Happinest Thanks YOU, Brad!

Bradley Wyatt, an amazing Happinest Wildlife volunteer.

Our volunteer of the month is Bradley Wyatt, who has transported animals on countless occasions. Transportation is a crucial, and often an overlooked aspect of wildlife rehabilitation. Many times, an animal that has been found is already compromised-either from injuries, dehydration, shock or starvation. Getting them to a rehabilitator quickly can make the difference in whether or not they recover.

Transportation can be very stressful for wild animals and may further exacerbate their already vulnerable condition. A person who is transporting wildlife must make sure the animal is in an appropriate container, and not exposed to any additional stress from unnecessary noise or handling. Transporters also have to postpone making any stops until the animal is safely delivered.

Bradley has never hesitated to answer the call for help; he quickly responds to requests for transport and rescues. This summer, Bradley climbed down an abandoned well to rescue two snapping turtles that were trapped at the bottom. This required him to carefully dislodge them from the stones, dried mud, and old wooden beams at the bottom and carry them up a ladder and out of the well. After examining them with our turtle expert, Anne McAbee, and determining they were healthy enough to be on their own, Bradley took the turtles to a nearby release site that was safer for them.

On another rescue mission, Bradley climbed on top of a series of storage building to free a bird that had become tangled in some old landscaping material. Because of his efforts, the bird made a full recovery under the care of Sherry Teas, and was later released.

Bradley has also made numerous trips to and from Tullahoma, picking up and dropping off animals with our fellow rehabilitators at Ziggy’s Tree. He has also traveled to Raccoon Mountain, Signal Mountain, Ooltewah, Cleveland and everywhere in between pick up sick, orphaned and injured animals and take them where they need to go. In addition to songbirds and snapping turtles, Bradley has also transported ducks and ducklings, squirrels, opossums, rabbits, mice, hawks and owls. We are so thankful to Bradley for generously donating his time to help these animals get care as soon as possible.

Bradley also helps us with our fundraising events and setting up booths at various events. When he is not volunteering with Happinest, you may find him taking care of animals at the local animal shelter, kayaking or enjoying adventures with his dog, Wall-E.

Happinest Wildlife would like to thank our amazing volunteer, Bradley Wyatt.

New Raptor Enclosures

 

New raptor enclosures in Cleveland, TN

This month we completed construction on a new Raptor enclosure that is located in Cleveland area. The enclosure contains 3 limited flight cages that can hold anything from a Screech Owl to an Eagle.

New raptor enclosure includes 3 limited flight cages.

In addition, there is a small jump that will be great for Screech Owls or Kestrels. This new enclosure provides a wonderful safe place for our injured birds to recover until they’re able to graduate to a larger full flight enclosure and eventual release.

The predator proofing and some of the window elements were completed by reutilizing some heavy grade wire fence panels that were donated by Volkswagen of Chattanooga. Once again we owe them a THANK YOU!

Barn Owl Rodeo at Yates Farm

Its not often that we get the chance to help out a familiar bird family, but that’s what happened at Doug Yates Farm, host of the annual St. Jude’s Rodeo each year. (August 4th – 6th).

It all began a few months ago when we received a call about an injured Barn Owl that had fallen from its nest located in their arena. We responded, only to find out that the young owl had a bad break in its leg and would not be able to be placed back into the wild with its family. This beautiful owl was affectionately named Lovely

and is still recovering in our care.  Lovely has a future as an educational bird.

Not long ago, Yates Farm reached out to us again about a barn owl that had fallen from the nest and needed to be put back with its family. When we arrived, we discovered that it’s the same nest and this owl is a sibling to our Lovely.

The young owl was in good health and just needed to be placed back in the nest. Tyler, who makes our Barn Owl Boxes, was more than happy to get into the large fork lift and install a new home “nest” for this amazing owl family.

The parent owl and one other sibling watched us from across the barn as we installed their new home. We are so thankful to Yates Farm for not only reaching out to us again and allowing us to help with beautiful family of owls, but also for providing us the man power and fork lift to install the new home in their arena.