Unfortunate Fisher

Fisher

Fisher

This female Fisher was very unfortunate. A tree fell on her in the woods and she was trapped for days. A man walking his dog found her, well, his dog actually found her. They called me, but were unable to find it again last night because it got dark. This morning they went out, found the Fisher and it was still alive. Unfortunately, the dog ran up and killed her before they could stop him. I have her body and am going to save her in my freezer and try to get a permit and have her mounted so I can use her for education.

Fishers are incredible athletes!  Look at her feet!

Young Fox Hit By Car

In August the young of the year are getting ready to leave the area where they were born  and find a new territory.  Unfortunately, not many of them survive.  This little guy was hit by a car.  A gentleman stopped when he saw the pup laying in the road, and intended to move him off of the road, thinking he was deceased.  Imagine his surprise when he grabbed the foxes rear legs and lifted him up to set him in the grass on the side of the road- and the fox moved its front legs!  Immediately he wrapped the fox in a towel and placed it in a box and began making phone calls to look for help for the fox.

Once Fox Wood Was contacted, we quickly made arrangements to meet.  The fox was then immediately rushed to a wonderful veterinarian who we work with.  He was carefully examined, X-Rayed, and found to have head trauma, but no broken bones!  Fluids and a steroid were given, and a long acting antibiotic was given.  There was not much else to do but wait and pray.

Day One, the fox remained unconscious.

Young Fox

Day 2: Semi- conscious, Gave some more steroid to reduce brain swelling, and an hour later taking some nourishment.  (See video on YouTube.)

Young Fox

Day 3:  Laying in a much better position with head up!  Eating and drinking with help

Young Fox

Young Fox

This is only day 3, so stay tuned….

Raising and Releasing Our Weasel

Weasel

Weasel

Weasel

The weasel was released over the weekend. I’m sorry I don’t have pics of the release for you, but she was VERY wild and very elusive and I must respect that.

She entered life in the wild via a process called “Slow Release” where she is given the opportunity to familiarize herself with the surroundings in the safety of her cage, and then the door is opened and she is allowed the freedom to come and go as she pleases. Food, water and a familiar shelter for her were provided for her to come back to as needed. I won’t reveal the location, but it is excellent weasel habitat, loaded with mice.

 

Above are a couple photos of her being raised. As she became a young adult, her natural instincts began to reveal themselves and she did not want to be handled and began to become more secretive in her movements. Though followers would have loved to see her all grown up, my responsibility to her is greater, so that is why there were no more photos of her. I appreciate your understanding this.

One of the things that you will find we do NOT do here at Fox Wood is exploit our wildlife. We don’t get the donations that result from the exploitation of displaying animals in uncomfortable public settings or putting them on public display here at our facility. What we do here is strictly for the animals, not for the money, not for our ego’s. That is what sets Fox Wood apart. We rely only on donations from people who understand what we do and why we do it.

Fawns

Fawn

In May and June Fox Wood receives many calls from well meaning people who are worried about an “abandoned fawn”. It is important to know that fawns are born with a natural defense mechanism. When fawns are first born they have no appealing scent to predators and they have an amazing ability to lay perfectly still and quiet, allowing the fawn to hide in plain sight. The mother deer does not stay with her fawn because she does not want to alert predators to her baby’s location. She comes back to her fawn throughout the day and night, but only when it appears there are no humans or other predators around. She feeds and thoroughly cleans the fawn to erase any scent they may have. Instinctively the fawn knows that when mom leaves, it must lay very still and silent in the location mom left it. Since the fawn does not move and no mother is present, people often think it is abandoned. Because of this, healthy fawns are often “kidnapped”.

A doe may keep her babies in the short grass area, near your home, in your garden, etc. for the first 3 days, not in the woods where the predators are hunting. These first days a fawn can’t outrun a predator, so they go limp when someone picks them up. They are not dying, they are playing “possum” so you will not be interested and put them down. With twins, a doe will leave one baby in one place, and then 300-500 feet away, she will leave the other. She then goes off to the closest hiding area and forms a triangle so she can watch over both, unseen, until it is time to feed again. She will not let them travel with her until they are old enough to keep up with the herd, but she is never far away.

There are times when a fawn will not express normal fawn behavior. We will usually be concerned when we get a call about a fawn that is wandering around crying out. This is not natural behavior as it attracts predators. Diarrhea, flies, falling down, limping, twins together and obvious wounds are all signs of a fawn that needs help. If you suspect a fawn needs help, or just want to make sure a fawn is OK, you can contact us or your local  Conservation Office for direction. In closing, remember the fawn that is lying still in your yard or garden is just nature’s way of giving us one more reason to smile. The fawn will leave on its own in just a couple of days, so take a picture and leave the baby for its real mother

A Very Rough Winter for All Wildlife!

