NEWSLETTER FOR
WILDLIFE REHABILITATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA
Volume 19 March 2005
| A quarterly newsletter produced by the Wildlife Rehabilitators of North Carolina (WRNC). WRNC's mission is to share information and knowledge about wildlife rehabilitation for the benefit of native wildlife. For comments or questions, write to: WRNC, 2542 Weymoth Rd, Winston-Salem , NC 27103 |
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| Date | Course | Location |
| Apr 16, 2005 - Apr 17, 2005 | 1AB: Basic Wildlife Rehabilitation | Everett, WA |
For updated calendar, course information and registration go to: http://www.iwrc-online.org/training/training.cfm
· The WRNC website maintains a training information page with contact details. Check it out at: http://www.ncwildliferehab.org/wrnctrain.htm
· Want a refresher course in your town, read how to organize in the Refresher Course Report below.
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Directory
Updates
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Have
you moved? Has your email address changed? Is your phone number listed
incorrectly in the directory?
Send updates to Carla Johnson at Wildlifeed2@aol.com |
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Newsletter
Goes ELECTRONIC
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This will
be the first issue of our newsletter available online. To save trees
we would like to move as many folks as possible to an electronic subscription.
This will also free club money up for other membership activities too.
To start your electronic subscription go to http://www.ncwildliferehab.org/newsletter/notify_by_email.html.
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Symposium Round-up
By Jean Chamberlain
Our 3rd
conference was held Feb. 25-27 after being postponed due to bad weather on the
original date. On Friday night we
started with the Ice Breaker, which featured a wildlife trivia contest similar
to “Jeopardy!”. We divided into four
teams. Two teams competed, then the
other two, and finally the two winners met to decide the contest winner. Many of the questions were not easy. Try a few of them yourself in the Trivia
Contest Question section following this article.
On Saturday morning after
some brief introductory remarks, we got underway with the sessions. At the same time, there was a lot of
activity in the hallways outside of the sessions, particularly during the
breaks. There were more exhibitors this
year with a wider variety of items to purchase. One very busy place was the tables where WRNC sold books and
supplies. Prior to the symposium,
when we ordered the books, we didn’t know what kind of response there would be
for the display and sale. We were
pleased that all copies were sold and we could have sold more of many of the
titles. We definitely plan to do this again next year, offering a larger number
of copies.
We had syringes for sale and
replacement nuts and bolts for pet carriers, a popular item. We sold out of the
nuts and bolts. We’ll have them again next year. We took orders for silicone
nipples. Did you order yours? Beth
Knapp-Tyner still has some for sale. If
you need them, email her at WildatHeartRehab@aol.com. Let us know if you have any ideas for other
items that we can sell that would be popular.
We are always looking for items that we can buy in bulk and sell at a
significantly lower price than members can purchase them for individually.
We also extend our thanks to
all who contributed items for the raffle, for the details see Raffle Thank
You.
Again this year there were
several tours of the Valerie Schindler Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and also
the zoo veterinary center. The latter
provided a special treat, as visitors were surprised to find two tiger cubs in
residence.
The sessions were
superb. We learned about antibiotics
from Dr. Michael Loomis. He pointed out
that a common mistake for beginning rehabilitators is to stop giving antibiotics
when the symptoms disappear rather than completing the entire course of
treatment. This can result in
incomplete clearance of the infection and increased microbial resistance to the
antibiotic. I was fascinated by Dr. Ed
Smallwood’s straightforward explanation of the efficiency of the bird lungs. In
the mammal anatomy session we learned that opossums have epipubic bones that
support their marsupial pouch and deer have a four-chambered stomach. In the
afternoon, Dr. Ralph Houser put together a simple CO2 ‘chamber’ for
us and then demonstrated how to use it.
He had us come up and feel the gas sinking around the tub. Dana Simms
took us through the history of the fawn rehab program and showed photographs
of different cases of fawns she has rehabilitated.
Early Sunday morning I
presented some ideas on enriching our critter’s lives. This was a new and intriguing idea for many
in the audience. In Vet Speak, who was
that crawling on the table imitating a wild critter? And tell me, where is the anterior of an animal that stands on
all fours? Did you know that herons
have an interesting similarity to vultures?
