What do you do when you find a rattlesnake stuck to a sticky trap? If you’re an animal lover, the answer isn’t to kill it, but to try to help the critter. Fortunately for that snake, the folks at All Things Wild Rehabilitation are able to separate it from the sticky trap without harming any humans or reptiles in the process.
Located on two acres northeast of Georgetown, All Things Wild Rehabilitation offers a place where injured wild animals in Central Texas can be treated.
Patients include native species such as raccoons, opossums, skunks, hawks, snakes, tortoises and fawns.
The agency doesn’t take in adult deer. They also don’t accept domesticated animals such as cats, dogs, horses and cows, or exotic, non-native animals.
About 3,000 animals a year go through the facility.
Director Roger Rucker recently gave me a tour where I watched adorable young raccoons cavorting in cages outfitted with hammocks, baby squirrels sleeping in an incubator and injured birds resting in their cages.
Volunteer Nancy Dytrich was preparing about 30 pounds of produce to feed 33 fawns. We stepped around Speedy, a 40-pound tortoise who was brought in with a broken shell that was glued back together with epoxy.
We had to tilt our chairs against a table to prevent Noky the rabbit in residence from hopping up and making unwanted deposits on the seats. Outside, Boudreaux, a magnificent white pelican whose right wing had to be amputated, hangs around an enclosure for recovering birds that he likes to aggravate.
Mr. Rucker showed me Hector, a stunning red-tailed hawk that had to have half of its right wing amputated because of a serious injury, probably caused by a collision with a car.
“I love to teach people about wildlife and enjoy the thrill of returning injured wild animals to the wild,” said Mr. Rucker, who has been a wildlife rehabilitator for more than a decade.
A veterinarian volunteers at the site and takes care of those animals that need more intensive medical assistance. They have a designated area for exams, x-rays and surgery. Volunteers and staff are not permitted to adopt animals because the mission of the organization is to help the animals get well enough to be released back into the wild, Mr. Rucker said. Over half the animals are released back in the wild, usually in the area they were found.
A few animals that can’t be released because of permanent injuries are kept on site as “ambassadors.” They star in education programs Mr. Rucker takes to schools, scout groups and community organizations.
Unfortunately, not every animal taken to the facility can be saved. Mr. Rucker said 20-30 percent of the animals the center takes in have to be euthanized.
The facility relies on donations of dry dog and cat food and money for food, special animal formula, cleaning supplies and medicine.
Volunteers are especially needed during “baby season,” April to mid-September, when various species are busy reproducing.
For more information, visit allthingswildrehab.org or call 512-897-0806.