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In this issue:
Donations Needed for Wine Draw
Spring Donations List
Monthly Donations a Big Help
Summer Positions at PWRC
Walk for Wildlife Volunteer Opportunity
New Education Coordinator
Patient Updates
Groundhog Day 2017
Common Threats to Wild Birds
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PWRC will be holding a draw for wine and is looking for donations!
Have a favourite wine you'd just love to share? Now's your chance!
We are hoping to collect 40 bottles of wine to help with our wine draw fundraiser.
If you are interested in donating, please contact the Centre today!
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Special Spring Donations
We are still in need of special donations for spring to help with the many babies who will be in our care.
Please click the link below to see how you can help!
http://pwildlife.ca/preparing-for-spring-special-donations-needed/
A big thank you to Viktoria Kalder-Nagy and Sherrie Rauth, who sponsored three buckets of much-needed formula for infant squirrels!
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We are looking for amazing people who can help us by signing up to be monthly donors!
Monthly donations help to ensure we have sufficient funds when the frequency of one-time donations is slow.
If you are thinking about making a larger one-time donation, why not spread that assistance out over the course of the year for maximum impact?
Please click here to become a monthly donor today, and thank you for your continued support!
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Summer Positions at PWRC
PWRC is now accepting resumes for our two summer positions! Please see below for more information.
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician
Duties include: Care and husbandry of injured and orphaned wildlife, general housekeeping tasks, minor construction projects, outdoor enclosure maintenance, and data entry.
Qualifications: Student between the ages of 16 and 24 (required for funding), access to transportation to our rural site (20 mins. south of Winnipeg), animal handling experience an asset, a genuine interest in animal care and the environment.
Schedule: Starting beginning of June, 8 hours/day, 40 hours/week, for 12 weeks, working all weekends (Wednesday to Sunday, 12-8 p.m.) with no exceptions, salary $11/hour.
Please send cover letter and resume to pwrcentre@gmail.com by April 1.
Digital Communications Intern
Duties include: Daily care and husbandry of injured and orphaned wildlife, taking pictures and videos of animals in care, posting stories on our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube) and website, engaging the public in discussions through social media, writing a series of blogs on our website and for our newsletter, liaising with media, and responding to inquiries on the health status of the animals they rescued.
Qualifications: Student between the ages of 16 and 30 (required for funding), a full-time student prior to summer and returning in the fall, access to transportation to our rural site (20 mins. south of Winnipeg), animal handling experience an asset, experience with social media, great communication skills, a genuine interest in animal care and the environment.
Schedule: Possible start date May 2017, 8 hours/day, 40 hours/week, for approx. 12 weeks, working all weekends (Friday to Tuesday, hours vary) with no exceptions, salary $12/hour.
Please send cover letter and resume to pwrcentre@gmail.com by April 1.
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Looking for Walk for Wildlife 2017 Volunteers!
PWRC is looking for volunteers for the Walk for Wildlife committee, which is responsible for organizing our biggest annual fundraiser.
The next committee meeting will be Wednesday, March 15 (location TBA).
If you are interested in taking part in planning this major event, please contact the Centre and we will provide more details.
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PWRC Hires Education Coordinator
PWRC would like to welcome Shannon Tara Kraichy as our new Education Coordinator! Shannon is a proud Métis from Winnipeg. She headed west to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Paleontology from the University of Alberta and a Master of Museum Education from the University of British Columbia, but returned home to the Red River Valley to reconnect with the cultural and natural beauty of Manitoba.
Shannon has volunteered and worked in informal education since 2008, most recently creating and leading Indigenous-focused programming for Assiniboine Park Conservancy and Oak Hammock Marsh. Her passions include connecting Canadians to the cultural and natural richness we have all around us, and encouraging better stewardship of our resources and relationships, especially with Indigenous communities.
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Patient Updates
By Abigail Byle
The past winter brought a couple of notable rescues to PWRC that we wanted to share with you:
Last November, an immature bald eagle was sent to the PWRC from Rosser, Manitoba. She had a small fracture in her wing, as well as a fractured pelvis. Although we do not know for sure, it is likely that she was hit by a car. It is possible that she landed on the road searching for open water or that she was near the road feeding. She was initially moved to a bigger, outdoor enclosure to allow her to use her wings and move around more freely. At the beginning of February, she was released when she began to try to escape the enclosure – clearly ready to return to the wild!
Another recent rescue is a northern hawk owl that was brought in on January 14. It was found on the side of the road, Hwy 8 near Willow Creek (10 km south of Gimli), so it may also have been hit by a car, perhaps while hunting for mice or other small prey near the road. It suffered internal injuries, including fluid in its lungs, and was treated with antibiotics for two weeks to prevent any infections while the internal injuries heal. It is still early days, so hopefully the recovery will continue!
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Wyn Predicts More Winter Ahead
By Allison Kolynchuk
"Wyn", Winnipeg's newest furry forecaster, predicted six more weeks of winter at her first-ever Groundhog Day celebration held at Wild Birds Unlimited on February 2.
Traditionally, more winter is in store if a groundhog wakes to see its shadow on the morning of Groundhog Day. Instead of going with an old-fashioned shadow-spotting, Wyn let us know about her prediction of six more weeks of winter by showing a tired and sleepy state over the past winter months. She showed no signs of being ready for an early spring and continues to sleep her cares away.
Winnipeg Wyn dug into the role of Winnipeg's official Groundhog Day ambassador in less than a year since arriving at the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. She was found orphaned this past spring, wandering about with her eyes closed. Mother groundhogs devote several months to raise their litters of half a dozen newborns, but Wyn was left abandoned when her mother was trapped and released at a location outside the city.
