GreenSpot-On Wildlife Q & A #4

Welcome to the Fourth Issue of the GreenSpot-On Wildlife Q & A! Here are brand new questions recieved from a student at C. A. Frost Environmental Science Academy in Grand Rapids, MI along with my answers to them!

Question: Does the DNR help you to get the wild animals back into their natural habitat? Are there other places that help you?

Name: Jennah Age: 9

Grade: 4 School-City/State: C. A. Frost Environmental Science Academy – Grand Rapids, MI

JRouse’s Answer: The DNR helps to get the animals back into their natural habitat by bringing us the animals, and of course they monitor the animals that we have over the year period. We have to keep special logs for the animals that we take care of. As far as actually taking the animal after we have rehabbed them, the answer is no. We usually release them ourselves in the county that they were found in. But, for the birds of prey we usually relocate them to another facility where they are put into flight cages to help assist them in strengthening their skills before release. All of these animals though, need to be acclimated to the outdoors and the environment before release. You wouldn't want to have an animal housed indoors and just release it without acclimating it first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Question: How did you learn how to take care of animals?

Name: Iain Age: 6

Grade: 1 School-City/State: C. A. Frost Environmental Science Academy – Grand Rapids, MI

JRouse’s Answer: I have always had an interest in animals, since I was small. I lived out in the country for some time and we had a variety of animals from cats to turkeys. As I got older, I dog sat for neighbors and eventually started taking dogs for walks that were at the local shelter. I started volunteering with the local shelter and I eventually landed a job in a veterinary practice. It started as just kennel help (cleaning cages and medicating the animals), during that time I was able to observe how to care for them. After a while I worked my way to assisting the vet in the exam rooms and then eventually started assisting with surgeries. Since we did wildlife on the side, I was able to assist with that and now I am able to do a lot on my own. Although there are still things that only a licensed veterinarian should perform (care-wise) for some animals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Question: Do the owls and cats live together when you are taking care of them?

Name: Braeden Age: 5

Grade: 1 School-City/State: C. A. Frost Environmental Science Academy – Grand Rapids, MI

JRouse’s Answer: No, the owls are actually kept at my work in a isolation room. The only cats that roam around the clinic are the 2 cats that we have living there, but they do not have access into that room. To keep an owl you actually have to have a federal permit and I do not have my own federal permit. I am able to care for them through my boss, who has a federal permit. The permit allows owls (or other birds of prey) to be housed at the address that is on that particular permit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some of these animals are pictured in the slideshow on the main page. If you have children, are a student/adult or wildlife lover and you would like to ask a question about any of these animals, please send an e-mail to JRouse. Include the following information in your e-mail:

Question: (Question for JRouse)
Name: (First Name) Age: (Age)
Grade: (Grade Level of Student) School-City/State: (School Name - Location: City/State)

3 questions will be answered during each issue of the GreenSpot-On Wildlife Q & A, so it may take time for your question to be answered. Subscribe to GreenSpot-On's feed by Email to get the Issues & other posts straight to your inbox!

Sincerely,
JRouse @ GreenSpot-On
Link: http://unhub.com/GreenSpotOn/17979
Become a Fan! GreenSpot-On Fan Page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/GreenSpot-On/76428392367
Twitter: @GreenSpotOn
Subscribe to our feed by Email from our mainpage for GreenSpot-On straight to your Email!