Today started off normal enough - I fed all the baby birds on the hill, then all our ducklings, then tube fed the few remaining young raccoons (only 5 left). 2 of which are quite bitey and growly. Then... I went to weigh and move the chipmunk to a clean cage. It took a few minutes to catch him, as he darted around his cage, but he finally hit under a towel and I scooped him up and put him in a box on the scale. AS I'm closing the lid on the box, he literally FLIES out of it, like 3 feet in the air, but the scale is on a counter, so he's like 6 feet in the air. He lands on the ground, looks around for a sec, and then takes off.
I then proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes trying to catch him. I had a net, but he had lots of hiding spots and was tiny and speedy. After about 10 minutes, I finally got him cornered into a little box (a trap I set for him) and netted him. I am super careful, briging him, in the net, over to the scale, I put him in, keeping the net over the box, lower the lid, and SPRING. He somehow flies from the box again! I wish I had a picture of him 6 feet in the air. So I then caught him twice more. On the third catch I decided to skip weighing him, so as to not loose him again. I put him in his living quarters, which as about 2 feet tall sides, lower the lid, and again, he FLIES out. WTF, I mean, this little guy is like an inch tall. And he can jump with a foot clearance over a 2 ft wall??
I then recruited help to catch him for the fourth time, we weighed him, then locked him in safe and secure. The rehabber who helped me catch him said he was going to go to a giant room on the hill today, where he would not have to be caught daily, BUT he had lost 2 grams since yesterday, so he must remain one more day at least in the building... After that I weighed and moved the squirrel and held him soooo securely, even though I doubt squirrels can fly like that little guy...
Our seal is doing well, and growing big. He finally is learning how to feed himself. Seals need to eat their fish head first, and parallel to their body. Our little guy picks up the fish perpendicular, than can't figure out how to get it rotated around, so while swimming in the water he tries to smack it w/ his flippers, and gets frustrated. Eating is hard!
Before he fed himself, the rehabbers had to shove fish down his throat. I found a video on youtube of a seal in England going through the same "treatment" here is what it looks like:
That is it for now. If I have free time in the next day or two I'll post a recap of the week.
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