They both disgorge their stomach contents when disturbed. We concluded
with two animals with crazy nicknames: fairy diddles (southern flying
squirrels) and whistlepigs (groundhogs) with an appearance by Murphy, the zoo
rehab center’s education groundhog.
(Continued)
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From the editor's desk |
Symposium Round Up (continued)
And I must not forget to
mention the workshops. We had more than
40 people administering sub-q fluids to cadavers. The fecal workshop was a favorite of mine. Dr. James Flowers demonstrated three
techniques to prepare the specimens and helped us identify parasite eggs.
The evaluations told us that
this symposium was a real success. On a
scale of one to five more than 50% rated it a five. There were only two evaluations with a rating below four. We thank all the presenters who gave their
personal time to share their knowledge and experience with us to make this an
enjoyable weekend. We all learned a lot
and had a great time.
Be sure to set aside Jan 27th – 29th next year for our fourth
symposium. You won’t want to miss
it.
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Cage Grant Recipients
By Toni O’Neil
We had four applicants this year for the first Cage Building Grant to be offered to WRNC members. The Board's initial plan was to award one $500 grant. Instead, it decided to offer two grants of $250. The entire board reviewd the applications in a meeting following the symposium in February. Three of the four applicants met all the requirements to be eligible for the grants. The Board agreed to increase the grant fund to $750, awarding all three eligible applicants a grant. The recipients who will receive $250 each are: Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, Carolina Wild Care, and Wild for Life. Congratulations! The results of the projects will be featured in a future newsletter.
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Thank
you from Jeannie Mintz
A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped New Hanover County wildlife rehabilitators after Hurricane Charlie. |
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The
gorgeous opossum cage
Any one interested in the 24 x 24 wire cage that was given away at the WRNC Symposium raffle? Contact Bob Kiger at 910-867-7559. The pickup price per cage will be $50.00 |
By Toni
O'Neil
Comments
from exhibitors at the symposium again this year have been very heartening.
We are so glad they chose to share some of their literature, displays,
and fine gifts. Sales were good, even though we had to assign
everyone one table only this year, and space was limited. I have heard from several people that they
plan to set up displays next year. Rehabbers who make wildlife art also will
be offering their products for sale after seeing how well it went this year. So plan to increase your spending allowance
for next year's symposium!
The
raffle was a tremendous success, raising $585 for WRNC. This money is channeled back into benefits
for members in the form of scholarships, medical supplies, books, and other
resource materials available for sale at cost for you, with the added bonus
of saving on shipping costs. It was
also apparent everyone had a lot of fun.
We
would like to thank the following folks for making our raffle a success with
their generous donations:
John
Althouse Blue
Ridge Wildlife Institute
The Carolina Raptor Center
(CRC) Coconut
Creek Publishing Company
Friends of the WNC Nature
Center Fox
Valley
Pam Graham Hancock
Fabrics of Fayetteville, NC
I.W.R.C. Bob
and Carrie Kiger
Kathy Lillard Nature's
Way
N.W.R.A. Toni
O'Neil
Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter (OWLS) Wal-Mart of
Fayetteville, NC
Wild for Life
Refresher Course Report
for 2004
By Jean
Chamberlain
WRNC held two refresher course sessions at the symposium in
2004. We also taught refresher courses in Asheville, Charlotte,
Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, and at Hatteras and Kill Devil
Hills on the Outer Banks. More than 180 rehabilitators took the course.
PowerPoint presentations, skits and a video were used in a
course intended as a review for rehabilitators who had some experience. People
attended who had no experience, as well as advanced rehabilitators. Nearly everyone
said they felt the course material was at about the right level for an
effective review.
Any rehabilitator in the state was welcome; membership in
WRNC was not required. The course did, however, bring several new members
to our organization. We signed up fifty members at the eight locations
where the courses were offered.
When asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the course, the
responses of the participants were split between good and excellent. The
median rating on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the best, was
9. The course was well prepared, well taught, and the presentations
were professional. WRNC can be proud of this accomplishment.
