Hurricane Katrina--WILDLIFE REHABILATION CENTERS REPORT

This is a mixture of devotion, sad and heartening news about several rehabilitator facilites taken from the Best Friends website:

"September 7, 2005 : 11:40 PM ET
The saddest news, first, is that four of the people of WRANPS, the Wildlife Rehab and Nature Preservation Society in Long Beach, Mississippi, did not survive the hurricane and were found in the wreckage of their center this morning by Alison Sharpe and another wildlife rehabilitator. The four have not yet been identified, so we do not have their names.

Of the seventy or so animals also found at WRANPS, some were still alive and are being placed in the care of other wildlife rehabilitators.

The entire staff of WRANPS has done a valiant job for many years in caring for pelicans, seals and many other sea birds and mammals. They took in two or three thousand animals a year and provided a haven for orphaned and injured Gulf Coast wildlife. May peace and blessings be with them as they and the creatures they cared for travel to the shores of a gentler sea.

Also on the Mississippi coast, wildlife rehabilitator Alison Sharpe survived the full brunt of the hurricane, which destroyed her house while she was in it. In the middle of the hurricane, she and a colleague made a dash for a construction site where they rode out the rest of the storm.

Very sadly, Alison had to euthanize all her rehab birds because there was not enough food to keep them alive. She was able to save her three educational birds. For several days she shared ice cubes with the three: a great horned owl, a crow, and a red-tailed hawk, doling out to them the small amount of food available. Finally, she was able to make her way to Becki Bolm’s center in Vicksburg with the three birds, who she has entrusted to Becki for the time being.

Becki who reported this news to us, had more news as well, some happier. Since we spoke with Becki last Thursday (see previous column) their power is on, though it blinks a little from time to time.

Pat Lowrance, licensed wildlife rehabilitator and friend of Becki’s in a nearby town, was able to release eight of her birds, and is now down to sixteen hawks, owls, and Mississippi kites. A near disaster, though, was the loss all of the food for her raptors (birds of prey), spoiled because of the power going out. She was left with nothing to feed the birds.

The Jackson Zoo, in Jackson Mississippi, has come to the rescue and will be donating raptor food to both Pat and Becki! Donna Todd, wildlife rehabilitator at the Jackson Zoo arranged this donation."

Read full report here
SeEtta