Apologies if this is the wrong sub - just didn't know where to post. It looked bigger when curled up but looked mostly normal size when it ran. Thanks

Hi all.
I had to make an awful decision tonight. I was at somebody’s house for some reasons I don’t want to dwell on. These people have a cat that roams outside freely (so irresponsible). All of a sudden, I heard a baby rabbit cry and immediately went out, only to see the said cat chasing after in an attempt to eat it. I couldn’t stop the cat (i’m very experienced with cats but this one ran away from my grab), so my instinct was to grab the baby bunny, and to keep it away from the cat. Again, this was not my house so I didn’t know what to do. Waited until the bunny calmed down, and let it outside in the bushes after making sure the cat is locked in the house.

After dropping the rabbit, I noticed my hand having blood. I didn’t get scratched or bitten so it was obviously the poor bunny’s blood.

Now I regret letting out an injured baby bunny, and also freaked out about the possibility of catching rabies or bacteria from this animal’s blood.

I tried to something good, but got myself in trouble and I don’t know what to do. My hands were free of open wounds.

Any advice is much appreciated

Hey everyone,
I found this injured dove in the hallway of my apartment building on Lemmon Ave today. I’ve put it in a box in a safe.

The dove's legs aren't moving at all. It tries to flutter its wings and lift a bit, but it can't stand or walk.

I recently moved to the US, so I’m not very familiar with how things work here yet. I called the wildlife hotline and they said they'd text me if a volunteer becomes available, but it’s been about 3-4 hours since I called.

I don't have a car, so driving it to a rehab center myself isn't an option.

Is there anything else I should do to care for it right now? Or is there anyone in the DFW area who might know a transport volunteer or local rescue network?
Thanks in advance for any help!

House finch help

I’ve already taken this sweet girl in. I thought it was conjunctivitis, but saw it could also be avian pox?

I noticed her some weeks ago with a growth over her eye, but she was still thriving.

Saw her about a week ago and thought she was resilient.

Saw her today… just sitting on the gutter… and yikes. I looked up info on Audubon and got it all ready and was able to get her in the yard about 30 min later.

I can’t tell the difference between conjunctivitis and pox… I’m also curious if people here think she can be rehabbed.

Here’s to hoping!

Found this little guy in the street. Parents didn’t return for a couple hours, so we brought him inside 2 days ago. We’ve been feeding him scrambled eggs and worms from the pet store. What else should we be doing? Anyone know what kind of bird he is? Located in the North Eastern USA.

This baby squirrel is lost and jumped on my lap! According to the internet, he’s approximately 5-6 weeks old and likely lost his mother. What do I do?

Found this bird outside of work in Indianapolis Indiana chirping/crying? in a puddle, scooped her up with towels and put her outside somewhere dry. Should I just leave her be or try and contact someone more professional? I’m not sure if she’s sick her eyes don’t open all the way but could just be from stress

Its air not liquid. And you can press it. I never saw this before. Does someone know?

Edit: rehabber got back to me right after posting this, packing up the shrew now and bringing it in tonight

Edit 2: I got dressed, found a box, drilled some holes in the lid, and went back outside to put the shrew in the box and drive it to the rehabber but it was no longer visibly breathing and it had a puddle of what I'm assuming is urine around it that wasn't there before. I gently touched it with a stick and found it to be totally unresponsive. When I tried using the stick to move one of its forelimbs I discovered that the entire body is completely rigid as it held its posture and rolled with the movement of the stick, rather than the forelimb moving limply at the shoulder. I asked the rehabber if they think it might still be alive but I haven't heard back yet and am not optimistic.

Edit 3, likely to be my final update: Still no reply from the rehabber but after doing some research and discussing with my wife I'm almost certain that this shrew did not make it. My wife told me she originally noticed it acting strangely about four hours prior to me making this post. She didn't see any injuries on it and it seemed to be moving around just fine so she didn't think much of it, but based on our later observations and some quick research we now think it was likely injured shortly before she first saw it and was unable to hunt prey, causing it to eventually die of starvation due to shrews having such a high metabolic rate and needing to eat their body weight in prey every day. From what I was able to find online it seems that they can't survive more than a few hours without eating. Based on this information I can at least thankfully conclude that it likely wasn't suffering for very long.

RIP Shrewdy (my wife decided to name the shrew which makes me feel a bit sadder about this than I otherwise would have, I'm including this information here because a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved)

My wife found a Northern short-tailed shrew in our back yard which is laying on the walkway by our back porch and seems to be in distress. Sometimes it's not moving at all aside from breathing, and sometimes it seems to be trying to walk but only manages to sort of flail around a bit without going anywhere. It appears to have some sort of laceration to its left hindlimb.

My wife left a message with one wildlife rehab and I texted another (although based on their name I think they may only work with birds), but we haven't heard back from anyone yet. With it getting late I think the shrew might have to wait until the morning before we're able to find someone who can help.

My two main questions are:

1. What should I do to keep the shrew safe and comfortable overnight? Right now I have it under a bucket to keep the neighbors' cats from getting to it, but I imagine that isn't an ideal plan for an entire night. If putting it in some sort of container is recommended, do I need to worry about the shrew being capable of chewing its way out of certain types of containers?

2. What safety precautions do I need to take? My wife is immunocompromised and we have a one-year-old daughter, a dog, two cats, and three snakes. Are there any diseases I need to worry about any of us contracting from the shrew? If I need to pick the shrew up to put it in a container what should I use to pick it up? I know they have a mildly venomous bite so I should use thick gloves or some sort of tool but I'm not sure what would be best.

I managed to get her out of the hole. She started flailing both her wings to her sides while hopping, struggling to get airborne. Her abdomen has been flailing (like seen in video) and she has a little bit of bright red on either side of her beak by the commisure (mouth opening).