This opossum was found on the side of the road in a snowbank, too weak to move because she was starving. I gathered her in a towel and brought her home.  For the first couple days it was touch and go, and I was only able to feed her small amounts of chicken noodle soup.  She started regaining some strength, and soon  started eating on her own. She will be released as soon as the weather breaks and there is plenty food around for her.

Opossum

First Red Fox Pup of 2015!

The first Red fox pup of 2015 is here!  He is almost three weeks old and was brought to Fox Wood by someone who at first  thought they were raising a domestic puppy.  He wasn’t fed the right foods from the start, so we are trying to get him back on track.  When he is old enough, he will get to join some of our wonderful foxes who love to raise the babies.

Pup 3-15-15

Discouraging Raccoons, Foxes and Skunks from Raising their Young Where it is Creating Problems

Coyote and urine can be used to humanely save lives! January, February, March,  April and May are the best times to use predator urine to get unwanted wildlife families to move from unwanted areas.  Coyote urine can be used to get a mother fox, raccoon or  skunk to move her young.  This will save you money, aggravation and  neighbor complaints, by convincing the mother of the young that she must move her babies to a safer location because the coyote urine will make her think that they are in danger where they area.   Through the years, I have gathered urine soaked bedding material from my coyote pens to give to people that were having issues with wildlife.  They have used the urine to encourage raccoon mothers to safely relocate their young without having to trap the female and then destroy the young left behind because they didn’t realize she had young.

In New York State, wildlife rehabilitators have to be specially licensed to raise orphaned raccoons and because of the prohibitive requirements only a handful of rehabilitators for orphaned raccoons exist.  These rehabilitators get filled up to the maximum # of baby raccoons they can handle very early in the year. that leaves hundreds of thousands of orphaned baby raccoons and the people who find them without options.  These numbers could be greatly cut if people would use a combination of  light, noise and coyote urine soaked bedding material to encourage momma to find another location to raise her young.  Many wild mammals do not want to keep their young in an area where there are predators such as coyotes and foxes.   Foxes don’t want to raise their young where there is a coyote roaming nearby.  If a coyote finds a littler of young fox, it will kill them.  They do this to ensure there is enough prey for their own pups. Sprinkling coyote urine soaked materials near a red or gray fox den will encourage momma fox to move her pups to a “safer” location.

Recently, a friend of mine had chipmunks chew the wire harness of his brand new truck causing some very expensive repairs that were not covered under the warranty.  It seems the new harness coating is “environmentally friendly” and tasty to rodents.  He had the problem repaired, with new “environmentally friendly” wire harness coating.  Worried it would happen again, he picked up some coyote urine soaked material and put it into a metal box with holes in it. He placed this under his truck in the parking spot.  Interestingly  enough, not only have chipmunks not chewed the new harness, but he hasn’t even seen a chipmunk anywhere near his house since. Prior to that, there were many, many of them in his wood piles and such.

Many people have come to get coyote urine to keep deer, rabbits and woodchucks from eating their garden vegetables, hostas and flowers.

I am offering coyote and fox urine soaked bedding to the general public via my website “Tip Jar” .  It is a cruelty-free product and  unlike the fur farms and trappers where coyote and fox urine is gathered now, my coyotes and foxes live comfortable happy lives at my sanctuary.  Call it “happy pee” if you want, but it sure works, and smells and performs better than the bottled stuff created by animals under stress  or killed.  I will gather it fresh when I get a request, and ship it out that day.  The money raised will go straight toward the care of injured and orphaned wildlife and also for making the living conditions for the permanent coyote and fox residents better and happier for them.

At present, I will mail the urine soaked bedding in a gallon zip lock plastic bags in a padded envelope for $40 , includes shipping and handling.  It can be purchased by clicking on the tip jar on the home page, and donating $40 to Fox Wood. Write a brief note and tell me if you prefer coyote or fox urine.  You may ask me any questions by e-mailing me at :  foxladye@yahoo.com

Bats

It’s that time of year again folks! The baby big brown bats that often roost in attics and eaves of our homes are learning to fly! They will often follow a stream of light from inside your home at night, thinking that it is daylight and it is the way to get outside to catch bugs.

If you don’t enjoy bats flying around inside your home like I do, buy a tube of caulk and go over any cracks where walls meet ceilings, chimneys, window and door jams. Take duct tape and go entirely around wherever the door is that goes into your attic space. Stuff insulation material in larger spaces, such as where the stove pipe goes up through the house. Remember, bats follow streams of LIGHT to find daylight and outdoors at dusk, so the object is to seal off cracks in your living space where light from a TV, nightlight etc might stream into where they are roosting, fooling the youngsters into thinking it is the way outside.

If a bat does get into your house, don’t panic. grab a bath-sized towel and gently toss it over the bat and gather it up and take it outside. Bats are very delicate, like hummingbirds!

The NYS Health Department might want to test a bat that has been in your sleeping area while you were sleeping, so you might contact them first if you are concerned.

Bat