NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bracing for the 'spring rush'
Season brings many infant of animals to sanctuary

By Aimee Heckel, Camera Staff Writer
March 24, 2005
Boulder High School is empty this week. Only a few stray bodies spot the University of Colorado campus.

A boxy blue building northeast of Boulder also stood quiet Wednesday morning, except for a soft cooing from a box on Victoria Nykamp's desk.

She opened the lid and lifted a fleece blanket inside to reveal brown fur and three twitching black noses: three 7-week-old squirrels, Elaina, Bruno and Mario, curled around each other.
When animal control officers brought the squirrels to Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary on Feb. 26, they were each the size of a thumb and weighed 10 to 14 grams. After almost a month of care, including a special formula six times a day, their tails are blossoming, their eyes have opened and they each now weigh a quarter of a pound.

The squirrels lost their mother when someone cut down a tree and destroyed their nest in Boulder, Greenwood officials said. They are among the 18 other baby squirrels in the facility right now — marking the beginning of what workers call the spring rush.

"Everything has its season," Nykamp said, holding Elaina in one hand and a syringe of liquid in the other. "It's like clockwork every spring. The squirrels are the first things we get."
She expects fox kittens and raccoon babies any day now. By the end of April, the building will brim with birds, which make up about 75 percent of Greenwood's patients.

The coyote pups start arriving June 1. A second bout of squirrels appears in July. By fall, about 300 squirrels will have passed through Greenwood, Nykamp said.

Greenwood, one of the largest wildlife rehabilitation facilities on the Front Range, takes in as many as 3,500 injured and orphaned wild animals a year. About 70 percent are returned to nature. The rest die, usually within the first day, said Karen Taylor, co-founder. But there are many more happy endings, she said, stories of re-uniting with a lost mother or defeating serious injuries.
This year, the nonprofit has five year-round employees, compared to one or two in the past. It also hired eight part-time seasonal workers and is in "desperate" need of volunteers, officials said. Greenwood relies on volunteers to clean cages and transport animals. Even veterinary care is donated.

People may also help by keeping wild animals safe and out of the center, Taylor said. She asks residents to cover window wells and chimneys, where animals may get trapped. She also recommends keeping cats and dogs away from wild babies and teaching children how to appreciate but not interfere with wildlife. Look before pruning trees to make sure you don't disturb a nest, like Elaina the squirrel's, she said.

Residents who see a wild baby should leave it alone unless they're certain it's abandoned, in danger or injured. They should contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator to assess the animal's needs. Greenwood's Web site, Greenwoodwildlife.org, offers tips and resources. It's illegal in Colorado for residents to possess most native wildlife species.
"Every day, be aware of wildlife out there," Taylor said. "Increasingly these animals are in people's back yards, but they need to realize it was the animal's back yard first. They're living in somebody else's home."

Contact Camera Staff Writer Aimee Heckel at (303) 473-1359 or heckela@dailycamera.com.
Copyright 2005, The Daily Camera. All Rights Reserved.

What to do if you find a baby wild animal
March 24, 2005
Make every effort to reunite the animal with its parents. Watch it from a distance for several hours to determine if it is an orphan.
Do not try to raise it yourself. Call the Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary at (303) 545-5849 for help before picking it up or transporting it.
If the baby doesn't have all of its fur or can't walk well, put it in a box with soft, "non-stringy" bedding that has been warmed in a dryer. Leave the box under a tree near where the animal was found. Don't hang around too closely for too long.
Parents will not reject babies because a human touched them.
If the animal is injured
Place it in a box with a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel.
Put the box in a quiet, dark place.
Call Greenwood or a wildlife rehabilitator for help.
Do not hold the animal or try to feed it. Don't handle a wild animal that could be dangerous.
For more information about transporting animals, helping abandoned fledglings, setting up temporary housing for an animal, and understanding the animal's stress and shock, check out Greenwoodwildlife.org.
How to help
Donate gently used items to the Greenwood Wildlife Gift and Thrift Shop, 3013 Walnut St. in Boulder. A wish list is online under the "Helping" link.
The center needs more volunteers to help with care, feeding, cleaning, transporting animals and releasing animals.
Donate money online at greenwoodwildlife.org/donations.html. Checks may be mailed to Greenwood, P.O. Box 18987, Boulder, CO 80308.

— Source: Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary