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Click this link to read about California Pesticide Regulations and how badly pesticides are affecting our wildlife! On Sunday, July 15th, City fire department dropped off a very sick black and white cat. Someone had dumped the cat off at station 30 in Solvang. The firemen were kind enough to go above and beyond the call of duty, bringing the sick cat to our facility in Solvang. Monday the cat was taken to Solvang Vet Hospital where blood tests and x-rays were performed. We reported the stray cat to County Animal Services in Lompoc. Until today nobody has claimed ownership of this cat. Sadly we will need to euthanize the sweet kitty tomorrow, to end his suffering. His lungs and abdomen are full of fluids, and a mass is present in the stomach. We are hoping to locate the owners, so they can be there to say goodbye. Please help us find this dying cat’s humans…
Around noon on southbound Hwy 101 just past Buellton, traffic was jammed up due to a domestic disturbance (a guy apparently beat up his girlfriend and left her on the side of the road). As a result of the traffic jam and the downhill grade of Hwy 101, a driver swerved in an effort to miss vehicles stopping quickly in front of their truck / horse trailer and hit the center divider guardrail – jack knifing the horse trailer and injuring both horses. We got a desperate call from CHP for help – and very shortly after, Julia Di Sieno showed up with our animal ambulance, followed by tow trucks and Dr Doug Herthel, DVM and his son Dr Troy Herthel, DVM – who arrived on scene with a horse trailer to transport the injured horses to APEMC. Julia used medical supplies to assist doctors Herthel, then did what she could to help CHP diffuse the massive traffic jam! Definitely above and beyond the call of duty – but just another rescue for Julia where she got the job done! Special thanks to father and son – Team Herthel – for saving both horses…WELL DONE!
Dr Troy Herthel arrives on scene
Dr Doug Herthel trying to come up with a plan to safely remove the injured horses
This mare had her rear left hoof ripped off in the jack knife
2nd horse being led out of jack knifed horse trailer
Dr Doug Herthel, DVM in action
Dr Troy Herthel, DVM sedated the injured horse and applied a cast where the hoof was ripped off. She was a little lethargic in getting into the APEMC horse trailer for transport to Dr. Doug Herthel’s horse clinic.
Dr Troy Herthel, DVM of APEMC treating the massive bleeding
Both horses safe at the clinic with their owners (who were not injured, but terribly upset about their horses being injured) California orthopaedic surgeon contributes his talents to Animal Rescue Team, Inc. Jennie McKee When Michael J. Behrman, MD, is not busy treating the upper extremities of human patients, he turns his attention to the damaged wings, fractured legs, and other injuries of wild and domestic animals. The orthopedic surgeon and self-described “life-long animal person” co-founded Animal Rescue Team (ART), Inc., a nonprofit rescue, rehabilitation facility, and animal protection service in Solvang, Calif. ART is licensed and permitted by the California Department of Fish and Game to rescue and rehabilitate injured, orphaned, and displaced native wildlife.
Dr. Behrman serves as president, securing funding and occasionally performing surgical procedures on animals. Co-founder and Executive Director Julia Di Sieno, who is employed by Dr. Behrman at one of his practice locations, draws upon decades of experience in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation to run ART’s day-to-day operations. Every year, ART helps approximately 400 sick, injured, orphaned, and displaced animals. The organization focuses on rescuing animals such as fawns (but not adult deer), foxes, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, birds of prey, and many other small mammals. Responding to the call Staff members respond to calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, arriving in an animal ambulance equipped to provide immediate treatment at the scene. “ART is the only animal rescue facility on the central coast of California that has an animal ambulance,” noted Ms. Di Sieno. If the animal needs to be sedated before it can rescued, staff members tranquilize the animal. Rescuers bring animals that require treatment to the facility, where they are evaluated by one of four veterinarians who donate their services. “We have a medical infirmary that is well-stocked for taking care of small animals and keeping them warm,” said Dr. Behrman. “We are able to clean and sew up lacerations, which I have done several times when a veterinarian was not available.” Some injured animals are given steroids to prevent them from going into shock, said Dr. Behrman. The medical staff performs minor surgical procedures at the facility, while more complicated surgeries are performed at a neighboring veterinary facility. Staff members care for the animals as they recover from their injuries, with the goal of releasing them back into the wild. Performing surgery, raising funds “Last year, we had a week-old fawn with a broken foreleg, which is essentially the equivalent of a fractured humerus,” he said. “We used orthopaedic hardware to perform open reduction and internal fixation. The fawn did well after surgery.” Another patient was a bird with a badly broken wing. “The wing was not salvageable,” said Dr. Behrman. “The bird couldn’t walk because the wing kept rubbing on