By Wendy Elliott
Most wild critters don’t need people to take care of them, but the Hope for Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Society in Seaforth nurtures those who get hurt or sick.
Last month volunteer Rebecca Michelin brought four animal ambassadors to the New Booker School camp to instruct eager children.
She explained the aim at the Eastern Shore centre is to release healthy animals back into the wild, but for some it is not possible.
Ophelia and Marcel, a pair of sugar gliders from Australia, were the first example. They were sold illegally in a pet shop, but Michelin explained the nocturnal creatures don’t make good pets.
She said they need room to glide and tend to urinate for territorial reasons.
“Most people don’t think about these things before they buy them.”
Sold in North America for about 20 years, sugar gliders “belong in Australia” where the adorable little animals eat fruit, nectar and live bugs.
‘You have to research the right pet for you,” Michelin noted. “Sugar gliders, for example, live for 15 to 16 years. Even that is quite a commitment.”
The second animal Michelin showed the children was a Greek spur-thighed tortoise named Clover. She said poverty prompts some people to traffic in animals.
“Clover was stolen from Africa. He was found in a suitcase at the Halifax airport. That happens a lot and it’s against the law.”
The tortoise couldn’t be returned to Africa for disease reasons, so he came to live in a sandbox at the centre.
“Clover leaves are his favourite food, hence his name,” said Michelin.
She explained turtles in Nova Scotia often lay their eggs on the side of the road and get hit by cars.
“It’s really dangerous,” Michelin noted. “We have drained so many ponds.”
She added it is possible to fix broken or cracked shells using a metal brace.
Some people injure turtles on purpose. “You have to have respect,” Michelin told her avid audience.
See Saw, the Northern Saw Whet Owl, demonstrates by his very existence how damaged creatures can survive. He was found on the side of the road and was likely hit by a car.
The tiny bird has one eye and his broken wing had to be amputated. In captivity for five years now, Michelin said, “he has lost his fear of people and can’t go back to the wild.”
More than 1,500 birds are brought to the Seaforth centre annually. Michelin said, most go back to the wilderness while “some have to be put to sleep.”
See Saw is about three years old and his eye fixes on Michelin as she talks.
“He knows who I am,” she noted.
“People often report to us seeing a baby owl on their bird feeder,” she said, “they’re waiting for mice. They are very smart.”
Michelin showed the children an owl pellet to illustrate the importance of diet.
“It’s very important that they eat as close to what they have in the wild.”
A barred owl, Oliver Twist, is an example of what can go wrong when misinformed people try to make pets of wild creatures.
Oliver was located on the ground and likely fell out of his nest as a young bird. Someone took him home for about six weeks and, Michelin said, did not help him or feed him properly.
The young barred owl, the most common kind in Nova Scotia, has only about 60 per cent of his vision now. Michelin said he requires cataract surgery.
Michelin has trained Oliver for about five months now. He sits on her padded arm and works as an ‘education animal.’
The volunteers at Hope for Wildlife, Michelin said, really love what they do. They educate the public, clean cages and fundraise for surgeries like Oliver’s, so wild animals across the province, “can have the best life possible.”
Factbox:
Hope for Wildlife history
Hope Swinimer took in her first rehab animal, a robin that had been attacked by a cat, in 1995. She was working as a manager at the Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital at the time.
The centre moved to Seaforth in 1997, the same year Swinimer received her rehabilitator’s permit. Hope for Wildlife was the first privately owned wildlife rehabilitation centre in Nova Scotia.
In 2001, the centre relocated to the current property on Highway 207. The Hope for Wildlife Society has grown to more than 75 volunteers and rehabilitates more than 1,500 animals per year from all over the province.
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