Short Weekends

I am annoyed. Just wrote a blog update and lost it in cyber space when I went to put it up on the website. I hate the fact that I am so clueless with technology. The next trick will be seeing if I can remember what I wrote. :)

Weekends are too short. Wouldn't it be cool if weekends were 5 days and you only had to go to work 2 days a week? I would get a lot more done at NY Wildlife Rescue Center but I can't complain; I love my day job teaching.

This past Friday, as soon as I got home from school, Chris and I went on a rescue. We took my daughter Hannah and her friend Katie. Hannah loves going on rescues with me and could easily run the farm since she has been looking over my shoulder for the last 12 years. The first stop was to pick up a donkey, a llama (who is getting gelded tomorrow), 4 chickens and 4 rabbits. Once we got everything on the trailer (which is a story in itself) we got them all back to the facility to get settled in.

BOD Member and fellow wildlife rehabber Linda agreed to send her husband (and animal chauffer) Dan to pick up a crow for me in Schenectady. Linda and Dan are great, Dan has helped me out too many times to count by picking up and dropping off animals where they need to be when I am too busy to get mobile. The crow has a broken wing so we took it from Linda's directly to Kelly's and I helped her wrap it until she could get it to the vets. Linda also sent along a baby field mouse that had gotten dropped off to her. I passed that on to Kelly as well. All Creatures Great and Small ... I guess :)

[Continuation copied here as well, to make it easier for our readers to follow....]


I'm not even going to try to retrieve it anymore, maybe Gayle can piece these together but this will work for me. Saturday was a productive day. We got another (very expensive) lumber delivery Friday so we were ready to go.

Chris Bevins and Paul Gillespie (from the GE Wildlife Committee) were here bright and early to get to work on the inside part of the Raptor center. Chris has been worth his weight in gold to this project. None of it would be done if it wasn't for him. He has been coming up every night after work to help me and has gone above and beyond being a good friend. Paul has donated so many hours here helping us that I have lost track. GE is really lucky to have him as an employee.

The GE Wildlife Committee has been very supportive of our cause both financially and with their volunteer labor. We need monetary donations to keep going but the volunteers are vital for keeping the non stop construction going also.

Joe and Michelle came to help in the afternoon and between the five of us, we got the other six raptor aviaries framed out and just about ready for the slots. It was a fourteen hour day and we accomplished the work of ten people.

I originally thought that the Raptor Center would be lucky if it had hawks, owls or falcons in it by fall. I want to have a dedication ceremony and Open House in June to try to hopefully raise some donations to get the rehab exercise flight construction going.

Sunday was Shearing Day. We had 25 llamas and 40 sheep that needed to be sheared. Chris and Michelle were at the facility bright and early. Our shearer Ray Baitsholts [797-5201] and his wife Cheryl (another BOD Member) were not far behind. Lori Spiers and the Middleburgh Girl Scout Troop 2006 (Destiny, Sidney, Meghan) got sheep catching duty.

The sheep were pre-caught Saturday night before it rained and locked up for the night so they didn't get wet. It is tough to shear wet sheep.

As the girls got the sheep to Ray, once sheared they passed them off to me. Just when I thought that no one ever reads these blogs, Grant and Janet showed up. They said they read on my blog that I needed help on shearing day and they were here to volunteer. We had never met but we got to know one another as we wormed, trimmed feet, banded tails and gave every sheep a NYS eartag for future ID.

We worked right through lunch, finished the sheep, and then set up the chutes to run the llamas through for shearing. We had never done the llama herd this way but it worked as well as I thought it would and by dinner time every animal on the farm (that needed it) had gotten a haircut, worming, manicure, etc.

I really want to thank the Girl Scouts, my high school volunteers, my friends and everyone that stopped by who were put to work. Many hands do make light work and I appreciate everyone who volunteers at the facility to tackle these huge projects that I have taken on. The days of being a one man army are over.

As everyone was ready for a shower and a nap, we loaded 3 llamas into Steve and Karen's trailer for their departure to their new home. I love watching animals leave to go to their new homes. I wish that I could keep them all but that isnt practical or my destiny.

WANTED- Homes with caring and compassionate people that want to adopt llamas, sheep, goats for a long term commitment. You must agree to provide for all of their needs and if it ever doesn't work out, they must be returned to our facility. We have put a lot of time and money into getting these sheep and llamas ready for adoption and they are ready to start going to their new homes as approved. Spread the word.... I would love to see many of these llamas stay together and go to homes with other llamas and/or sheep. Email me, we can schedule an appointment for a visit for "Llamas 101". Grant and Janet, I already have three weanlings picked out for you. I will teach you how to finish their halter training ... I can't wait to put some llamas in your life.

