Raising orphaned wildlife means letting go

Wild babies will be coming in soon.

We don’t act much differently from any mother. As April turns to May, we’ll all be bleary-eyed from getting up every hour or two at night to feed the babies. We sterilize bottles, wash blankets and worry about our babies getting cold or hungry. But I’ll bet few mothers out there worry that their baby won’t be able to fly, or kill its first mouse.

Those of us who are surrogate mothers to baby wildlife view this baby season with more apprehension than excitement.

Not for the reasons you might think, though. We love these little guys; it’s an honor to be able to do this.

Nothing is cuter or more satisfying than watching these tiny little balls of hiss and spit and fluff playing and growing, and feeling so proud when they take wing or kill their food. And that’s the rub, the babies are so sweet, and so helpless, the mother in me wants to mother.

But if these little guys are handled much, held, petted, or played with, they lose the sharp edge of their instincts. And they need those instincts to keep them safe and alive once I send them off to be squirrels and bobcats and foxes. So I feed them and clean up after them and give them toys (for the bobcats, toys mean dead things), and teach them to hunt and kill the best I can.

Even so, there is nothing sadder than a little orphan that comes to us and leaves with those question marks over its head: Will it be able to find enough food? Will it recognize danger? Does it know enough to survive?

We approach raising our babies scientifically and with infinite care. We make sure they stay wild, that they know what to eat, and how to catch it. But we can’t tell them what to fear, how to build a den, or what to do about a myriad of situations where Mom’s advice would be a real boost to their future.

Lower animals are mostly driven by instinct. Hence a fish can drop off the eggs at the gravel bar and leave.

Animals with higher intelligence have the instincts to be afraid of humans, but they learn much of their behavior, allowing them to modify it to adapt better. That’s where Mom comes in. She knows secrets about life out there at which we can only guess. Best of all, with Mom there is a built-in grace period. While they make all of their adolescent mistakes, Mom will keep protecting her babies until they are capable of making it on their own.

So we love these little balls of fur enough to want their moms to raise them. Most of you do, too. If you find a wild baby, make certain it needs rescuing before you bring it to us. It isn’t always easy to know when a baby needs to be rescued, and it doesn’t help that they all look so defenseless.

Sometimes they are taken from their mothers needlessly. So look for one of these three criteria before you interfere with it: Is it orphaned, ill or injured?

If you aren’t sure how to tell, call Umpqua Wildlife Rescue at 440-6895 and we can help you decide whether to rescue it or leave it alone.



<i>Becky Bass is a member of Umpqua Wildlife Rescue. </i>