Do you care about wildlife? Then here’s what not to do
DEAR JOAN >> I am writing this letter to you because I know the people who read your column are animal lovers and can spread the word.
I have the pleasure of being a trained wildlife rehabilitator and volunteer for Lindsay Wildlife. This is an honor in two ways. First, I work with local injured and orphaned wild animals, and I am able to see the best of humankind — people who bring sick, injured or orphaned animals to the facility where I work. These are wonderful people who travel many miles, endure storms, traffic and time constraints to get these animals the help they need.
Unfortunately, many well-meaning people make my job more difficult when they try to keep these animals and rehabilitate them without the proper food or training. As a hummingbird specialist, I often care for birds covered in sugar water or, even worse, reddyed sugar water.
Hummer babies quickly gape, giving untrained individuals the false impression that they are easy to feed. At our facility we have formulas for each stage of growth. None of these formulas are sugar water. There are no nutrients in sugar water.
Our baby hummingbirds get specific amounts of protein to ensure proper feather quality, healthy bones and brain growth. We also have proper syringes replicating a mother’s beak, allowing us to feed the baby without a drop of food getting on their feathers. Spilling food on a baby bird can damage feather follicles.
You might be surprised to know baby hummingbirds need to be fed every 15 to 20 minutes, needing a formula between 6.75 and 18 percent protein to ensure proper growth and good health.
Hummingbird rehabilitators often carry a timer all day, making sure they do not miss a feeding.
Baby hummingbirds should never be fed honey or honey with water. Bacteria in honey can be fatal to baby hummingbirds and to baby humans.
I realize that the idea of caring for wild babies is fun and unique, however proper food, tools and training are essential. Please leave the care of these injured and orphaned animals to the professionals. Even one day of improper feeding can cause a life-threatening problem, making rehabilitation more difficult and sometimes impossible.
I would like to take a moment to thank the many people who have taken time out of their busy lives to bring animals to the Lindsay Wildlife Hospital, and encourage people interested in caring for wild animals to contact the hospital to learn ways they, too, can be trained. — Nancy Smyth, Bay Area DEAR READERS >> If this letter sounds a bit familiar, then you’ve got a good memory. I published it last spring, but Nancy contacted me and asked to run it again. The wildlife hospital already is seeing a lot of baby hummingbirds and she thought it was important to remind people that if they find a baby hummer — or any other wild animal in distress — they need to bring it to the experts and not try to care for it themselves.
The folks at Lindsay, and the other wildlife rehab hospitals that we are blessed to have in the Bay Area, do tireless and often miraculous work. They just need a little help from us to handle wildlife properly and get those animals to them.