>
OK, I'm back on an unemotional footing today so here goes!


At 07:55 AM 7/22/96 -0700, Tom wrote:
>
>And isn't
>> the main benefit of rehabbers and rehab centres is to educate the public in
>> the need to consider wildlife?
>>
>> Now this is an interesting supposition...I can see how a
> rehab facility could possibly be a teaching tool, but
> most of them are so busy they don't have time to conduct
> any kind of outreach..
>

Actually, Tom, nearly all facilities have an education program. We have a
volunteer who goes to, primarily, elementary schools (we do work with older
children but the interest tends to differ with teenagers) with live,
nonreleasable animals, and teaches the children about that, and other
animals, the environment, how we all fit together in it, what we can do to
help maintain and/or replace it, and the like.

It's very structured and well presented. We present to the staff of the
local humane society and any other group that requests our presence. We
have ads on TV and radio. There is quite a bit of education going on.

Additionally, whenever I, personally, get a call I try to give the caller a
little natural history lesson by way of teaching them about the animal
they've found or are concerned about. Generally, our advice is based upon
each individual situation. If someone finds a birds nest, for instance, we
usually advise they replace it in the tree (as Mike did on his own). If
they find a bird that's fallen from the nest we advise them to replace it
rather than bring it in.

The problem is that there are alot of old wives tales out there. The
biggest being that if you handle a baby bird the parents will "smell" your
scent and abandon it. This, of course, isn't true (unless you happen to
find a vulture). But most people believe it to be gospel. These are the
kinds of things we try to correct.

I think you'll find that nearly all facilities and licensed rehabbers offer
this kind of information and education to the public.

I talked to a local vet who tells me people are still bringing him hawks
that have been shot..
>
And he will continue to receive these as long as people are under the
mistaken impression that raptors and mammal preditors are responsible for
loss of domestic cattle and sheep. Sometimes it seems that no matter how
hard to try to impress people with the fact that the domestic kills are just
a small part of a preditors diet, they simply refuse to believe it; feeling
the only way to solve the problem is to kill all the preditors.

But that's another soapbox.

Peggi



Peggi Rodgers
Oregon Research Institute
Eugene, OR
peggir at ori.org
prodgers at efn.org
"A bird does not sing because it has an
answer, It sings because it has a song"