ANDOVER — It’s the time of year when you may start to find baby animals seemingly on their own. However there are a number of mistakes people make when trying to help that can spell disaster for young wildlife.
Jane Newhouse, the founder of Newhouse Wildlife Rescue in Chelmsford gave a presentation on local wildlife and what to do upon finding a critter on Thursday night at the Andover Police station to around 60 concerned community members.
Newhouse went over what to do if you find an orphaned animal.
“That’s going to start happening for a lot of people right around now,” she said.
First you need to look for injuries, if so the animal needs to go to a rehab facility regardless she said. If you don’t see any injuries, Newhouse said to wait around half an hour to see if mom comes back.
If mom doesn’t return, you should put the baby into a safe container and give the animal supplemental heat.
“They cannot control their own body heat, they rely on mom a lot for that,” she said.
An easy way to do this is to put hot water in a water bottle and then wrap it in a towel. Once you have provided that heat source she said to return the animal to where you found it and wait 12 to 24 hours for the mother to return.
If the mother doesn’t return Newhouse said to put the animal in a warm, dark quiet place with supplemental heat and find a wildlife rehabilitator.
She added that Mass.gov has an interactive map with wildlife rehabilitators across the state.
She also said that it is very important to wear gloves and to not let kids play with the animal.
“I have had every year several baby raccoons that I have to euthanize because someone let their kids play with a healthy baby that scratched or bit them,” Newhouse said.
She said by the law she has to euthanize to test the animals.
“It is by far the hardest thing I have to do,” she said.
Another mistake she said people make is feeding the animals.
“A hypothermic animal can’t digest,” she said. “If you feed them, that’s it.”
She also talked about the risk of rabies in raccoons.
“Most of them are perfectly healthy,” she said. “But there are some that do (carry rabies) and it is important to know when one is sick and one isn’t, regardless you don’t want to touch it.”
She added that there are misconceptions that nocturnal animals out during the day are sick. Newhouse said it is more important to observe their behavior.
“When the animal is out in the open and doesn’t care that you are around, it doesn’t seem to notice, that is when you want to call somebody,” she said.
Deb Venuti, a wildlife photographer from Lawrence, said she has been following Newhouse Wildlife Rescue on social media for several years and “you do become invested in the animals.”
“She just does fantastic work,” Vanuti said.
To learn more about Newhouse Wildlife Rescue visit: facebook.com/NewhouseWildlifeRescue/