All Things Wild since 2019. He came to us with a spinal fracture and paralyzed rear legs from brittle bones caused by poor nutrition from people who were illegally keeping him as a pet. However, after a lot of physical therapy and good nutrition, he manages to get around our center very well. When he is not burying nuts in towels or on shelves, he perches on top of a tall cage to watch what is going on.
Kim is on the floor at Wag Heaven in Georgetown trying to find a harness that ambassador skunk Teddy can’t get out of.
We were never successful, even with a valiant attempt to make a custom harness for Teddy. His head is too small, his legs too short, and his body too big. He slips out of every harness we put on him. If he goes to an educational event, Kim has to carry him, and he is a hefty boy!
Animal control brought us a beaver found in a sewage pond at a treatment facility across from Brushy Creek Lake Park.
Believe it or not, we do have beavers living in our area. This particular beaver, whom we named Bucky, had an upset tummy (gastro-intestinal issues) from being in the sewage. He needed some medication and a little R&R before returning to his den at the lake.
After expert surgery to remove his badly damaged wing, Boudreaux, an American white pelican, returned to our center.
Almost a year later, Boudreaux is thriving at All Things Wild as our pelican ambassador. He has an enclosure with a pond, the run of 1.5 fenced acres during the day, and comes to the back door whenever he is hungry for a meal of small fish called smelt.
Phoenix, a red-tailed hawk, got too close to a methane burner at a landfill and singed his feathers.
Phoenix was with us for almost 8 months before he molted and regrew all his feathers. Most birds molt in the fall, and Phoenix was no exception. We released Phoenix back to the Waco area where he eagerly took to the air with us imploring him to stay away from the landfill. See the photo below of Phoenix once all his feathers had regrown.
Here's Phoenix 8 months later and with all new feathers.
Phoenix’s red tail tells us that he is at least 2 years old.
Opossum ambassador Betelgeuse made a TV commercial.
In the above picture, Betelgeuse is on top of the vehicle under the arrow. He played an opossum who was in a tree that fell on the homeowner’s vehicle. In addition to his human entourage from All Things Wild, he had an agent and a representative in the film crew to see to his humane treatment. To watch Betelgeuse’s commercial, click HERE.
Our annual order of 20-lb buckets of powdered milk replacer has been delivered to the center.
All our orphaned mammal babies, such as cottontail rabbits, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, and skunks, require a milk-replacer to substitute for mom’s milk. Each species has a different protein/fat requirement. For example, tiny, orphaned squirrels, eyes closed, do best on formula with 32 percent protein and 40 percent fat; whereas, once their eyes open at 4 weeks, they need 20 percent protein and 50 percent fat. In 2022, we spent over $8,000 on powdered formula for the little mammal orphans.
To make sure baby owls don't imprint on their human caretakers, we feed them while wearing an owl mask.
Young nestling owls attach themselves (imprint) on their caretaker. We work to avoid imprinting young owls on humans by keeping their cage door covered and feeding them using long tongs and an owl mask. We even tape a picture of an adult owl inside their cage. This year, we took in 31 great-horned owls, among which were five young siblings that we raised from tiny babies to healthy juveniles. Because we were careful not to let them imprint on their human caretakers, they wanted nothing to do with humans at release. That’s the way we want it!
Here are three of the five sibling great-horned owls, almost all grown, and afraid of humans! (Two are not pictured.)
The five great-horned owl siblings were released on a warm late summer day along the San Gabriel River.
We use human baby bottles and preemie nipples to feed the little orphaned raccoons.
To get a baby raccoon to accept nursing on an artificial nipple, it is helpful to scratch them on the back of the neck. That’s because moms groom their babies while they are nursing, and the babies associate grooming with nursing. Once they get the hang of the baby bottle, they suck with gusto.
Young nine-banded armadillos forage for mealworms in the dirt.
We got really good at raising armadillos this year and released seven back into the wild. Do you know that the mom armadillo always gives birth to four identical quadruplets?
Baby grey foxes couldn't be cuter!
We send all the orphaned grey foxes to our rehabilitator who lives in the country and raises the babies so that they don't get habituated to people. Every animal deserves a chance at a wild life.
Fledgling great-tailed grackles have an insistent squawk to let us know when they are hungry.
Feeding baby birds is a full-time job from sunrise to sunset. The parent songbirds don't feed their baby birds during the night; however, during the day, the babies keep both parents busy bringing food to the nest. As substitute parents, we feed the baby songbirds every 30 minutes.
Craft epoxy resin can be used to repair cracked turtle shells.
Our staff discovered that epoxy resin is great for repairing cracked turtle shells. Once the resin has been applied, a UV light is used to cure it. Often, the repair is all that is needed, and the turtle, like this river cooter in the above picture, can be returned to the wild. Over time, the turtle will regrow new shell to fill in the cracks.
Wild and free! Young raccoons return to the wild.
Once out of the carrier at their release site, young raccoons can’t wait to begin touching, sniffing, and exploring. Touching is one of the raccoon's strongest senses. Their front paws are extremely sensitive and get even more sensitive when wet.
A young fawn sniffs the air of freedom.
Born in the spring and orphaned from his mother, this male white-tailed deer grew up at All Things Wild. In the fall, when he dropped his spots and began sprouting antlers, it was time for him to return to the wild. He was released with 32 other orphaned fawns who got a second chance.
Speedy, our sulcata tortoise ambassador, has a boogie board to help him get around.
Speedy Minimus has a new way to get around our center during the winter when it is too cold for him to be outside. Sulcata tortoises are a species originally found in the southern part of the Sahara Desert in Africa and are very popular in the pet trade. Speedy was run over by a car and brought to All Things Wild with a severely cracked upper shell (carapace) and rear leg damage. Even though his shell is repaired, he still has trouble moving around with his damaged rear legs. But thanks to his new boogie board, he can now scoot around with ease!
Murphy makes a big yawn while meeting people at the Christmas Stroll.
Opossum ambassador Murphy and ATW volunteer James met people in front of the ATW booth at the Georgetown Christmas Stroll this month.
And with that big yawn from Murphy, we hope you have enjoyed seeing some of our favorite pictures from 2022. The staff and Board of Directors at All Things Wild would like to wish our supporters and volunteers a happy holiday and a wonderful new year.
Please remember to show respect and compassion for all wildlife by treating them humanely and co-existing with them peacefully.
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