In 2005 we will teach the class at any location that has 12
or more people interested. Contact Jean Chamberlain (jchamberlain1@alltel.net) or Carla Johnson (wildlifeed2@aol.com) if you are interested in having us
visit you. We will also provide the PowerPoint presentations to
anyone in the state who wishes to incorporate them into wildlife rehabilitation
classes. Our goal is to reach as many rehabilitators as possible with
this material.
Board Changes
By Sally Davis
Each year at symposium the WRNC
membership selects new board members for three-year terms. Also the board elects officers at the board
meeting immediately following symposium.
Officer positions are one year long with the option to continue for a
second year in the same office. This
year all officer positions were up for election.
WRNC sends a big thank you to our
outgoing board members: Gayle Houston,
Lee Bolt and Sherri Koester. Mathias
Englemann returns to the board for another three-year term. We also welcome three new board
members: Elizabeth Hanrahan, Mary Beth
Bryman and Beth Knapp-Tyner. Bios for
all three of our new board members follow this article.
A big thanks also goes out to our
outgoing president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, Jean Chamberlain,
Carla Johnson, Joan McMurray and Sherri Koester respectively. Jean, Carla, and Joan remain active members
of our board. Linda Bergman and Toni
O’Neil step into the roles of president and vice president respectively. We look forward to great things from this
Down East tag-team. Sally Davis is the
new secretary and Beth will be our treasurer.
Also Carla, Jean, and Sally continue in their current roles of
membership, webmaster, and newsletter editor respectively.
Bios
of New Board Members
M. Beth Knapp-Tyner,
Treasurer
Beth is an
independent home-based rehabilitator and resides in a very rural area of Polk
County in the Western half of North Carolina. She has been a state and
federally permitted rehabilitator since 2001. 2005 is her third
year of rehabilitating deer/fawns. Animals, be they domestic or wild,
have been a big part of her life for as long as she can remember. She is a
certified equine sports massage therapist and was a certified childbirth
instructor and doula for several years. She is a member of IWRC and NWRA,
in addition to WRNC and believes strongly in networking with other
rehabilitators. As a new board member, she would like to help WRNC with
its current programs and plans and also help to possibly implement programs
that would increase benefits to its members, e.g. through networking, discount
purchasing. Her experience comes from serving as a volunteer for a
few different non-profit organizations in the past, being a business owner, and
obtaining an AS degree a little later in life than is the norm.
Elizabeth Hanrahan
Elizabeth Hanrahan began working in wildlife rehabilitation
in 1985 while serving as the executive director of the Hall County, GA, Humane
Society. She received her initial
training from veterinarians and has taken classes through the Wildlife Center
of Virginia, Carolina Raptor Center, NWRA, IWRC, & WRNC. In addition, she frequently presents papers,
workshops, and classes and has published papers for NWRA, IWRC, WRNC and College
of the Albemarle. Wildlife rehabilitation
activities are supported by private birding and eco tours of Ocracoke led
by Elizabeth. Volunteer activities
include: Sea Turtle monitoring, rescue,
and transport, first responder for the Mammal Stranding Network, International Shorebird monitor for the National Park Service and Manomet
Center and tour leader of NPS summer birding programs and leader for the Wings
Over Water Birding Festival. Her
community activities include volunteer docent for the Ocracoke Preservation
Society and board member of the Ocracoke Child Care Center. She has a B.S. in business administration,
a M.Ed. in marketing education and an Ed.S. in Vocational Education Administration.
Elizabeth and her husband, Dr. Calvin Hanrahan, a physical therapist,
have two grown sons and live on Ocracoke.
Mary Beth Bryman
Mary
Beth Bryman is co-founder and co-director of Wild for Life: Center for Rehabilitation
of Wildlife, Inc. in Asheville, NC. Wild for Life holds both state and federal permits. Mary Beth holds a B.S. in medical technology
and a B.A. in biology. She has been
rehabilitating for more than 12 years and attends NWRA, IWRC, WRNC conferences
and workshops. She is active in wildlife
rehabilitation, environmental education internships with the University of
North Carolina-Asheville, as well as wildlife educational programs for the
public. Her emphasis is generating
public awareness about wildlife rehabilitation and conservation. Her goals as a board member are to improve
the networking for rehabilitators in North Carolina and to stress the importance
to new and upcoming rehabilitators of the importance to keep rehab animals
wild and not allowing them to become imprinted or humanized.