Attempts to socialize her with a family of groundhogs that were also at the Centre proved unsuccessful because she had already opened her eyes and associated herself too closely with humans. Due to the lack of interaction with other groundhogs her own age, Wyn became too friendly. She is what we call imprinted on humans. This means that she believes herself to be more of a human, specifically more of a meteorologist, than a groundhog.
Her release into the wild will never be possible because she will never be able to grasp groundhog-specific survival skills that would have been learned from playing with others her own age. We look forward to welcoming her onto the PWRC team as a unique educational ambassador.
Groundhogs (Marmota monax), also known as "woodchucks" for their tree-climbing ability, or "whistlepigs" due to the shrill sound they make when alarmed, are the major hole-digging animal found across northeastern North America. They use thick, strong front paws with four well-developed claws to create elaborate burrow systems. The nesting chamber is usually 45 cm wide by 30 cm high, and is used for sleeping, protection, hibernation, and as a nursery.
Farmers often complain about groundhogs, but abandoned burrows are actually great habitats for predators like foxes, badgers, and even snakes that prey on common agricultural pests, such as mice. In winter, groundhogs retreat to nearby bushy or rocky areas, where burrows are kept below the frost line. They are true hibernators, as opposed to bears, who only take a series of long naps over winter.
By October of every year, the bodily functions of groundhogs are drastically depressed to a state of comatose sleep. Their body temperature is maintained at only 3° Celsius, and their heart rate falls from the usual 80 beats per minute to around five. Breaths are taken sparingly. Their lowered metabolism is a very effective way to live entirely off of fat stores all winter; so effective that most still have a great deal of fat left on them when they emerge in March.
Surplus fat is necessary because groundhogs rely on a herbivorous diet of root plants, clover, and dandelion that may not available immediately upon their demand. They may also grab at the chance to eat invertebrates like snails or crickets. Wyn is quite the picky eater herself, and we will be sure to give her lots of peanuts to last until her favourite foods are figured out. Corn and berries will also be good ideas to help her prepare for the winter to come.
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Most Common Threats to Wild Birds in Canada
By Abigail Byle
Many people enjoy birds, especially watching songbirds and other species in backyards and gardens, not to mention the variety found in parks and forests around Winnipeg and throughout Manitoba.
Wild birds are one of the most vulnerable populations of wildlife to human threats. Although most birds in Canada are protected through conservation acts, in particular, the Migratory Bird Conventions Act and the Species at Risk Act, there are still many threats to birds, especially in urban areas. Unsurprisingly, many of these threats are due to human influence, although often indirectly.
By far, the most common killer of birds throughout Canada is cats, both domestic and feral. Cats alone kill more birds than the other top ten threats combined, and although the majority of the kills come from feral cats, domestic cats are also a danger, which is why the City of Winnipeg requires cats to be kept inside. However, in rural areas, cats are commonly outside. If a cat is becoming a bird hunter, a collar with a bell can be a helpful warning for birds.
Another common cause of death for birds is collisions with human structures. Although many people, particularly those opposed to wind energy, blame wind turbines for large numbers of bird deaths, the numbers so far are actually quite low, only in the tens of thousands nationally.
The most common dangers are power line collisions and electrocutions, but houses and buildings are also a danger. Nuthatches, chickadees, and pigeons are more likely to be killed by striking houses and buildings. Turning off lights helps, especially in large municipal buildings, as birds are attracted to the lights. Finding methods to make windows less reflective or transparent to minimize confusion can also decrease the number of collisions.
Communication towers are another danger, especially for nocturnal migrating birds. A study from the University of Southern California found that 97% of birds killed by communication towers are songbirds, and species affected in Canada include kinglets and warblers. Birds are attracted to the tower lights, especially in bad weather if other navigational cues are unavailable. Researchers suggest that simply changing the tower lights from a steady beam to a blinking light could reduce deaths by up to 50%.
Sadly, another all too common cause of death for birds is collision with a vehicle. A surprising variety of birds are at risk of collision with cars and trucks, as they can be hit simply flying in midair or from crossing the road. Birds that are hunting or searching for food along roadways can get hit by passing vehicles. Just recently in Idaho, dozens of owls have been found along the interstate. Experts speculate that the owls were probably hungry and hunting for mice along the highway and were hit by vehicles.
Other threats to birds are due to commercial industries, such as agricultural pesticides and forestry. Forestry in particular can have long-term consequences, as entire habitats are altered, which impacts breeding, especially as nests and eggs are destroyed.
A large-scale problem that can be both commercial and residential is agricultural mowing, which in particular threatens young birds in nests. One example of a local species impacted by mowing is the bobolink, which is a protected bird that nests in grasses. In Canada alone, millions of bobolinks are killed by cutting and clearing grasses, most commonly for agriculture.
Awareness of some of the threats that birds are currently facing is the first step in considering further ways to mitigate those threats. It is important to remember the role that we play and our impact on the wildlife around us, particularly threatened species, such as songbirds.
Small changes to behaviour, from keeping our cats indoors or at least alerting birds to the approaching threat, to reducing lights in urban buildings or changing the lights on communication towers, could have a big impact.
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If you have a story or photos you'd like to share in our next newsletter, please contact
Melody Rogan, Newsletter Editor at melody.rogan@gmail.com
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Copyright © 2016, Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Inc.
P.O. Box 48059 RPO Lakewood
Winnipeg, MB R2J 4A3
Other ways to contact us:
Phone: 204-510-1855
Email: pwrcentre@gmail.com
Web: www.pwildlife.ca
Charity Number:
826093155RR0001
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