No two days are ever the same!

Some days I’m feeding tortoises…

Bowser is a sulcata tortoise that arrived malnourished. Because of his stunted growth, he has to be handfed. Depending on his mood, the temperature, and the season, he alternates between having a voracious appetite and barely touching his food. But it’s our job as volunteers to make sure he’s getting plenty to eat, even if that means spending extra time sitting on the floor putting food in front of his face or trying to feed him later than usual. It might mean longer shifts or sore backs from leaning over to feed him. But the important thing is that he doesn’t ever suffer from malnutrition again!

…some days I’m doing educational programs…

Screech owls are adorable little owls that perpetually look like babies, even when full grown. There are several at the rehab center I volunteer at that can’t be released and work as animal ambassadors for educational programs. We always try to take owls that are being less difficult on any given day, but that’s impossible to predict…which is why we always we gloves 😉

…and other days I’m petting cats!

I don’t know his “official” name, but since he arrived, I’ve called him Fishsticks. When he first showed up at the center as I stray, I instantly started cuddling him up and giving him food. It wasn’t long before everyone was doing the same with this sweet, little guy and he wiggled his way inside all our hearts (and the temperature controlled building).

Fun with Vultures

One of the things I’m lucky enough to be able to do is speak about turkey vultures during educational events for the wildlife rehab center I volunteer at. Although vultures tend to be portrayed as the bad guys in movies, they’re actually incredibly important to have around! They’re the unsung heroes of nature.

Turkey vultures tend to hang out in groups. The director of “Hoo” Haven, Karen, refers to them as very “family oriented birds.” Although you may see just one vulture gliding overhead, if you look closely, you’re sure to spot others nearby.

Turkey vultures are scavengers. Although this has earned them a pretty unpleasant reputation, it’s actually great for us! By cleaning up nature’s leftovers, we have less to worry about regarding the spread of disease (or the bad smell of decomposing bodies everywhere).

These are the two I’m lucky enough to get to work with! The one in the back is TJ, who is super sweet. The one in the front is Matava, not quite so sweet but definitely always entertaining!

Baby squirrels don’t wanna grow up!

These recently weaned baby squirrels didn’t like the idea of being exclusively on solid food. While I was trying to clean their temporary accommodations, this little guy kept running over to chew on my finger. They certainly are cute, but it’ll be better for everyone when they’re back in the wild where they belong!

Making sure if you’re doing any tree trimming that you check before and after for nests and babies. It’s best if they remain in the wild with their mothers. Wildlife rehab centers should always be a last resort for baby animals. Where else will they learn cool tricks like licking sap off of tree branches for some sugary goodness?

Leave it better than you found it

Leaving it better than I found it is important in all my outdoor recreation activities. I may take it to an extreme not everyone wants to (or can) by making it my career. But I also enjoy finding ways outside of work to enjoy nature while preserving it. Citizen science is a great way to do just that. By collecting data as a volunteer, I can help scientists know where and how to focus their conservation efforts. Plus, it gives me access to forest preserves when they’re typically closed to visitors!

Me doing what I do best! Any nature themed volunteer work is a great way to give back. Volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation center allows me to be a part of the process of returning injured wildlife to nature. Now when I go hiking and see an animal, I can wonder if it’s one of the hundreds I’ve helped get back out to the wild.

Sometimes hiking is far from glamorous. I carry a bag with me so that I can pick up any trash I come across. This can occasionally land me wading through a creek to collect some piece of garbage that doesn’t belong there.

A trash-free forest preserve always makes me smile!

If you would like to see what I’m doing for nature and how you can also help, check out Preserving the Future on my website. If you love that awesome turkey vulture shirt I’m wearing, go buy your own turkey vulture themed merchandise here!

Give and Take (Photos)

I like to take photos of the critters I work with at the rehab center. But there’s so much work to be done that often I’m too tired after a full shift. So what I do instead is go on for a mini-shift on a day I usually have off. It’s a decent exchange: a couple extra hours of work from me for a chance to photograph my furry, feathery, and scaly friends. Nobody minds that you’re snapping a few photos if you’re making their shifts shorter.