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Board member contact list (email)
Bergman, Linda (President) lbergman@ec.rr.com Bryman, Mary Beth wildforlife@juno.com Burgin, Jennifer skwurllady@bellsouth.net Chamberlain, Jean jchamberlain1@alltel.net Davis, Sally (Newsletter Editor, Secretary) wekaterrapin@hotmail.com Engelmann, Mathias mathiasengelmann@birdsofprey.org Hanrahan, Elizabeth birdworld@ocracokenc.net Johnson, Carla (Membership) Wildlifeed2@aol.com Knapp-Tyner, Beth (Treasurer) WildatHeartRehab@aol.com McMurray, Joan mcmurray@nczoo.com O'Neil, Toni (Vice President) oneil9734@yahoo.com Schopler, Bobby bobbyschopler@hotmail.com Weiss, Mary weiss275@cs.com |
New Membership Directory
The new state directory will be published in April 2005. Be sure to renew your membership so that you are included in the directory. Dues can be mailed to WRNC, 2542 Weymoth Rd., Winston-Salem, NC 27103. Make $15 membership checks out to WRNC. Hardcopies will be available for $5. |
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Ask WRNC Q: How do I remove bird poop from my carriers? It gets like
concrete. If you have any questions you would like WRNC to answer in future newsletters,
submit them to Jean Chamberlain at jchamberlain1@alltel.net. |
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Want to Walk on the Wild Side? Register now for Piedmont Wildlife Center's Walk for Wildlife on Sunday,
April 10th at Lake Crabtree County Park. Come enjoy an afternoon outside
discovering what North Carolina wildlife is all about, while helping
raise money for local wildlife. For information and registration call
968-8557 or visit www.piedmontwildlifecenter.org. |
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10% Discount at the Squirrel Store WRNC members can receive either a 10% discount or Free shipping on their first order from Squirrel Store, which now carries rehab supplies (formulas, feeds, etc.) at competitive prices, in addition to other wildlife related items. Orders can be placed via their website (www.SquirrelStore.com) or by calling Misty at 1-866-907-7757. Make sure to mention you are a WRNC member for this special offer. - Beth Knapp-Tyner |
Other
Board Member Bios
Linda Bergman, President
Linda holds a M.S. in educational psychology and teaches
curriculum courses at Coastal Carolina Community College in Jacksonville.
She also designs and develops soft skill/hard skill industry training for new
and existing businesses in eastern North Carolina as a Training and Employee
Development Specialist (TEDS). Shortly after retiring from the Marine
Corps in 1992, Linda began volunteering at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter in
Morehead City, pursuing her passion for wildlife conservation and
rehabilitation. She achieved her certification as a wildlife rehabilitator for
the state of North Carolina and is a member of NWRA, board member of WRNC and
continues to be an active volunteer at OWLS, working in rehab, mentoring and
facilitating tour groups. Linda is proactively concerned with the loss of
wildlife habitat due to progressive development in Onslow and it's surrounding
counties and regularly attends community meetings to voice those concerns
through education, as well as, rally support.
Toni O’Neil, Vice President
Toni holds a B.S. in
zoology with a minor in wildlife management from the University of Maryland.
She has been a rehabilitator for 14 years and holds state and federal permits.
Toni has held administrative positions with ARC and has taught classes for CRC,
ARC, and Carolina Wild Care. She has given presentations to school and civic
groups. She believes in a strong statewide networking system to
assist rehabilitators at all levels, and to encourage them to participate and
become involved in reaching out to others. She believes that communication
between rehabilitators is vital to further education, keep current, share
ideas, and be better able to serve the animals and the public. She now
resides near the coast and looks forward to representing the Eastern part
of the state. She is the director of Possumwood Acres Wildlife
Sanctuary in Hubert, NC.