the ground, so we amputated it to enable the bird to function better.” According to Dr. Behrman, performing upper extremity orthopaedic procedures on animals is not that different than on human patients. “The real trick is getting the animal stable, because you’re not going to get them to be non-weightbearing after surgery,” he said. Despite all of ART’s efforts, however, not all animals can be saved. “The reality is, if they’re too badly injured, we have to put them down,” acknowledged Dr. Behrman. “We are better served by using our resources for animals with a good chance of surviving.” Although he sometimes performs surgery on rescued animals, Dr. Behrman directs most of his efforts related to ART into administrative tasks and fundraising. The organization’s resources come entirely from monetary donations and the volunteers who donate their services. “ART has hundreds of members who make regular contributions, as well as donors who make larger contributions,” said Dr. Behrman. “For example, in 2008, ART was selected to receive the Santa Barbara News-Press Holiday Fund, which enabled us to build eight large mammal enclosures.” He added that “the generosity of Santa Barbara residents and businesses, as well as others, is key to ART’s continued success and to our ability to accommodate the growing needs of abandoned or injured wildlife.” The group hopes to raise enough funds to buy another acre of land behind its facility. “We don’t have portable radiograph equipment,” said Ms. Di Sieno. “If anyone has a used machine they would like to donate, we would love that.” Making a difference ART has helped rescue animals during disasters, such as the 2009 Jesusita Fire, a wildfire that destroyed 80 homes in the hills of Santa Barbara and endangered many animals. “We worked with police and fire officials to rescue more than 200 domestic and wild animals,” said Ms. Di Sieno. “We treated animals with severe burns and other fire-related injuries.” Some of the smallest patients have made the biggest impressions on Dr. Behrman. “I have watched our staff members take care of rabbits so small that you could fit three or four Dr. Behrman is happy to volunteer his time at ART. “It’s very rewarding work,” he said. “Many of these animals are very small and completely defenseless, and we enable them to return to the wild. This is what doctors do—we try to help living things.” Jennie McKee is a staff writer for AAOS Now. She can be reached at mckee@aaos.org Learn more about ART
Our org. needs your donations to help off set the cost. Please help us help our native wildlife in distress. Thank you for caring!
PLEASE read below: Alternatives to Anticoagulant Poisons For the sake of our native wildlife, please use alternatives to rat poisons. Integrated pest management is an excellent alternative to widespread poison use. Replacing anticoagulants with another poison is not a practice we encourage. The bottom line is that no poisons available on the market in the U.S. have zero risk of unintended consequences for wildlife. The best pest control is to encourage natural predators. Nesting boxes and perches for owls can be installed around your homes (see HungryOwl for more information). The next best step to take is to take a preventive mode of action. Rodent proof your homes by sealing up holes. Remove unnecessary vegetation and trash in your yard that could be homes for small mammals. If ground squirrels are a problem, remove food and water sources such as bird feeders and baths! Finally, once you’ve taken the above steps, try mechanical traps. Wooden snap traps and electric zappers are good for within home use. Just be careful with using snap traps outside. You might catch and injure other wildlife such as raccoons, opossums, coyotes, owls or other birds that will also be attracted to the bait. If you have pets, they too could fall victim to snap traps. Here’s some suggestions for particular pests: Rats and Mice The rats and mice that people target in southern California may be both native and nonnative rats and mice. The most frequent method of rodent control used worldwide are anticoagulant rodentcides. However, we recommend NOT using any poisons at all! Whether you use the poisons inside your home only, or both in and outdoors, you put other wildlife at risk of being poisoned too. Plus, pets and children are not immune to the effects of these poisons either. Are there safer, effective ways to control rats and mice? Yes! Visit www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PDF/QT/qtrats.pdf for details. Seal holes inside and outside buildings to prevent entry by rats and mice. Keep areas clean and free of crumbs and water. Seal food in rodent-proof containers. Use snap-traps instead of baits whenever possible – a lot of them, set at night. Keep the traps indoor where wildlife such as raccoons, coyotes, opossums, etc. won’t become accidental victims of the snap traps. In extreme cases, call a qualified professional. We recommend companies that are certified by EcoWise or GreenShield. Gophers Within the southern California area, a lot of people consider our native pocket gophers a big problem around their gardens and lawns. Pocket gophers are strictly herbivorous, and will often pull plants into the ground by the roots to consume them in the safety of its burrow, where it spends 90% of its life. The burrows of this species may reach lengths of more than 150 meters. The main predators of pocket gophers include badgers, coyotes, long-tailed