Wildlife and you this spring

OK, so maybe we're still getting hammered with snow here, but apparently spring is just around the corner. It's never too early to start thinking about mother nature's new crop of wildlife parents and their new babies. They'll soon be emerging from nest, dens, warrens, and burrows, and occasionally they need our help. Being prepared to help wildlife in need is easy: a pair of heavy gloves, some old blankets or sweatshirts, a box or pet carrier, and a little bit of information is all you need. Throw this stuff in your car now, and you'll be ready to go.

Here is a good overview of orphaned/injured wildlife information.

One especially important bit of knowledge concerns opossums. As the only marsupial in North America, opossums give birth when their young are very tiny, and the young grow and develop in the mother's pouch until they are several inches long. Then they cling to her back until they're old enough to survive on their own (about 7 inches, not including the tail). What this means is that a road-injured or dead opossum may have babies nearby or even in her pouch that have survived and need to be rescued. Please stop whenever you can to check on opossums in the road. Dragging them off to the side to check their pouches may not only save the life of baby possums (up to 13 at a time!) but also save a scavenger that wanders into the road after a dead animal.

Here are some great resources for learning about helping opossums: Messinger Woods opossum care sheet; opossum.org.

Possums have 50 teeth, so by all means, go easy! Other animals, too, can bite or scratch, especially when injured, so protect yourself. The biggest danger is other idiot drivers--people can be and are hit every year trying to help injured wildlife. So be careful and watch out for these morons. A flashlight or even a brightly colored vest isn't a bad idea if you're serious about stopping to help road animals.

Let's be honest: we can't tell if an animal is dead when we fly by at even 30 mph. I've found car-injured wildlife on city streets and in the country as well. It's a great deed done when you help them, even if it's only to provide humane euthanasia or move them out of the road to protect scavenger.

Keep a list of emergency wildlife contacts in your glovebox so that you have someone to contact for help. You can find numbers here: wildlife rehab; wildliferehabber.com