News & Events

5/11/06

Despite the best efforts of many, we lost the eagle (see 5/9/06) Wednesday (5/10) night.

5/9/06

The eagle was injured when he flew into the path of a car.  A wildlife officer had taken custody of the bird and took it to a local vet.  They know that we do wildlife, so the officer called and asked for assistance.  The eagle was stabilized with a warm and quiet resting place, fluids and pain meds and started on antibiotics as a precaution.  It doesn't appear that he had any broken bones.  We transported him to Piedmont Wildlife Center for further treatment and rehabilitation.  He was more alert after his arrival and he seemed to be aware of his surroundings.  Additional photos and updates on his condition will be posted. (Click on the photo for a larger version.)

3/29/06

New Rescue-- Peter, an older English Spot. He came from the Greene County Animal Shelter (Show Hill, NC) He lost his home in a fire recently.  His family didn't have time for him as they try to put their lives back in order. He is a very sad rabbit and is not in very good physical condition. His fur feels almost like steel wool. His nails are long and brittle. He also has a weepy eye... probably pasteurella that was not properly treated. We are starting on treating him immediately and he will be available for adoption as soon as we get him healthy. He does appear to be a very sociable rabbit overall...but he is very stressed out right now. Some of his issues appear to be nutrition related and we have already started him on a proper rabbit diet. 

1/10/06

We recently took custody of a pair of bonded buns: Eddie, a dwarf mix and Lola, a dwarf/English Spot mix. They were outside rabbits. Lola had lost about 30% of her body weight and most of her fur. She was not in good shape. Both of them had nails well over an inch long. Lola was treated for worms and other intestinal parasites and is on the mend. Most of her fur has grown back in and she is gaining weight. Pics of this couple coming soon.

And the cottontail season started early and on a bad note. I was called to a neighboring town where someone had found a rabbit in their yard... they didn't know anything other than that it was brown and it was falling over.  When I got there, it was an adult cottontail that appeared to have been attacked...from the looks of the injuries probably a dog.  He had numerous abrasions and bruises all over his body.  He either had an ear infection or had suffered a closed head injury.  He exhibited all the classic signs of torticollis...his head was tilted all the way around and nystagmus had his eyes rolling constantly.  It was obvious that he was in deep trouble.  I administered a strong pain reliever, which quickly sedated him...and we humanely ended his suffering.  Even though it was in the rabbit's best interest since cottontails usually can't recover from such trauma, it is still sad none the less.

Danny was sedated today for a detailed investigation of a very stubborn eye infection.  It has cultured twice as pasteurella multocida but has not fully responded to the drugs that it cultured as sensitive too.  We have stepped up the treatment and will hopefully see improvement soon.  We also found that his hearing impairment may be the result of a massive amount of debris restricting his ear canal.  That was also cleaned up...so time will tell if he can hear.  More on his condition later.