Sally
Davis, Secretary
Sally received her BA in computer science and
graduate certificate in education, middle school sciences, from Dartmouth
College. After ten years of
international computer consulting and teaching, including executive level
management experience, she now pursues her dream career as a DVM student at
NCSU, College of Veterinary Medicine.
Rehabilitation experience include pinniped and cetacean rehab at Mystic
Aquarium in Connecticut, volunteer work at the Valerie Schindler Wildlife
Rehabilitation Center, and turtle team at the CVM. She has also pursued interests in nutrition and zoo medicine at
the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Mystic Aquarium and the NCSU Center for Marine
Science and Technology in Morehead City. She currently edits the WRNC
newsletter.
Jean Chamberlain, Past President
Jean taught high
school mathematics for several years and then pursued a career in Information
Technology. She is now retired. She and her husband have been
rehabilitators for 12 years, rehabilitating raptors for about 10 years. She is
particularly interested in animal behavior & training. She helped design
and teaches WRNC's Refresher Course and also organizes the WRNC symposium each
year. Jean is webmaster for WRNC and is also the webmaster for IWRC.
Carla Johnson, Past Vice President
Carla has been rehabbing
for more than 10 years, is vice president of WRNC and president of Wildlife
Rehab, Inc., her local rehab group. She
coordinates wildlife rehabilitation classes through the local community college
in Winston-Salem, NC and presents countless environmental education programs to
the surrounding community for Wildlife Rehab, Inc. each year. Carla is responsible for maintaining WRNC’s
membership records and for producing the membership directory. She is also on the symposium committee and
helped put together and teach the refresher course for WRNC.
Joan McMurray, Past
Secretary
Joan is a retired Air Force nurse. She has been actively involved in wildlife
rehabilitation for more than 20 years and holds both state and federal permits.
She began by volunteering at a center in Maryland for five years, moved to
North Carolina where she rehabbed out of her home for 14 years and has been the
Rehabilitation Coordinator at the zoo’s Valerie Schindler Wildlife
Rehabilitation Center since it opened in 2001. As such, she is involved in the
day-to-day care of the animals, supervising the other volunteers, planning and
conducting educational activities for the public and the volunteers. Joan feels that a strong state organization can
help improve the quality of rehabilitation throughout the state by offering
educational opportunities and networking among rehabilitators.
Jennifer
Burgin
Jennifer has been a rehabilitator in Henderson County (district 9)
for 13 years. She has dealt with a wide variety of animals but is now
concentrated on critical care of squirrels. Currently she is in school full
time pursuing her RN degree and her rehab activities will be limited to
triage and stabilization of squirrels until they can be transferred to other
rehabbers. In the past she took in approximately 200 animals a year and taught
rehab classes in her area. She seeks to improve networking among
rehabilitators in the state. She feels that a mentoring system for new
rehabilitators could be an important adjunct or alternative to formal
training.
Mathias
Engelmann
Mathias Engelmann is director of
Rehabilitation at Carolina Raptor Center. Born in Munich, Germany, he
“migrated” to the U.S.A. in 1980. He holds a degree in biology from
UNC-Charlotte and has been working at CRC since 1983, first as a volunteer and
for the past 11 years as a paid staff member. Mathias has been involved with
the WRNC since its inception. His interests include cage construction and
research.
Bobby Schopler, DVM, PhD
Dr. Bobby Schopler
received his veterinary degree from North Carolina State University College of
Veterinary Medicine in 1986 and Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of
North Carolina School of Public Health in 1998. He is the founder/executive
director of the Piedmont Wildlife Center. He is a founding Board member of
WRNC, beginning in June, 2000.
Mary
Weiss
Mary was a licensed
nurse in New York, raised eight children and took care of many different
animals, farm and domestic, while the children were growing up. She raised and showed Saint Bernards for 35
years and for the last five years has rehabilitated approximately 150 small
mammals per year. Mary is a member of
the NWRA and IWRC. She has attended
many WRNC meetings and provided refreshments and snacks.
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How to go ELECTRONIC Here is your chance to do your little bit for the environment and also
save money for things of more use to the membership than printing and
sending paper in the mail. |
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End of Year Reports Please get your end of year reports in to WRNC. File existing federal
records or use the form below. |
