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Pacific Wildlife Care

3 hours ago

What is one of PWC’s New Year’s Resolutions?? Excellent water quality in our pools!
Maintaining the cleanliness of our aquatic pools is crucial for enabling seabirds to attain and keep their lifesaving waterproofing since having a waterproof suit of feathers is the only way they can survive the harsh cold of the open ocean. Any contaminant in a pool can disrupt this waterproofing and prevent their release. Installing UV sterilizers in our seabird pools will help us: 1) keep our pools clean, 2) use fewer chemicals, and 3) reduce the number of water changes to conserve water.
We‘d be grateful for your support to help install UV sterilizers in our five pools—each sterilizer costs about $650.
If you can help, please use the donate button in this post and we will put that money directly toward this critical need!
Thanks for helping us continue our wildlife-saving work in the new year!

#wildlife #newyearsresolution #aquaticbird #seabird #nonprofit #donate ... See MoreSee Less

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Pacific Wildlife Care

3 days ago

Clam v. Plover:
Life, Death, and Mystery in Oceano Dunes

It was a case of wrong place, wrong time for a hapless Western Snowy Plover, brought to PWC from Oceano Dunes, where a 3 cm Pismo clam had affixed itself to one of the small bird’s toes.

After numbing the afflicted digit with a topical anesthetic, PWC Clinic Director Vann Masvidal cut a “thin filament of tissue,” the remnant of the injured digit to which the clam was attached, to free the plover. Although the injured toe was no longer viable, Masvidal hoped to save the life of this snowy plover, listed as a “species of special concern” by the State of California. He cleaned and applied a moist dressing to the wound, then administered subcutaneous fluids, antibiotics, and pain medications.

Exactly how this encounter of clam and bird occurred is not certain. Nobody at PWC had ever seen anything like it. “I can’t even think of something that comes remotely close,” says Masvidal.

However, evidence points to a mysterious, uncommon surfacing of Pismo clams along Oceano Dunes beaches. Normally, clams live below the surface of the sand, but between August 25 and September 11, thousands of them made their way to the surface in an “unburying” event that Marine Environmental Scientist Derek Stein, with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, calls “an alarming visual.” It seems likely that the two species came into contact during this event.

Unburied clams were sent to the shellfish lab for testing, as they had been during a similar event a year earlier. Diseases, parasites, domoic acid, and PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning) were all ruled out, Stein says, so the cause remains a mystery.

The clam, although not of a threatened species, was too small to be legally harvested. In recent years, there have been record high numbers of Pismo clams in the area, but “99.9 percent are below the legal limit” of 4.5 cm, says Stein, who adds that game wardens are kept “extremely busy” because “poaching has skyrocketed.” Last year alone, 25,000 clams were confiscated — some from “people oblivious to the regulations,” others from people willfully refusing to follow them.

At the PWC clinic, after Masvidal had detached clam from plover, the clam was sent back with a staff person from the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreational Area. By law, any undersized clams must be reburied. This clam was “assessed . . . for life, and once determined” to be dead was opened under a “scientific collecting permit,” says Environmental Scientist Amber Clark. Inside, “the toe and some tendon tissue [were] present.”

Happily, the snowy plover’s story followed a different path. The bird responded well to treatment, and swelling in the foot went down. In less than a month, he was “running fast and not favoring the right foot,” our veterinarian reported. The small shorebird was cleared for release – good news for the bird, if not the bivalve.

✍️ Pam Hartmann
📸 California State Parks

#snowyplover #plover #pismoclam #californiastateparks #freedomfriday #wildliferelease #wildlife ... See MoreSee Less

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Such a bizarre situation. Well done, in caring for the little plover. He's starting the year off on the "right foot" now, for sure!

Wow! Amazing story! Glad the plover is all better and was released! Thank you for taking such good care of it and all the animals!

Wow, so crazy. Maybe standing in one place for way too long or trying to get a big meal and got stuck. Glad it's okay

So thankful the plover is okay & released! ❤️

Incredible story. Lucky plover

So proud of our Environmental Scientist D-I-L!

Love this story!

How bizarre! Happy that the plover is okay. 😇

Wow! Great story.

