The Southwest Wildlife Foundation is dedicated to wildlife rescue, wildlife and environmental education, and the development of the Cedar Canyon Nature Park.
Piper the Prairie Falcon arrived back in May of 2018. This is the sixth and final episode in the series about his early training in falconry.
This video includes three days of continued free flying practice, ending with his best flight yet where he adds a good amount of altitude and does a good stoop to get a pigeon.
To see each episode and watch his gradual training, please visit Piper’s Video Playlist here!
An injured Turkey Vulture arrived on September 30, 2018. After an exam, Martin discovered a break on his wing. It would take some time to confirm how the bird was healing, so for many months, the treatment was a dark, quiet place for the bird to heal.
The Turkey Vulture stayed nearly eight months as Martin monitored the health of the wing by periodic examinations and x-rays.
On May 15th, the well fed, healed, threatening and hissing Turkey Vulture was flying well and ready to return to the wild.
In early evening of July 28th, Martin received a call about an injured hawk or type of bird out at the wind farm in Milford. He quickly got on the road for a long trip out to desert area in search of the injured bird.
While searching, he received word of another injured bird in the area, a young great horned owl.
This video includes his searches and shares a sample of all the road and foot time he puts in with wildlife rescues.
Martin also shares some advice about keeping alert on rural roads and how to report an injured animal if you come across one.
On June 4th, Martin got a call from a concerned woman about a Red Tailed Hawk on her property. He and Susan went out and found the Hawk in very bad shape. The Hawk was super super skinny and had help not arrived, Martin doubted it would have lasted another night.
Back at the rehab center, Martin estimated the Hawk was about a year old and in much need of some TLC. On arrival, the hawk had all kinds of lice to the extent of feather damage.
After a month under Martin’s care, the Red Tailed Hawk made a full recovery and on July 1st, was released back into the wild.
Susan has been very busy with many young critters arriving at the Southwest Wildlife Foundation of Utah! This young jackrabbit came from a construction area. With so much activity around, there really wasn’t a safe place for the young one.
Young Jackrabbits are extremely problematic to raise and take much diligence, experience and knowledge to properly attend to. Susan was up all hours making sure everything was just right.
If you find a young rabbit or any other critter, please do not try to raise it yourself. It is best to contact a local rehabber, fish & game or the non-emergency police line.
We never run short of boxes to open! Thank you to everyone who sends items needed to care for the critters!
If you would like to help, please visit our Amazon Wishlist.
The Southwest Wildlife Foundation of Utah currently has five Wildlife Ambassadors:
These are birds that Martin takes with him to education presentations. Between presentations, they are part of the family and require daily care, attention and training.
A regular routine is essential to maintain the birds training the their relationship with Martin. Martin’s time and assurances through falconry techniques helps to calm the birds when they go into so many different types of situations during wildlife educational presentations.
This video shows Martin’s daily routine of checking in each bird at night and moving them into the house for bedtime. Then early in the morning, returning them back out to their chambers and feeding them a natural diet. The time they spend together each day is essential to their overall training and sense of well being.
These young chipmunks arrived on May24th. They were very, very weak and dehydrated. They had been found just outside of their nest, with no mother around. After realizing how difficult it is to care for such young critters, the rescuers brought them to the Southwest Wildlife Foundation of Utah. Susan began around the clock care with a special formula thinned down to get plenty of electrolytes into them. After initial struggles to get them to take the formula, they began perking up and eating more. Feedings were every three hours while closely monitoring their weight.
Belle arrived in August of 2018 and we’ve filmed her training and development since arrival. This is a part five in the series of her transformation from young hawk to provider and educator.
Her hunting provides natural food to all our Wildlife Ambassadors as well as any rehabilitating critters in our care.
Additionally, Belle is an educational bird. She goes along with Martin, Scout, Cirrus and Helen to Wildlife Presentations throughout the Southwest.
She has become an essential member of our team!
To see all her videos, please visit her playlist at YouTube!
Biggest thanks to all who have contributed to help the critters! You are all making it difficult for us to keep our Amazon Wishlist updated because the items are so quickly sent our way!
We are very grateful for so much help!