We didn’t get much rain in mid-August but it poured the afternoon I needed to get some injured wildlife to a rehabber. This trip I stopped at the emergency vet office and picked up some lost baby squirrels to add to the box of baby squirrels I was taking to Penny (the crazy busy rehabber in south St. Pete). After the vet office I stopped at the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and picked up more baby squirrels, a tiny baby opossum, a juvenile opossum and a juvenile red bellied woodpecker. They all made the trip to Penny’s so they could finish growing up before being released. And yes, that box of squirrels also had the tiny opossum. We put him in the squirrel box to keep warm since it had a warming gel pad under the towels.
A few days later I made a quick trip to the vet office to pick a lost baby squirrel and a pigeon with an injured wing and take them both to the Raptor Center.
The next day I made another trip to take the above from the Raptor Center to Penny in south St. Pete. That little baby opossum was just too cute when Nancy picked him up to put him in the box to make the trip. More baby squirrels and an injured black vulture (my first vulture passenger). A laughing gull also made this trip.
The next week I brought more lost baby squirrels and an opossum to Penny. The tiny bird was an Island canary that was found sick and exhausted. It was banded and Penny was going to try and find the owner. It was either an escapee or was released.
The day after Hurricane Idalia skirted by the Tampa bay area was a busy rescue day. People had brought Nancy baby squirrels that had fallen out of trees the day of the hurricane and a juvenile osprey had fallen off the nest. I picked them up in the morning and took them down to Penny. She took the osprey out of the crate while I was there and checked her out. She didn’t look injured so she should be released as soon as she’s eating and flying.
Later that afternoon I got a request to pick up some more lost critters that had come in from the emergency vet office. I picked up more baby squirrels and the cutest baby duck. I drove them right down to Penny’s.
In early September I got my first turtle passenger. A soft shell turtle had swallowed a fishing hook. I drove it over to Swamp Girl Adventures in Kissimmee, just outside of Orlando. Kim took the turtle and said they shouldn’t have a problem getting that hook out. I have to say that turtle was the stinkiest passenger I have had. It does live in a swamp after all. I hosed out the blue tub and left my windows rolled down for a day and the smell was gone.
