2015 a glimpse of wildlife rescue at the SWF
Dear Friends of the Southwest Wildlife Foundation,
I apologize for not providing updates in the last month. Susan and I have been incredibly busy. Both the wildlife rescue and the wildlife education have kept us running like mad. Let’s see if I can bring you up to speed.
The two baby great horned owls have been successfully raised and released back to the wild about three weeks ago and they are both doing wonderful. All of the baby kestrel falcons have been released, as well as a pot load of sparrows, robins, doves and so on.
In the last couple of weeks, I have received three young orphaned golden eagles. All three of them came from different locations, but the reason they were orphaned were all the same. In late June we had a spell of extremely hot weather right at the time the young eagles were learning to fly. All three young eagles became separated from their parents, ended up on the ground, and were dying from the oppressive heat, all three on the very edge of death. Intensive care, fluids, and food; their lives have been saved and in August they will be ready to be returned to the wild.
Yesterday we released a Swainson hawk into the wild and received two orphaned pigmy owls. That’s how it goes; you release one and your get two. The flow of sick, injured and orphaned critters this year had been constant.
Back to the eagles: there is a common belief among many native people, that if you say your prayers with an eagle feather, the eagle feather will carry your prayers to God. An eagle has over seven thousand feathers. When we have an eagle ready for release, we will frequently seek out individuals or organizations that could use some extra prayers and allow them to release the eagle.
Here is where all of you come in; I could use a little help. I can contact the local newspaper and television stations and tell them I have an eagle ready to be returned to the wild, and the media people will say, “What is this the 15th eagle this year? Martin, that’s not news.” But if somebody rich or famous, or a high profile organization would like to come and release an eagle, then we are able to get the media coverage we need to continue to seek donations for our wildlife rescue center.
So if anyone has contacts, connections, friends that could help put us in touch with individuals or organizations that would like to release an eagle, please let me know as quickly as possible.
Thank you everyone for your kind and generous donations to the Southwest Wildlife Foundation, and a big thanks to all of our employees at Tyner’s Grooming and other volunteers who have given so much of their time to help us care for all of the small birds.
Sincerely,
Martin Tyner
