Coyotes, Vultures, and Other Wild Tales

Most phone calls received by rehabilitators are quite routine. They are usually about orphaned, injured, or so-called "nuisance" wildlife, or they are questions about various wild animals. However, there are the unusual calls that make you realize how important it is to educate our young people. Some of these calls turn out to be funny; others are quite sad. All in all, rehabilitating wildlife is never dull, to say the least. Some of the more interesting episodes help us to deal with the stress that is part of being a rehabilitator who will stick with it year after year, and not get burned out or lose interest. Here are a few examples that have given me a good chuckle over the years.

Quite a few years ago, early in the morning, we got a call that a coyote had been sighted in the woods near a local high school. A neighbor who had been walking his dog had frantically called various authorities, and finally ended up with us. I was working at the time, and on my way to the office, dressed in business attire, when we got the call. I had read not too long ago that coyotes were moving into the western part of Virginia. I thought at the time that it was great, since it would be a good way to control the increasing deer population. I found it highly unlikely that coyotes would roam around the city of Alexandria, but not impossible.

My husband Richard and I quickly changed clothes, grabbed gloves, nets, and other equipment, and off we went! We arrived at the edge of the woods, where several people had gathered. A few told us they had actually seen the wild beast roaming through the woods, howling. We cautiously made our way to the location, and soon heard noises that sounded similar to a loud "maw!" There she was, a nanny goat, crying because her udder was full of milk! The poor goat was in obvious distress. I quickly milked her, regretting that I had no bucket for all that milk, led her out to the school parking log, and waited until the shelter van arrived to pick up the "coyote." We later found out that it was a high school prank and that the goat had been stolen from the Brownie Academy some miles away.

One busy Saturday, after spending most of the day picking up wildlife, I got a call from a worried lady who said she had a large opossum in a trap. She had trapped the opossum because it was bothering the feral cats she was feeding in her back yard. When I got there, the opossum turned out to be a large rat. When told it was a rat, the lady became very indignant and insisted she knew the difference between a rat and an opossum. With that, she opened the trap, and the rat scurried away. I asked her to stop feeding the feral cats because that would attract rats and wildlife and she said she could not stop feeding them, and besides, how could she possibly have rats with all these cats around?

Many rehabilitators have received calls about vultures, hawks, and various raptors, which turned out to be pigeons. Flying squirrels are often mistaken for gray squirrels, which is understandable, since most people never have seen a flying squirrel. Baby mice are also mistaken for squirrels, as are moles and voles.

Turtle calls are common, and usually involve box turtles, sliders, and various wood and water turtles. This summer I got a call from a lady with an estate on the Potomac River. She has a large pond with several varieties of fish. An enormous snapping turtle had moved into the pond. I expected her to ask me how to get rid of the snapping turtle, as that is usually the case when people have snappers in their ponds. To my great surprise, this lady wanted to know how to keep the snapping turtle there and what to feed it!

Soon after, I got a call about an injured turtle. I asked the gentleman to bring it by. He pulled up with a 40-some-pound snapping turtle stretched out on the passenger seat of the car. He had started to pick it up, but I yelled, "Please do NOT touch the turtle, unless you want to lose a finger or a hand!" There was a happy ending: the turtle recovered and the gentleman released it on his property where it had come from, because the habitat was ideal for snapping turtles.

I also receive several calls a year about tree-bound cats. After the cats have been high up in a tree for some time, they are afraid to come down. After calling police, firefighters, and animal shelters, people are desperate by the time they reach me. (None of these organizations perform that service any more.) Luckily, there are organizations that work with cats, who will usually help out. When all else fails, I ask a very kind, professional tree-climber friend of mine to get the cats down.

One recent call was about a large snake that was stuck behind a pipe in a laundry room. I stay away from snake problems, because I have no training or expertise in that area, but because the lady was so desperate, I went with a more knowledgeable friend to see what could be done. It turned out that a rather large rat snake had gotten into a space between a pipe and a closet and evidently had swallowed a mouse in that position. Due to its now-increased size, it was stuck and could not get out. With the help of several neighbors, we took the closet apart and released the snake in nearby woods.

Calls about dogs and cats are received on a regular basis, and various calls about pet iguanas, snakes, ferrets, bunnies, and other domestic pets are common. Over the years, I have accumulated a vast list of rescue groups, which usually take over. What surprises me are the many calls we receive about baby mice and rats. Yes, there are good Samaritans who will take them in and make sure they are released in a safe area when they are well and grown.