next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
you dont get to choose when you are going to die or when.
crap some people can.
answer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Wolford" <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
To: "NatureNS" <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 11:31 PM
Subject: [NatureNS] More bird work lands on Hilden rehab staff -- Closures
elsewhere bring eagles, owls, other avian types to centre -- Herald, Sept.
17, 2007
> Chronicle Herald, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007
>
> [³ You donıt get to choose how you are going to die or when. You can only
> decide how youıre going to live. ²
> Joan Baez]
> ----------------
> PHOTO: Veterinarian Helene Van Doninck of Hilden, Colchester County,
> treats
> an injured three-week-old robin at the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation
> Centre in this file photo. Business is booming since a renowned raptor
> centre in the Head of St. Margarets Bay closed its doors in June. (CATHY
> VON
> KINTZEL / Truro Bureau)
>
> PHOTO IN VALLEY EDITION: Workers at the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation
> Centre clean fish oil off a bald eagle. [contributed]
>
> More bird work lands on Hilden rehab staff
> Closures elsewhere bring eagles, owls, other avian types to centre
>
> By CATHY VON KINTZEL Truro Bureau | 5:38 AM
>
> HILDEN < The bird business is booming at the Cobequid Wildlife
> Rehabilitation Centre, especially since a renowned raptor centre closed
> its
> doors in Head of St. Margarets Bay in June.
>
> High-pitched bird chirps emanate from Helene Van Doninckıs basement as she
> sits at her kitchen table watching a young bald eagle stretch its wings on
> closed-circuit television.
>
> The veterinarian and licensed rehabilitator of birds and small mammals
> fills
> her home with sick and injured wildlife brought to her by the public and
> Department of Natural Resources officers.
>
> "We have him on camera to make sure heıs okay, but still try not to
> disturb
> or stress him out," Ms. Van Doninck said of the eagle in her care. It was
> covered in a fish oil when it arrived a week ago.
>
> "It was awful," she said, holding a sticky, smelly feather that she saved
> in
> a bowl. Then she produced two fluffy, delicate and cleansed feathers.
>
> "This is how theyıre supposed to look, and how they look now."
>
> Ms. Van Doninck and husband Murdo Messer founded the centre near Truro in
> 2001. But theyıve gotten busier with birds of prey since the Atlantic
> Raptor
> Rehabilitation Centre closed, as have other centres such as the Hope for
> Wildlife Society in Seaforth. [***** SIC -- This horrible last sentence
> gives the impression that Hope for Wildlife in Seaforth has closed, which
> is
> not true (see the later parts of article) -- just very poor writing, and
> poor editing as well by the Herald staff [JW].]
>
> The retiring operators of the raptor centre sent their final patient here,
> a
> barred owl that was found starving and needed a few more weeks to grow in
> its tail feathers.
>
> "We let that happen here and successfully released the bird from our
> property," the veterinarian said.
>
> Her immediate priority is to build a long and high flight cage so sheıll
> be
> able to rehabilitate birds from injury to release, instead of having to
> send
> them elsewhere to recondition their flight wings.
>
> "Itıs less stressful for the birds if they donıt have to travel too much,
> and here they get veterinary care from the day they come through the
> door,"
> Ms. Van Doninck said.
>
> The minimum standard for a flight cage, which costs tens of thousands of
> dollars, is 30 metres long, six metres wide and 4.8 metres high. The
> rehabilitation centre doesnıt have any immediate plans for a fundraiser,
> but
> is open to ideas and always looking for volunteers.
>
> Ms. Van Doninck estimates more than 90 per cent of wildlife injuries are
> caused by manmade hazards, including cars and windows.
>
> Thatıs partially why she feels an obligation to use her skills to help,
> the
> other part being her obvious affection for all creatures.
>
> The brown eagle living in a special shed in her backyard, and watched
> closely via a wireless camera, was one of two that got into fish oil near
> a
> plant on the South Shore.
>
> The first eagle is already clean and in a flight cage in Seaforth. Eight
> volunteers with strong but gentle hands gave the second eagle a one-hour
> thorough cleansing Saturday. Heıll hang around for another week or so
> before
> heading to Seaforth.
>
> Then there are still the hawk, falcon, owl, dove, pigeon and gull to care
> for.
>
> "And this is a slow time because there arenıt any babies around," Ms. Van
> Doninck said.
>
> She can be reached at hvandoninck@cwrc.net.
>
> ( cvonkintzel@herald.ca)
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects