(by Anita Fernandez)
Over 40 attendees joined NH Audubon and Millstone Wildlife Center on the evening of August 14 at our Concord McLane Center to learn about wildlife rehabilitation in New Hampshire. Through stories of rescuing opossum babies still alive and in their mother’s pouch after being hit by a vehicle, to daily bathing a milk snake found covered in duct tape to help it shed its skin and return to the wild, wildlife rehabilitator Jackie Robidoux brought to life the world of rehabilitation, care, and release. The group also learned some important lessons about working to care for wildlife until they are healthy enough to be released. Animals like raccoons, which are vectors for rabies, should never be touched without gloves that can block a scratch or a bite. The only method for testing rabies if suspected is to euthanize the animals and perform a necropsy (an autopsy for a non-human).
In addition to photographs of baby skunks and videos of bottle-feeding raccoons, Jackie made an already informative evening literally come to life with three of Millstone Wildlife Center’s ambassador animals. We met Buck the Asian Box Turtle and Phoenix the Corn Snake, both members of the pet trade and brought to Millstone to become educational colleagues and a reminder to never release captive pets into natural settings, for their safety and the safety of the ecosystem. The highlight of the show was Bernie, an opossum that crunched and munched on his treats and yawned at the audience while attendees watched in wonder. Although we were not able to touch Bernie, we were able to pass around an opossum pelt to feel just how surprisingly soft these animals are. And we also learned that opossums are not rabies vectors because their body temperature runs lower than other mammals. Add to that this species’ incredible service of devouring ticks, and everyone’s admiration of Bernie was well deserved!