DOW seeks rescuers to rehabilitate area animals

DOW seeks rescuers to rehabilitate area animals

May 31, 2001

By Tom Sluis
Durango Herald Staff Writer

Faster than a speeding raptor slamming into a barbed-wired fence.

More powerful than runoff washing helpless ducklings down storm drains.

Otherwise mild-mannered citizens in Colorado are not exactly being handed capes and masks by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, but they are being recruited to become animal rescuers.

As part of a Wildlife Rescue Team, volunteers throughout the state are being asked to answer the call of the wild by helping injured, sick and orphaned wild animals, said Elaine Kehm, who coordinates the program for the western region of the wildlife division.

In Grand Junction, the rescue call went out after nine wild mallard ducklings were found in a storm drain, Kehm said. The mother was waddling frantically about in a nearby parking lot. Members of the Wildlife Rescue Team grabbed a fishing net and snake tongs, lifted the babies out and successfully returned them to their mother.

"People call in about raccoons, squirrels, rabbit, deer, robins, finches and occasionally raptors," Kehm said. "But we once got a call on a domesticated emu. We went out to help anyway."

The guiding principle behind the effort is the less time spent with the animals, the better. If the animal is injured, it is brought to a person trained in rehabilitating wildlife or a veterinarian and eventually released back into the wild.

A problem sometimes arises when people find a baby animal that is presumed to be orphaned, but is not, said Tony Gurzick, area wildlife manager in Durango.

"People with good intentions often pick up a wild animal and bring it to our office," he said. "But especially, with the babies, it is usually a death sentence, because they need the mother’s milk."

People assume because the mother is not nearby she must be dead, but often she has left to look for food, Gurzick said.

As Colorado’s open spaces continue to be developed, the rescue program is more in demand as humans move into wildlife habitat, Kehm said.

The program is accordingly a balancing act between letting nature takes its course and meeting the needs of the public.

"Animals get sick and die all the time out in the wild, but when it’s in your back yard, people tend to notice, and they want something to be done," Kehm said.

Sometimes the problem takes care of itself, Kehm said. "People will call the Division of Wildlife to report a sick or injured wild animal, but by the time they return to their back yard the animal is gone," Kehm said. "Maybe it was eaten, maybe it was just stunned and recovered."

The Wildlife Division is seeking eight to 10 volunteers for its Cortez program. Training will be provided but there are a few risks, Kehm said, mainly from scratches, bites or getting a talon in the arm.

Rescue teams stand ready in Grand Junction, Roaring Fork Valley, Summit County and Montrose. In Southwest Colorado, a team is sought for the Cortez, Mancos and Dolores area. If the program is successful, a team may be sought for Durango.

"It’s not that a similar program is not needed in Durango," Gurzick said. "There is a very dedicated pool of rehabilitators throughout South-west Colorado, including Pagosa Springs and Durango. But for starting a project, it makes sense to start in Cortez and work the bugs out. That way, when we bring it to Durango, it will be a greater success."

For information on the Wildlife Rescue Team program, call Kehm at (970) 255-6145.

Anyone who finds an injured animal in Montezuma County can contact Sheryl Rose, licensed wildlife rehabiitator, at 565-2607.