Baby animals are a pretty common sight throughout the spring and summer months. This little blue-eyed baby crow had to be hand-fed wet cat food when he first arrived.

A young squirrel eating a tomato. Orphaned squirrels are really common to end up with at a rehab center. They’re friendly when they’re really little (generally), but they tend to get a little aggressive as they get older. That’s also around the time we try to release back into the wild where they belong.

Me doing what I do best!

The Snake Whisperer

I guess if I’m a crow whisperer, I guess I may as well be a snake whisperer too!

One of the interns was a little nervous about one of our snakes. She’s a little persnickety (the snake, not the intern) and gets a little impatient for food. Sometimes she’ll bite people if they’re not feeding her fast enough. So the intern asked if I would take care of it. Since I adore all our snakes, I happily agreed.

This little troublemaker does not like waiting for food. Corn snakes are generally friendly and easy to handle, but it’s important to work with them regularly. If all they’re used to is being left alone and fed, they’re prone to strike at anything that enters their enclosure because they don’t realize it isn’t food.

The little terror was leaning against the door, so as soon I opened it up, she slipped right into my arms. I wrapped her around my neck, cleaned her enclosure, put her back, and fed her. The intern was a bit impressed, both that I didn’t get bitten and at how comfortable I was handling such a little beast. She jokingly called me the snake whisperer.

Really, I just know all about being hangry too.

The Crow Whisperer

 

Twinkletoes is a crow that has to stay at Hoo. He’s missing part of his lower beak. He’s very friendly and very mischievous! He stole my lens cover and I had to play tug of war with him to get it back 🙂

I’m sometimes teased as being the crow whisperer. When this little guy is being friendly (which is often), I feed him snacks out of my mouth and give him kisses and head scratches. This is why we’re buddies.

Don’t forget the scratches!

I tend to forget how interesting what I do actually is. Sometimes it’s easy to get so caught up in a “routine” that we forget how exciting our everyday lives can be. This happened to me a few weeks ago and I recently was reminded of it.

Licorice is a silver fox that came in from a fur farm. Because of an injury, she had to have one of her front legs amputated but that hasn’t stopped her from being active! Silver foxes are a “melanistic form” of red foxes. This just means that although they’re the same species, they have a unique color variation not typical for the rest of the species.

While I was helping a newer volunteer clean out the foxes, he mentioned that they made him a little nervous. He hadn’t been there for very long, and foxes tend to be on the animals that people get a little cautious around when starting out at the rehab center. So it was completely understandable.

While I don’t throw caution to the wind around the animals, I do tend to feel pretty comfortable around them. Some of that is time, I’ve been volunteering at Hoo Haven for three years now, but part of it is also just these are my people. Some days, I really feel like I understand the foxes and other critters better than I understand my own (human) family (and by some days I of course mean most days).

The first fox pen has two foxes. The younger one came in with an injury requiring surgery and is making a speedy recovery. She’ll hopefully be released back into the wild soon. The other is an adult named Digger who has been with us since she was quite young. Because of some eye issues, she isn’t eligible for release so she’ll live out her life serving as a surrogate to other foxes before their release.

The young one is pretty skittish and runs off whenever someone comes into the enclosure but Digger usually doesn’t. She’s somewhat social with humans, generally picking out the people she knows and likes and playing with them. With me, she likes to have her chest scratched. So of course, one of the first things I do is go over to her, say hi, and start scratching her chest just the way she likes.

Then I was called “awesome” by the newer volunteer for being so comfortable with her to do this. I just laughed, explained that I’d known her since she was a baby, and assured him that it just takes time to get to know the animals. It’s one of the great things about being a regular volunteer at a rehab center. You get special privileges with the animals. Not because the staff allow it, but because the critters do.

