As Bobby, a resident of Amelia and
husband to Rehabber Linda, was traveling to work early morning in
King William County he witnessed an opossum being hit by a car.
While looking in his rear view mirror he saw babies from the
opossum scattered on the pavement. He turned the truck around to
save the babies. They had disappeared by the time he got to the
scene. Feeling bad that something happened to the babies, he at
least moved the dead opossum to the side of the road. That is
when he noticed the babies had crawled back inside her pouch.
Bobby pulled all the babies from the pouch and kept them warm,
dark and quiet until he got off work. The babies were taken to
Rehabber Chris where they will be tube fed until old enough to eat on
their own. All nine babies are doing well.
Powhatan farmer Sammy and Amelia resident David rescued a doe hit by a
car on a hot June evening. These two men placed the
suffering doe in a front end loader and took it to Rehabber Diane for
help. The doe was wrapped in a sheet and held steady while traveling to the Rehabber's home.
The effort these two men took to save the doe was heroic and just
shows the dedication some people will take to help and protect our
wildlife. Unfortunately, the doe did not survive her severe
injures, but at least died peacefully in the shade of the trees
instead of the hot road.
On
a warm April day in Goochland, Licensed Category II wildlife
rehabilitator, Tom, was called to a construction site to retrieve baby
raccoons. The mother had been killed on the site and no one knew
she had babies. Later that day some men heard their crying.
The cubs were located in a high ceiling area. Rehabber
Tom was lifted to the ceiling by a bucket truck. All three cubs
were gently removed and taken home by the rehabilitator where they are
thriving and doing fine.
Somewhere in Cumberland a good samaratan could hear crying and
whistling high up in an old oak tree. She listened for two days and
could see small heads hanging over a squirrel nest. This
awesome rescuer couldn't stand it anymore. She found the
tallest ladder she could and made her way to the nest. It was a
lot higher than she imagined, but she kept going with a strong
determination to save the baby squirrels. When she reached the
nest she found the mother squirrel dead, grabbed the three babies and
carried them down to safety. She took them to a licensed Category
II wildlife rehabilitator, Susan, in Powhatan. They were
skinny little things and are now big, fat and preparing for release
back into the wild.
Chersterfield Animal controlled contacted licensed Category II wildlife
rehabilitator, Colleen, in Chesterfield one evening about an
injured opossum with babies in her pouch. This poor opossum had
been bashed in the side of the head. Her jaw was broken and her
eyes literally knocked out the socket. She was taken
to Powhatan Animal Hospital where she was operated on, saving her
life. Her eyes had to be removed because of the extensive damage
she received to her face. She raised her babies to a healthy size
and is healing very well. She is now one of our ambassadors for
education.
The last of the cedar waxwings from the General Assembly Building in
Richmond were released on the grounds of the Powhatan United Methodist
Church in Powhatan, Virginia on May 14, 2008. Doing the release
is Rehabber Amber with her son, Cole.
