Persevering for Wildlife

24/04/2026

Larry the fighter is doing wonderful! He’s come such a long way in the last week. Thank you everyone for the outpouring of love for him, he most certainly feels it ❤️

22/04/2026

Who else can relate?? ✌🏻❤️

21/04/2026

Opossums clear out slugs and insects that damage your plants.
Raccoons dig up grubs that destroy lawns from below.
Skunks hunt rodents and beetles that can quickly get out of control.

What many people see as “nuisance animals”…
are actually part of a natural system working to keep things balanced.

Every time we replace nature with poisons, we don’t just remove pests—
we remove the helpers too.

Coexistence isn’t just kindness…
it’s smarter, safer, and better for the environment we all depend on.

Sometimes the best pest control…
is already living right outside your door.

21/04/2026

🐢❤️

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
Turtles are on the move! Please keep an eye out on the roads! Slow down, and if safe to do so, help them cross in the direction theyre headed! Pick them up on the their backside, grabbing the shell above their back legs! Never pick them up by the tails! If you have questions, give us a call! 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

20/04/2026

I’m very happy to report an UPDATE on my newest little squirrel patient….
He’s holding strong and fighting! He is completely hydrated now and eating food from a syringe. He will be on a soft food diet for quite a while since he teeth went through his nasal cavity. He must have suffered a bad fall or another type of traumatic incident because it left him with a slightly crooked jaw, this is a healed older injury (I know…. Two big injuries in this very young boys life is heartbreaking 😢). Because of that his teeth stopped grinding down. Here’s a fact you might not know, squirrels teeth grow up to 6 inches a year! They are always growing. So they always need to be grinding down. Well, our little boys teeth stopped doing that and grew right into his nasal cavity. Then he couldn’t eat or drink naturally anymore. This left him skin and bones. He was so dehydrated his systems were starting to shut down. If that wasn’t bad enough (I know right! 🙈) fleas and ticks took over his body and he was infested, one of the worst cases I’ve had for such a small animal, so he is anemic. Luckily the fleas were handled immediately and I started hydrating him. Then yesterday I was able to handle his bottom teeth, and today I was able to do the tops since they were worse than I realized yesterday. SO, he’s been through a lot, but he’s improving! All the love, prayers and well wishes are working along side his treatment plan.
Ohhhh and I forgot one of the best parts! He has a name….. LARRY! 🐿️

19/04/2026

I got a new patient in last night who is going to need all your love, support, well wishes, and prayers (whatever you believe in!).
He is in extremely rough shape. This all most likely started because his bottom teeth are very overgrown, resulting in his not being able to eat properly. Because of that and a long, hard winter, he is completely emaciated and dehydrated. He was also infested with fleas and ticks (they love sick animals), leaving him extremely anemic; there is no pink left to his gums or ears whatsoever. So to say he's in trouble is an understatement.
This is going to be very touch and go with him. I'm here fighting for him, but he now needs to want to fight too, even though his fragile little body wants to give up.

01/04/2026

They call us ugly.
They call us pests.
They say we don't belong.
But we were here first.
We raise our babies.
We keep ecosystems balanced.
We're just trying to live the life meant for us.
THE OPOSSUM:
→ Eats 5,000 ticks per season
→ Immune to most snake venom
→ Nearly impossible to get rabies
→ "Plays dead" because it's TERRIFIED of you
THE RACCOON:
→ Remembers problem solutions for 3+ years
→ Has more sensory receptors in paws than most mammals
→ Washes food to "see" it better through touch
→ Just wants to eat and raise babies
THE SKUNK:
→ Eats grubs destroying your lawn
→ Digs up yellow jacket nests (you're welcome)
→ Only sprays as absolute LAST resort
→ Stomps feet and warns you FIRST
You call the exterminator. You put out poison. You shoot them.
For WHAT?
For eating the pests you'd pay money to remove?
For existing in a neighborhood built on THEIR home?
Kindness should include all lives.
They're not beautiful to everyone. They're not always welcomed. They're not always understood.
But they're just trying to live the life meant for them.
Maybe let them.

10/03/2026

27/02/2026

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

17/02/2026

Kindness for all Living Beings

It's February. You walk outside at dusk and get hit with that unmistakable smell. Every. Single. Night.

You're witnessing heartbreak.