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Pacific Wildlife Care

4 days ago

Raven or Crow? Worry about it nevermore….. for some it can be hard to differentiate between the two. Corax, our Education Ambassador, can help you see the differences. He is a Common Raven and is posing to illustrate some features that, in addition to his bigger size, make him a raven and not a crow. He has a thicker beak. The stiff feathers covering his nostrils are called crines. His shaggy throat feathers can be made to look fluffy or sleek depending on his need to appear bigger, a feature that crows lack. Corax can control the feathers covering his head sometimes making them stand up straight and showing two feathery “horns” when he is excited. You can also see how his black feathers appear almost bluish in reflected light. If you could see his tail, you would see that it is wedge-shaped. The two central tail feathers are longer than the rest. A crow’s tail feathers are all the same length making it open like a fan. Would you be able to pass your corvid test now?

#Raven #crow #corvid #wildlife #pacificwildlifecare #corax #educationambassador ... See MoreSee Less

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I love crows. We have been feeding a pair for close to 5 years. They have brought their offspring to fed here, and also brought us a present or two over the years.

Ravens have more of a rok rok sound and crows are more of a caw. Ravens tend to be more solitary and crows are usually in a large group ( a murder, if you will). Am I correct? Corax is a beautiful raven! We have LOTS of crows around our house most days. Love to watch them and talk to them. <3 Corvids are very intelligent!

Love ravens and crows! They are beautiful and incredibly intelligent

Definitely a Raven 😍. What a beauty!

Raven

Also Ravens are much larger in size and have a "Jimmy Durante" size beak ... aka: large beak !!!

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Pacific Wildlife Care

1 week ago

Freedom Friday! This juvenile Brown Pelican was found in Morro Bay with fishing line wrapped tightly around his leg and wing. Fishing line and hooks can cause severe injuries, but this bird was lucky and made it to the wildlife clinic where he could be properly treated. Discarded fishing tackle is a hazard for many species of wildlife that live near water and eat fish. Please pick up any hooks or line you find and dispose of it properly in a designated receptacle. Birds often raid regular trash cans so they are not a good option. If receptacles can’t be found, take it home to be cut up and discarded safely away from wildlife. If you find wildlife with line or hooks on them, call your local wildlife rehabilitation center. They will x-ray the animal to be sure there are no swallowed hooks in addition to treating injuries which may not be apparent without a careful examination. Thank you! We wish this Brown Pelican a long life with many fish meals in his future! 🐟

#freedomfriday #homesweethome #wildliferelease #brownpelican #fishing #fishinglineinjury #wildlife #pacificwildlifecare ... See MoreSee Less

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As a local, who has brought many needy animals to you, I know how amazing you are. I'm happy to see you posting more. It's important for people to see all the amazing work you do. 👏‼️🥰

As always, thank you for what you do! Thank you too for mentioning the importance of involving PWC to be sure there are no swallowed hooks and injuries when a bird is found. Happy flying Mr. Pelican!!!

Use these to discard fishing line and tackle.

Love freedom Friday's 🥰

Thank you!

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Pacific Wildlife Care

2 weeks ago

Timeline photosMake your New Year’s Resolution to protect wildlife (and your pet!) by keeping cats indoors or in a catio! At WildCare, around 30% of our patients come in after being caught by a domestic cat, and many don’t survive.
Still hesitant? Here are five great reasons to keep cats indoors:

1. Outdoor cats, a recognized threat to global biodiversity, are one of the most harmful known invasive species on Earth and can disrupt entire ecosystems, having already contributed to the extinction of 33 known species and continuing to kill 2.4 billion birds and 12 billion mammals per year in the US alone.
2. Cats who are kept indoors have, on average, a 3x longer life span than outdoor cats.
3. Over 5 million cats are hit by cars every year and many more are subjected to predator attacks, poisoning, cruelty or abuse, parasites, and illnesses. Only 3% of cats who are brought into shelters are ever reunited with their owners.
4. If you believe your cat is not killing birds, think again. Recent studies show that even brief appearances of these “super predators” near a bird’s nesting site can cause a massive reduction in the amount of food brought to hungry nestlings by their parents, adversely affecting the health of the chicks. Additionally, changes in the birds’ behavior caused by the perceived threat can greatly increase predation to the same nest by third-party predators.
5. Domestic cats are not wild animals and rely on us for their health and well-being. Cats can enjoy a happy, fulfilling life inside your home. Window perches, toys, scratching posts, cat trees, and hiding places offer stimulation, exercise, and natural behavior outlets for your cat. Consider adopting a second cat for companionship or even build a custom catio!

WildCare loves our feline friends but we also love birds, bats, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, and the precious biodiversity found in our communities and around the globe. This year, conservation can and should start in your own back yard! ... See MoreSee Less

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Many people would never consider letting their dogs run loose, but dont give cats a second thought.