It is getting late and I am hoping that this goes to the blog this time. Till next time, feel free to volunteer, send a check for what you can afford or stop by and have a cup of coffee and enjoy the view.

Wes

A KIDS AND ANIMALS DAY

Our Head Start visitors were fascinated by the animals

Wednesday was a great day. Despite the occasional badly timed rain shower and the lingering perfume of disgruntled fox, three of us from the New York Wildlife Rescue Center fully enjoyed our visits with the animal-loving youth of Schoharie County.

I was dropped off at Red Maple Farm around nine in the morning, and after helping Wes set up a few things to get ready for our first event, we sat on the front porch and sipped coffee. To our surprise, no more than about a hundred feet from us, a red fox entered one of the paddocks and started to stalk the Muscovy ducks. We know there is a litter of kits down the lane, and suspect that it was their mother, whose mate was killed by a car recently. Although we felt for her, the farm's domestic waterfowl really aren't fair game ... especially when we're expecting a large group of four year olds to come rolling in at any moment. The potential result was not a memory we wanted the kids to take home with them! Wes shouted at the vixen and clapped his hands. She ran off once, and then gave it one more try before finally disappearing into the woods.

Kelly Martin soon arrived with two of her smaller birds of prey, a gorgeous kestrel and her charming little screech owl. We finished setting up for the event shortly before the two school buses from Head Start pulled in.

The kids were marvelous, and very well behaved. They giggled at Wes's reading of "Is Your Mama a Llama?", and grew wide-eyed with amazement as they learned about wildlife, and about animals who appear to be wild but are not. Kelly's lovely birds, the marble fox Blizzard, the emu chick Elmer, a beautiful ringneck pheasant ... as each animal came out in turn to teach the children, you could see the wonder grow on their faces. A key component of the presentation was, "Don't touch", and "Tell your parents" if ever you see a wild creature in your yard. One of the peacocks sat in the rafters of the barn, eliciting laughter as he added his occasional comments to the lecture, and Jake the Clydesdale seemed to enjoy storytime as much as the kids did. As young as these children are, I have hope that they'll carry these memories, and a growing respect for the animals, through life with them.

Kelly Martin's Screech Owl is introduced to the children

When the "hay bale classroom" segment was complete, the kids got a tour of the domestic animal section of the farm, and because they were so well behaved and such good listeners, each child was given a peacock feather to take home with them.

After the little ones left, and while Kelly ran home to collect her larger birds of prey, Wes and I loaded the animals who would accompany us for our second installment into the truck. Our afternoon was then spent in the company of the children of Sharon Springs Elementary School, who welcomed us kindly into their domain. We all enjoyed a moving, musical slideshow about wildlife rehabilitation, and then our Animal Teachers joined us again as Wes and Kelly shared a wonderful presentation with the kids. In addition to the animals from the morning, Kelly's Great Horned Owl and Marsh Hawk honored us with their presence, and held the rapt attention of the children. The students and teachers at Sharon Spring made us feel very welcome, and we are so grateful for both their hospitality, and for the generous donation the kids collected.

Wes and Kelly's Kestrel at Sharon Springs Elementary

It's always a good thing when you can present the truth about wildlife, and the need to care for and respect them, to young people. My hope is that as they carry the wisdom of the day with them, they will make the future for our native wild creatures just a little bit brighter.

New York Wildlife Rescue Center is labor of love, grown out of necessity, under the watchful eye of Wes and Darcy Laraway and the other wildlife rehabilitators who make up the board of directors of Northeast Llama Rescue and Barnyard Sanctuary. Sometimes a person's destiny is not decided entirely by them, but by the others who come into their lives ... in this case the wildlife who cried out for help. Although one main purpose of NYWR is to do educational presentations, we are also an active sanctuary, dedicated to helping injured and orphaned wild animals to heal, and preparing them for release back into their natural environments. In addition to the animals who accompany us as teachers, there are many others who are kept privately and safely away from too much human contact, with the intent that they can remain free and wild once they return to their true homes.

Baby Grey Squirrel in the private Sanctuary, almost

old enough to be prepared for release

We are a fledgling organization with a promising future, and would be honored if you would visit our website at http://redmaplefarm.net. There, you can follow our blogs, read about past and future events, get to know us, and if the spirit moves you, gift us with a donation. There are a lot of little ... and not so little ... mouths to feed, and every generous act is appreciated. We thank you kindly, but more important, the animals thank you, too.

[written and posted by Gayle]