Skunk mating season peaks in February. That smell isn't aggression—it's rejection. Female skunks spray males who approach before she's ready. She may reject 4-5 males per night.

What you're smelling:
- A male who got too close too fast
- A female saying "NOT YET" in the only language he understands
- Approximately 1 tablespoon of musk traveling half a mile

This isn't war. It's dating. And it smells terrible.

The scent will decrease by mid-February when females finally accept mates. Until then, your neighborhood smells like bad romance.

Keep dogs leashed at dusk. Lovesick males are distracted and spray first, assess threats later.

16/02/2026

THE "WOBBLE" IS A METABOLIC CRASH.
If you see an opossum staggering across your patio in broad daylight this February, do not reach for the shovel.
He is not "groggy." He is not "acting crazy." He is in the final stages of a physiological shutdown.

The Myth: The "Daylight Rabies" Panic
In the United States, we are culturally conditioned to view any nocturnal animal active during the day—especially one moving unsteadily—as rabid.
The Reality: For the Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana), this diagnosis is statistically improbable. Opossums have a naturally low body temperature (roughly 94°F-97°F) which makes it difficult for the rabies virus to survive and replicate in their systems.
If an opossum is wobbling in February, the culprit is almost certainly Metabolic Collapse, not a virus.

The Scientific Reality: Hypoglycemic Shock & Ataxia
The staggering gait you are witnessing is clinically known as Ataxia (loss of motor control). In late winter, this is a critical alarm bell indicating that the animal's blood glucose and core temperature have dropped below the threshold required to coordinate its own muscles.

The Tropical Hangover: Opossums are evolutionary migrants from the tropics (South America). They lack a thick underfur and do not hibernate. They are biologically ill-equipped for American winters.

The Brain Starvation: The brain is a glucose-dependent organ. When an opossum spends days sheltering from a February freeze without eating, it burns through its fat reserves. When blood sugar plummets (Hypoglycemia), the cerebellum—the part of the brain controlling balance—fails to function.

The "Wobble": The stumble isn't aggression; it is the visible symptom of a brain starved of fuel.

What is Happening Right Now (February)
We are in the "Starvation Moon."
Right now, food sources (insects, fruit, carrion) are at their absolute seasonal low.

Forced Foraging: Extreme hunger forces opossums to forage during the day when temperatures are slightly higher, breaking their nocturnal habit.

Frostbite: You may see damage to their naked ears and tails (necrosis). This physical pain, combined with starvation, puts them in a catabolic state—they are breaking down their own muscle tissue just to keep their heart beating.

Why This Matters Ecologically
The opossum is the "sanitation engineer" of the forest. They consume thousands of ticks per season (reducing Lyme disease risk), eat cockroaches, and clean up carrion.
Losing a breeding-age individual to preventable starvation right before spring creates a gap in this crucial cleanup crew. A "wobbly" opossum is not dead yet; it is salvageable.

Practical Action: The Triage Protocol
This is a medical emergency. Time is the enemy.

Stop Filming: Do not watch to see if he "walks it off." He won't.

The Capture: Opossums are generally non-aggressive when weak. Use thick gardening gloves or a heavy towel to gently scoop him into a high-sided box or cat carrier.

The Heat Protocol (CRITICAL): You must provide external heat. Fill a hot water bottle (wrap it in a towel so it doesn't burn the skin) or use a heating pad on "Low" under half the box. This arrests the hypothermia.

No Food Yet: Do not force-feed. A cold animal cannot digest; food will rot in the stomach or cause aspiration. You must warm them up before they can metabolize calories.

The Call: Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator immediately. They can administer subcutaneous fluids and dextrose (sugar) injections to reverse the crash.

The Verdict
A stagger is not a walk. It is a biological SOS.
The battery is empty.
Pick him up. Warm him up. Make the call.

Scientific References & Evidence
Rabies Resistance: Krause, W. J., & Krause, W. A. (2006). The Opossum: Its Amazing Story. (Details the low body temperature mechanism that inhibits rabies replication).

Winter Physiology: Kanda, L. L. (2005). Winter energetics of Virginia opossums. Journal of Mammalogy. (Documents the metabolic limits and high mortality rates of opossums in northern winters).

Hypoglycemia/Ataxia: National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (NWRA). "Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation." (Protocols distinguishing metabolic collapse from neurological disease).