weasels, bobcats, snakes, skunks, owls, and hawks. Despite their many predators, they are frequent targets of poisoning, particularly with the use of anticoagulant rodenticides. Prevention and Control Once you become aware of unwanted gopher activity, it is important to act quickly. Once a tunnel system is in place, other gophers can quickly replace any you may drive away. Various methods can help to repel gophers, but very few are foolproof. Some plants such as gopher spurge (Euphorbia lathyrus) and castor bean (Ricinus communis) have been reported to deter gophers because they exude a poisonous substance from their roots. Research shows that neither of these are consistently effective repellents. Putting substances in gopher tunnels — used kitty litter, rags soaked in predator urine or pine oil — works for some gardeners. Ultrasonic noisemakers provide only short-term relief. The most effective controls are exclusion and trapping. In small beds, gardeners can create cages or baskets to protect prized plants. Dig a 2- to 3-foot-deep hole in the planting area and line the sides and bottom of the hole with wire mesh. Replace the soil and plant your garden. Protect trees with wire mesh guards placed a few inches below the soil line and 2 feet up the trunk. If need be, use traps to kill problem gophers. The use of poisons, particularly anticoagulant rodenticides, is not recommended, no matter how bad the problem! Gophers do not necessarily die in their burrows, and anticoagulant rodenticides can take up to 10 days to kill an animal once it has ingested a lethal dose of the poisons. Thus, predatory animals can easily be exposed to the poisons by preying on already poisoned (but not yet dead) gophers. If you are interested in traps, click here to learn more about those options. Deer Although most people think of Bambi as a cute forest creature with retiring behavior, due to an growing population, deer have become a major garden pest throughout the country. Although they tend to keep to forest edges and fields grazing on grasses and leaves, they become more daring when food is scarce, venturing into suburban yards. Deer graze and browse leaves, stems, and buds of many woody plants, as well as alfalfa, roses, corn, vegetables, and fruits. Their damage is evident because they leave jagged leaf edges on the eaten plants, not to mention distinctive cloven hoof prints and bean-shaped droppings. Control Although deer will eat anything if hungry enough, given a choice they tend to stay away from succulent plants, poisonous plants, pungent flavored plants, and plants with hairy or furry leaves. Plant ornamentals with these qualities in areas of heavy deer traffic. Some gardeners have had success using human hair, dog hair, soap, blood meal, rotten eggs, hot pepper, or predator urine spread around or on flowers and trees. Deer can be scared away by motion sensor devices attached to lights or loud music. Of all the methods, though, fencing is the most reliable. It’s best to erect the fence before Bambi has found your garden or yard.
Upon our arrival we discovered someone’s trash, suffocating, and starving this young skunk. We used one of our specialty pole nets to safely capture the animal. Once we had the skunk in a carrier, we were able to safely remove the Yogurt container. Poor skunk sustained small superficial lacerations around the neck area from trying to remove the foreign object. We hope to release him after a few days of food, and hydration at our facility. Here he is before I removed the container… You can see the yogurt container on it’s head in the front of the net … Poor stinker! He’s doing well now – loving all the attention and care we are giving him! We hope to release him soon – this time, well away from the trash bin :-) When Will It Stop! On July 4th we received a report from a local couple in Buellton. They reported to us that their free roaming Rooster had been killed by an adult bobcat. We did our best to educate the concerned family. Two days later we were informed that the Bobcat has taken residency under their redwood deck. Our executive director drove out to the property to assess the ill appearing adult bobcat late at night. Upon further examination it was discovered that the adult bobcat was suffering from poisoning and mange.
Again, EVERYONE, please think twice before using this lethal poison. Our org did contact Das Williams today, in an all out effort to end the sales of 2nd generation poisons. The fight to save yet another bobcat has cost hundreds of dollars – adding to the already huge sum of money we’ve spent trying to save many, many more animals from being poisoned – some successful, some not. We cannot continue to rescue and rehabilitate these animals without YOUR help! PLEASE – if you care about saving these animals and can spare some of your hard earned money, we need donations. For donations, please send to Animal Rescue Team, Inc. 875 Carriage Drive Solvang, CA 93463. Thank you for caring! UPDATE 7/15: This bobcat did not survive, despite all our best efforts. Truly another sad day for our wildlife that is struggling to survive. We cannot accept the rampant secondary killing of these amazing animals!
For more information, please visit our website, www.animalrescueteam.net Thank you, <a href=”http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/trophyhunt.html”>Stop the Trophy Hunt – Faltering Light Petition | GoPetition</a> |
Rescue of the Month
Rescued & Adopted!
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