Working With Wildlife

Recently, this lovely Foxsnake found himself stuck in plastic turtle exclusion fence and we mean STUCK. In the struggle to free himself he received rather deep wounds to his neck and wounds in other spots on his body as well as a serious tail injury.

We are working with the team at Hobbitstee Wildlife to help the snake heal so he can go back to the wild and hopefully produce many healthy offspring.

Foxsnakes are a Species at Risk in our province.

May 25th:  This beaver was attacked by another beaver in a territorial dispute and sustained nasty bite wounds which were quite deep and infected. He had his wounds surgically debrided by Dr. Lee and the rest of the team here.   Due to the locations of the wounds we needed a creative bandaging solution and Kate, our manager who is also an RVT suggested stay-sutures with a shoelace type idea and they worked extremely well.  Back at Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge, Chantal has been using propolis honey from  Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph and photobiomodulation treatments to expedite healing as well as the more traditional antibiotics and pain medication.

This special boy recovered nicely and was eventually released.

This case dates back to May of 2020. This fawn was found by the side of the road presumably hit by a car. Another clinic was kind enough to do the initial radiographs that showed a mid-shaft, slight oblique fracture of the left tibia (the long bone in the lower half of the back leg). It looked like with some help this fawn had a good chance of being released.

We contacted Dr. Scherer at Paris Veterinary Clinic for his advice and he recommended surgery. He offered to come to our clinic to plate this leg as this was the best option for this fracture. The fawn was otherwise stable so we prepared for surgery.

The surgery consisted of screwing a plate to connect and stabilize the 2 bones, with the help of some cerclage wire. The post-op radiographs showed good bone alignment. We were hopeful for a full recovery.

On June 15^th we re-x-rayed the leg. The plate appeared to have shifted somewhat and some screws had loosened so it wasn’t doing its job. Removal of the plate was somewhat risky at this point but it was a necessary risk. With R & R back at Hobbistee this little fellow healed well and was eventually released.

This little opossum arrived at Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge after being found stealing eggs from a chicken coop. He had a very serious tail injury. It appeared to have been frost-bitten and the injury was aggravated by his chewing at it. After he arrived at Hobbitstee Chantal consulted with Dr. Lee about a plan of action for the tail. Antibiotics were started and surgery was scheduled to remove the damaged part. Surgery took place a few days ago and he did great! He will stay with Hobbitstee until he’s ready to be released and should live a long happy life.

We have been working alongside Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge for almost 7 years now. We learned about Chantal Theijn and the work that she does with injured and sick wildlife when she reached out to the public searching for lab equipment. We had just upgraded our lab and had just the ticket! We were not able to do anything with our old equipment so we donated it to her. Since Dr. Lee has a keen interest in birds we decided to start working with Chantal. It’s been very exciting to work with the various wild birds that are brought to us. We have examined, diagnosed and treated hawks, eagles, owls, and loons among others for various ailments.

Some time after starting this endeavour we began treating various species of mammals and reptiles. Chantal has brought us fawns, beavers, porcupines, foxes, opossums, turtles and snakes to name a few that needed help. We have been able to forge a wonderful working relationship with Dr. Grant Scherer from Paris Veterinary Clinic who has been kind enough to donate his orthopedic skills in repairing fractures.  So far he has pinned and plated broken legs in a fawn, an owl, and a porcupine. Of course, we donate all of our time as well. For us it gives us a feeling of accomplishment and knowing that we are giving back through this extraordinary organization.

We will post pictures as cases come in, as well as some of our older ones.  There are lots of posts on our Facebook page, too.

You can find more information about Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge at www.hobbitstee.com.