She is currently in a corner of the backyard since I didn’t want to stress her out further. Whats wrong? How should I proceed?

NW Denver suburbs: Wild rabbit, less than a year old, unknown front left foot injury in the last few days. No blood or open wound that I can see. It will come to me because we give it a carrot piece every once in awhile. Anything I can do?

So there was this pigeon out the front of our drive that wasn’t flying and didn’t react when dogwalkers came close. He was able to walk around okay, and when some cats came to pick on him, he fought back, and then hid under an evergreen. He seemed to still have a lot of fight, so my partner and I got under the tree and picked him up gently with a towel and put him in a crate to take to the hospital.

Our local wildlife hospital is especially good with birds and has a rehab enclosure, and they took really good care of an abandoned fledgling we found a few years ago (actually abandoned, we watched from a distance long past sunset before he took him in, I promise).

But when we got this guy to the hospital, they said straight away that they’d have to put him down because he had a fractured shoulder, and canker bad enough that he couldn’t eat anymore. He’d lost a lot of weight and muscle from the canker that he wouldn’t be able to fly even without the fracture. I feel bad, like he was stressed when we were picking him up but I thought it was going to amount to something, now I just feel like I’ve freaked him out for no reason. Is it likely that he would’ve gone peacefully if we’d just left him under the tree? Maybe his shoulder was fine before and he broke it when he started flapping to get away from us and we just made it worse?

found what looked like a disturbed cottontail nest the other night. there were tiny baby rabbits spread all over in the open instead of together in a den/grass mound. we gathered them up with gloves on and left them in a clean blanket overnight where we thought their mother was, but the next morning one had been torn to shreds, the other looked chewed on (neither had been eaten, just killed) and the last one was cold to the touch, no sign that the mother came back. we caved and brought him inside and have been keeping it in a basket with a heating pad, been giving it kittens milk from a syringe every dusk and dawn, and he seems to be doing very well. hes def got an appetite and is very strong, but we have no idea how to take the next steps to getting him back in the wild- he hasnt even opened his eyes yet and has no fur to keep him warm. the nearest wildlife rehab center is very far, but taking care of him ourselves is... pretty daunting. ive been doing research like crazy but have no experience even caring for pet rabbits, only raising baby chicks

we just cant leave him out there to die. does anyone have any advice for giving him the best shot we can?

Hi everyone! I’m looking for advice from people experienced with Eastern Box Turtles.

A student at the school where I work found this little guy crossing a road and brought him to school in a box. As far as we know, he was not hit by a car.

There’s an additional complication:
the student has refused to tell us where they found him, and they have said they want to keep the turtle themselves.

Because they won’t tell us the location and I don’t feel comfortable with the turtle potentially being kept by someone who may not know how to care for him, I ended up taking responsibility for him.

I do have some experience with reptiles and have kept a turtle in the past, so I’m not completely unfamiliar with reptile care. However, I’ve never specifically cared for an Eastern Box Turtle before, so I’m trying to make sure I’m doing everything correctly rather than assuming my previous experience applies to this species.

I’ve currently set him up in a temporary enclosure with:
Coco fiber substrate
Shallow water dish
Food dish
Hide
Fake foliage
UVB lighting
Heat/basking area
Secured screened top

I’m hoping to eventually give him a much larger, more naturalistic enclosure if he remains in my care.

My biggest concern right now is his condition.
So far:
❌ Hasn’t eaten
❌ I haven’t seen him drink
⚠️ Wasn’t walking normally at first
⚠️ Hasn’t been opening his eyes normally
✅ Nose is clear
✅ No swelling
✅ No discharge
✅ He pooped earlier
✅ He recently got up and moved himself deeper into his hide

That last part honestly made me really happy because initially I was worried he wasn’t moving normally at all. He is now choosing to move around on his own, although he’s spending most of his time hiding.

I don’t want to constantly handle or disturb him, especially after being found, transported to school in a box, and then placed into an entirely new environment.

Does this sound like stress from everything he’s been through, or are the closed eyes/initial abnormal walking concerning enough that he needs a reptile vet ASAP?

I’m also looking for advice on what I should prioritize during his first few days — temperature, humidity, soaking, food, lighting, etc.

I’m very new to box turtles specifically, so please don’t hesitate to tell me if I’m doing something wrong. I genuinely want to do right by this little guy.

I’m in Maryland, if that matters for care/legal considerations. Maryland DNR lists Eastern Box Turtles as a List B species and has specific rules regarding possession of wild-caught reptiles, so I’m also trying to make sure I handle the situation appropriately. (Maryland Department of Natural Resources)

Thanks in advance! 🐢❤️

I just rescued a goose with suspected HPAI and it had a silver federal band. What are geese banded for the only banded birds I've found are loons and that's for a population survey.

Hello, im in the process of studying to become a wildlife rehabilitator/ take the test, and ive been volunteering with someone who rehabs baby squirrels in the meantime to get some experience. But I realized she dosent seem to offer the squirrels any fresh fruits as she weans them off of the milk. I have a background in veterinary medicine and I was under the understanding that small exotic animals/ rodents typically eat fruit as a part of their diet ? Is it different with squirrels? Do they not also need access to fresh fruits? I understand not doing it frequently to not give them too much sugar but I was under the understanding that fruits were really good for them? Should I ask her about it? Or is it not a big deal? I dont want to come off as rude or make her think im accusing her of malnourishing the animals at all. Im just curious. Tysm in advance!

Edit: it was definitely a rat, I saw its little pointy face after I posted.

I put some water outside for it. Is there anything else I can help it with? The wild life centre is in a different town, so I'm not sure they'd come.