Check out my website for more of my other adventures and photography at www.cyrenekrey.com! Also, be sure to follow my new adventure project on Instagram at www.instagram.com/therenegademermaid! I’m a small business owner, so your support is always valued 🙂

Fresh Ink

Working with animals doesn’t realistically give you days off. At home, I don’t get any days off with a house full of rescue critters. When I go into the rehab center, at least I know if I’m sick or my car breaks down that there will be other people there to pick up the slack. But unless there’s some sort of serious issue, I’m not taking time off and this might mean I have to deal with a bit of discomfort.

Me! Taking measurements of tree heights in a local forest preserve for more forestry class a few years back.

This is especially true right after getting a new tattoo. I also have a few tattoos. I’m currently working on #7 on my right arm (a gorgeous underwater scene). I always do my best to schedule my appointments to avoid my rehab shifts and periods of extra busyness. But sometimes, the healing takes a little bit longer than anticipated. After my second session on this particular piece, my arm was more swollen than usual and for a couple days longer than normal.

I’ve been hoping for some warmer weather for quite a while now and Mother Nature decided to grace us with an especially hot day when I had to go in to volunteer with a swollen, still healing arm. Which meant long sleeves for me! Thanks MN ;p No worries though! I was able to keep my arm clean and covered during my shift and it’s healing up nicely. But I was very warm and uncomfortable during my (thankfully short) shift.

This was Fluffy and Buttercup’s first family photo shoot! (On my other arm.)

Just a few general pointers for anyone who might be thinking about getting a tattoo while working in somewhat unsanitary conditions:

1. Try to give yourself time off after getting a new tattoo to let your body rest while it’s healing. (I personally try to go for a solid week, but at a minimum give myself two full days of recovery. Talk to your artist and follow their advice always.)
2. Keep it covered while it’s healing with loose, soft clothing whenever you’ll be in less clean settings. It needs to breathe but you want to avoid bacteria coming into contact with any fresh wound.
3. Wash your hands frequently to avoid accidentally spreading anything icky near your tattoo (or wear gloves if your tattoo is on your hands).
4. Shorten your shift if at all possible. I can sometimes sneak out a bit earlier when most of the more challenging or time consuming tasks are done, which gives my body more time to rest without inconveniencing anyone.
5. Talk to your artist about your concerns ahead of time and get their take on how to best handle your working conditions while keeping your tattoo protected.

These tips are based on my own personal experience. You should always consult with your tattoo artist and follow their advice. If you’re worried about an infection, talk to a doctor. Common sense goes a long way.

It can definitely make working a bit more challenging or uncomfortable, but people get tattoos all the time in every different field so it’s absolutely doable if you’re smart and safe.

 

Loud-mouthed Baby Owl

Now that it’s baby season, there are a lot of of babies at the rehab center! But even though they’re babies, they aren’t necessarily small, friendly, or safe to handle without gloves.

A baby owl at Hoo from a couple years ago. Although they’re really cute, we can’t interact with them too much. We don’t let them imprint on us so they’re able to be released. It’s still fun watching how quickly they grow up!

Case in point. Baby owls for some species are not small. In fact, they can be the size of adults in just over a month. They still look adorable because they don’t have their grown up feathers yet, but they can do some damage if you’re not careful.

I threw on a pair of thick gloves and went over to the enclosure the baby owl was being moved from. He had been placed in there temporarily because it was available, but was already too big to stay in there for very long so he was being moved to a larger enclosure. As soon as I opened the door, he started screaming bloody murder!

When they’re smaller like this, we feed them by hand. Once they’re a bit bigger, they start eating on their own. Although already large, these guys are still small and this photo was taken while they were still being hand-fed.

And as soon as I reached down to pick him up, he started biting at me. This is why we wear gloves. I moved the screeching, screaming, loud-mouthed baby owl into his new larger enclosure. Thankfully, he didn’t manage to get me with his beak or talons but he came close a couple of times and he was LOUD! It gave the other volunteers a bit of a chuckle and he quieted right down once he was in his new enclosure and I had left. He certainly didn’t complain nearly as loudly though when I came back a few minutes later with his food!