Eurasian Barn Owl Ambassador Valentino is simply here without a green card. His parents were smuggled into the country and then confiscated at the border. Now it was illegal to release them and illegal to return them. Luckily, the World Bird Sanctuary gave them a permanent home and "Val" was one of their offspring. This barn owl is indistinguishable in the field from our state endangered barn owl. |
Great Horned Owl Ambassador Regulus was acquired in December of 2009 from WildCare rehabilitation program. He had been hit by a car and the one ruptured eye would not heal. His balance issue with depth perceptions makes him non releasable. Named for the brightest star in the constellation Leo, it means 'prince" in Latin and is the root for "regal," which he is.
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Common Raccoon Ambassador Rascal was found screaming on a lawn one morning in the spring of 2009. After waiting a couple hours for mom to turn up, the Finder brought him to WildCare where it was determined first by the team leader and then confirmed by a vet that he was blind. Because he was in all other ways very healthy, he was kept to be an ambassador for all raccoons. Here he is unwrapping an ear of corn, a trait that sometimes gets his wild cousins in trouble with farmers.
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Striped Skunk Ambassador Sweet Pea Sometimes scars are not only physical. Having lost her mother and then her brother, Sweet Pea started following another older female orphaned skunk; they became inseparable. When Daisy's health problems meant she could not be released and Sweet Pea was separated to prepare for release, she became bereft. This is not at all typical of skunks, and has never been our experience in ten years of raising them for release. The DNR said we could keep them together in captivity.
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Ball Python Ambassador Kalix is a mature exotic that is native to South Africa. She was abandoned when renters moved in the spring of 2006, but soon found a Guardian at WildCare.
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Eastern Box Turtle Ambassador Tortuga Tortuga was probably hit by a car near Low Gap Road in the fall of 2009. A Purdue PhD student studying the box turtle home ranges found her and held her shell together until they could get to Bloomington. Although her shell has repaired, the trauma and resulting neurological damage has affected the use of her back legs, which prevents her return to the wild.
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Broad-winged Hawk Ambassador Hawkeye came in from Brown County July 2004 after he had been hit by a car. He is blind in one eye and doesn't see well out of the other. There has also been some brain damage, which makes him more comfortable with captivity. They are typically quite secretive and migrate each September to South America.
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 Arctic Fox Ambassador Skylar is an example of the sad side effect of the legal trade in wild animals. Her ancestors were wild but captive and as the offspring Skylar was sold to a young woman who couldn't legally take her to another state. Rather than risk losing her, she turned her over to WildCare's Fox Team Leader.
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American Crow Ambassador DaVinci was found on the ground by the chemistry building at Indiana University in the spring of 2003. His eyes were still blue indicating his nestling status, and although his mother was trying to feed him, it was only a matter of time before a loose dog or cat would claim him. He has a bad foot and a bad wing, but there is nothing else wrong with him, and he delights everyone with his antics.
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Eastern Cottontail Ambassador Fiver is busy grooming herself after a carrot snack. Blind like her brother and found wandering in a yard when only two weeks old, they are kept together along with domestic rabbits for company. Fiver is also named after a character in the classic 1972 novel Watership Down.
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Adopt a WILDTHING
[PDF] printable flyer with all the information
about adopting a WILD ANIMAL
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