July 13, 1989 - Leave Nature Where You Find Itf
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B14 The Suffolk Times • July 13, 1989
Leave Nature Where You Find It
By Paul Stoutenburah
Each year about this time my phone
starts to jingle about lost or abandoned
wildlife. Whether it's a baby robin or a
baby rabbit the answer is always the
same from me. "Leave it alone — the
mother will eventually find it."
It's most gratifying to see that people
are sensative to the plight of wildlife
but here is one case where doing noth-
ing is the best remedy. Of course,
there's always the exception when the
mother bird or animal has been killed by
a car or some other misfortune, but 99
percent of the time the lost or abandoned
animal or bird has just become obvious
to us and we interpret this "find" as
something more than it is.
Then there is the case where a baby
bird falls from the nest before its wings
are strong enough for it to fly and here
the solution is to just put it back. If it
continues to fall from the nest after one
or two returns then I'd say just put it off
to the side in a bush and hope that the
parent bird will take care of it.
Trying to feed and rear a small bird or
animal can be a real task, as I well
know. Our family fed baby rabbits, rac-
coons, squirrels, opossums and birds of
all sorts that were brought to us. I can
vouch for the tedious process involved.
It's not a case of feeding them when you
think of it. Oh no, it's a routine that
will keep you busy from dawn to dusk
and then with only a small chance of
success. If you are successful you then
have the added burden of acclimating the
bird or animal to the wild because it is
against the law to keep any wildlife in
captivity. This might seem rather harsh
but it's the only true and humane way
to treat wildlife. They were meant to be
free not caged or kept in a box the rest
of their lives.
Leave Young for Parents
Let's suppose, for the sake of argu-
ment, that you got the right formula and
vitamins to feed the baby rabbit and that
you were a dedicated person who over-
came the temptation to quit feeding and
it is now perky and healthy. What now?
Do you just turn it loose without any
thought of how it will feed itself or
protect itself from predators? This is
why the best solution to take when you
come across a baby of any sort in the
wild is to leave it alone or at most
move it to a safe place in or near a bush
where the parent will be able to find it.
The old wives' tale that if you touch a
baby bird or animal the mother will not
come near it is hogwash. It was put
forth for the very reason I've suggested
that you leave the young of wildlife
alone. It's the best way to handle the
situation. Your helping a baby bird
from off the lawn where a cat might get
it to a nearby bush won't prevent the
mother from finding it and feeding it.
Like our own young their cry will soon
get the attention of the parent bird and it
will be taken care of. Our baby chicks
let out a cry when they roam too far
from the mother hen and it brings her
back to collect them in a short time.
Nature sometimes can be cruel in our
eyes but it has a built -in solution.
Rather than a robin or sparrow having
just one young it has three or four so
that if one or two are lost during the
hectic days of fledging some will sur-
vive.
It's also rather hard to conceive that
even nature is not all that.perfect and
Focus on
Nature
sometimes produces defective young.
When this happens in the natural world
these imperfections are just cast aside.
This might be why we see an occasional
misfit but not knowing the difference
we think it's a normal young and want
to save it. I know it sounds cruel but
the natural world says let the defective
go under now for later on its own it
would surely never make it. The extra
time and energy that would have gone
into taking care of the imperfect would
be wasted and taken away from the
healthy who, after all, are the ones na-
ture has designed to carry on the species.
`Abandoned' Deer Returned
This scenario can be carried on to
much larger young than baby robins and
rabbits. A week ago a good friend told
me of someone who tried to take care of
an "abandoned" baby deer. Now if there
is anything the natural world has pro-
duced that is more adorable than a baby
deer I don't know it. We have all fol-
lowed Bambi through our own children
and it has probably made more people
aware of the beauty and charm of
wildlife than any other animal. Never-
theless, the story is still the same.
"Leave it where you found it." That was
hard to understand for these unknowing
people who had already brought the
"darling little Bambi" home. What they
didn't know was that they had actually
done the little one more harm; it liter-
ally took hours of talking to persuade
them it belonged back where it was
found. The deer was returned and hope-
fully has made it by now.
Let's take the case above to its final
conclusion. If the deer had been kept at
home and fed, a special formula of milk
would have had to be prepared with all
the necessary nutrients. Then, if all
went well, and the animal lived, it
would have been "imprinted" to the one
who take care of it. Not knowing how
to take care of itself in the wild it could
not be let go; so it would have to be
taken to some place where it would live
out the rest of its life in an enclosure.
Not too nice an outlook, I'd say, for
something so beautiful as a deer that
loves to roam free.
I'm a great believer in getting our
young folks acquainted with the
wonderful world around them but I'd
never give a youngster a baby bird or
animal to take care of because only dis-
aster can come from such misguided in-
tentions. Sure, it's fine to show them a
baby rabbit or turtle but then let it go
so nature's ways can take over. That
lesson alone is worthwhile for all. Par-
ents of wildlife do not abandon healthy
young. Perhaps when you are there the
parents stay hidden but once you leave
they move in and take over what they've
been doing since this great world of ours
first started spinning.
Only The
Suffolk
Times
does it all
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
YOUNG BALTIMORE ORIOLES —If you find what seems to be an
abandoned or lost young bird, leave it where it is. If it's in danger move
it to a nearby bush or tree. Eventually the parent bird will hear its call.
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