Animal Updates – July 2023

by Jen Howard

Procyon has been overloaded this year with wildlife in need. Good news is: a lot of them have already gone home to be wild again or for the first time.

So many of our squirrels have been released, however the second lot of squirrel babies are already coming in. Please check for nests before you take a tree down. Or even if a tree comes down in a storm, they may survive that blow as they are well protected inside a tree’s cavity with all the nesting material their mother provides.

Our beautiful big garter snake has also gone home. She was clipped by a lawnmower. She was very lucky to survive, her injuries were only 2 cm from her heart. Live long and stay safe. (Please be mindful of the little critters that could be in your grass before you cut your lawns. Toads, snakes, bunnies and baby birds to name a few.)

Our two baby groundhogs have also gone home. They were orphaned and luckily the nice people at a paper factory saw a coyote take their mom on their surveillance cameras. They knew she had little ones. Sad but coyote was only doing what it needed to do to survive. And feed its family. The babes were spared and will continue on to live their beautiful lives.

Now for the fawn Gideon. Rescued off of Innisfil Beach Rd in May when mother was hit and killed. Little Gideon is doing amazing. He is growing up strong. He has company of other fawns and they are enjoying their large outdoor enclosure, as natural as if they were out in the wild. Fawns are very social animals and need to be with others of their kind. To romp and play and teach each other how to be a deer.

If you have wildlife in need, please call us right away. Their lives may depend on it. Do not care for them on your own or try to trap on your own without our advice and instructions. Wild animals all have special diets and needs. Especially babies. You can do more harm than good. As well as trapping a sick animal, its not that easy. They are very smart. We may have a few tricks up our sleeve to help you out. But its never 100%, a wild animal is much smarter than one would think. We do our very best. And that is all we can do. In the end it’s really up to the animal in need. One of the hardest things we have to face is when we can’t get them, or we got them too late. Mother nature has her way of balancing the numbers. And sometimes it’s mother nature’s way no matter what we do. Do the right thing. Call us at 905-729-0033.

Jen Howard

Note from Editor: Enjoy the following video of the release of two squirrels on July 29, 2023.