Humans Cause Most Injuries to Wildlife; Good News is — That’s Fixable!

A recent Washington Post featured information from an article found in the Journal of Biological Conservation. The article focused on a broad study of wildlife rehabilitation groups in the U.S. and Canada relative to the reasons animals were brought in for care. The study covered information on over 1000 species from 674,320 different records from 94 different wildlife centers between 1975 and 2019. It comes as no surprise to me that over 40% of these cases were determined to be caused by negative impact with human interactions. Vehicle collisions, fishing related, building collision, predation, poisons and human caused climate change issues like heat stress die-offs and weather extremes topped the list.

These are similar to our own experience. The causes for intake are very similar, but results diverge from there. The main difference that we see from that in the study, is in the rate of animals returned to the wild rate. In the study around 32.5% of animals were later released back into the wild. Our return rate at Liberty Wildlife varies from 45 to 57% each year.

The take-aways here start with basics. At Liberty Wildlife our many years of experience seems to count. Our veterinary care is beyond the pale. Our founding veterinarian, Dr. Kathy Orr, was a pioneer in the world of rehabilitation. Our current lead veterinarian, Dr. Stephanie Lamb is a board certified avian veterinarian with a plethora of experience and the remarkable ability to bring it into the practice all of the time. Building on this professionalism, we have recently partnered with Midwestern University Veterinary School, adding Dr. Alex Goe and Intern Dr. Jesse Bautista, who bring their vast experience with exotic animals and their fourth-year students from Midwestern to assist in the case load which is plentiful and diverse. Not only are these students getting a great education, they are also getting unusually practiced in dealing with wildlife. That means that in the future, more veterinarians in regular practices will be able to help the public until an experienced rehabber can take over. And that time period is precious… it’s time to “fix-up” an injured or ill animal in need….precious time that could mean the difference from ultimately being released into the wild….or not.

When I read articles like this one, I automatically start comparing and pondering. In my regular blog, I am basically writing to an audience, you, who clearly cares about nature and the natural world. So, when I read about the negative impacts that humans have on wildlife, I have to stop and realize that you are not the people who are causing these problems. And if inadvertently you do, you rectify it as best you can.

You are the people who care, enough to bring animals in need to us or to alert us of problems that you might not be able to handle alone. You are the people who make donations, to insure that we will always be there to help. You are the audience who support our events, who tell other people about our work, who put your money and your energy where it helps the mission of Liberty Wildlife.

If I haven’t told you often or emphatically enough how much we appreciate you….please hear it now. You are the human interaction that isn’t counted in the statistics from the Journal of Biological Conservation article. And you make a difference. We greatly appreciate your support, your interest, your caring.

Happy holidays to all of YOU from all of US….a great big THANK YOU.