New Blog

Just incase anyone is still reading this blog (!) I have started a new one to document the move to Italy! :-)

http://eatingoliveswithmydog.blogspot.com/

BIG update

Sooo lots has happened since I last updated. Too much to write it all here so i will have to just recap.

I left Critter Care prematurely (hence the lack of updates) as I was getting really unhappy there. Most of the people were lovely but the owner and one of the supervisors were just horrible. They treated the interns like crap, and were really rude and bullying. If I had only had a few more weeks to go I would have just stuck it out but having to stay there until September was just too much. So I was very sad to leave my babies and the lovely friends I had made, but also very relieved to get out of there.

Luckily I flew to San Francisco and my dear friend Saba came to pick me up. We also took the chance to go on a little trip to see the giant redwoods. The old growth forest was magical and really the pictures don't do justice to these beautiful trees.




A few years ago I read a book called Endgame by Derrick Jensen, which blew me away with his articulation of what this culture has done to the planet. I immediately googled him and found an email address and sent off an email..(and then later found a whole forum devoted to discussing his books, through which came some great great friends). But anyway, Derrick wrote back and over the last few years we have emailed regularly but never met. So Saba and I also went to meet up with Derrick in Northern California, where we went for dinner and then a walk along the ocean. It was cool to finally meet someone who has long been a hero of mine.



I also went to visit another bunch of dear friends, Brien, Patty and Maggie! I had a nightmare greyhound trip up there (too much to go into here, but basically NEVER ride the greyhound because the bus is full of crazy, racist, homophobic nutters)

But even risking a shoot out on the crazy bus was worth it because the place was so gorgeous in spring time! And I was worried that Maggie wouldn't remember me but she did! And she also honoured me by sleeping with me in the Yome (a cross between a dome and a yurt). I can't tell you how lovely it was to fall asleep with a dog snoring beside me again.

Brien's place in spring time..



Maggie chilling out..





So talking of dogs, leads me onto the next stage. I realised when I was away, that it doesn't matter where i am, and how many other animals i have around me, i miss my dogs. I miss them every day and every night, and I know i won't be happy again until i have a new dog friend. So the next plan is to look for land in Italy and then once I have a place to call home, I can get a dog. :-)

Going to Italy on June 7th.so watch this space as the new adventure begins!

My first release...

I went on my first release the other day..wasn't really a proper release because it was an adult opossum who was caught from an urban area. So he was only here for the day until we took him to a forest where he belongs. I was pleased I got to go after Benjamin..

Just before the release..



Wild and free..



And I have just realised that I haven't introduced the other babies properly. I haven't got individual pictures of all of them but here is little Shilah.



Their names are all Native American since they are the people who have lived the longest with raccoons and since white man has done nothing but persecute them, it didn't feel right to give them white man names.

So we have Shilah, which means Brother.
Helaku which means Full of Sun.
And one that Terri chose, Adahy which means Lives in the Woods.

:-)


I will get some individual pictures of them soon but here is one of me with Helaku.

A change from raccoons...

Thought I would give you all a break from raccoon pictures! (but not for long..don't worry!)

At this time of year, we are waiting for the weather to improve enough to be able to release the bears,and in the meantime they are getting restless, so every few days we go into the forest to collect branches for them to play with.

A few pics from the other day..

Oooh what's this?



My boy Mario, looking handsome..



Playful pose

Eyes wide open..

So I keep telling everyone here that Wynono is an advanced raccoon, a child genius really and everyone laughs at me but he proved them wrong. ;-)

Last week one of the supervisors decided we should all have a $1 bet on when Wynono's eyes would open. All the experienced people and supervisors bet around Saturday of Sunday but I asked Wynono and he told me Thursday afternoon. So my bet was placed at 7pm Thurs his eyes would be open. I was told that was too early..but they were thinking in terms of a bog standard average raccoon.

He opened his eyes on Thursday afternoon. (and i won the bet)

It's still a bit hard to see his eyes on a picture though but i did my best..




He is settling in well with all his brothers and they like to cuddle




This week has seen bowel problems with all the babies, there is something wrong with the raccoon milk we have and so they are all getting constipated. Which involves lots of screaming around toileting time and a worried mummy! They have all been switched to goats milk for now and are doing much better.

But still..sometimes it's a hard life being a baby raccoon



Oh and remember the first baby squirrel in...look at her and her baby brother now!

Then there was 4

Wynono had 3 brothers! They came in because a man didn't want raccoons in his attic, blocked off the entry and then refused to leave the babies out so that mum could come and get them. We tried to take them back because mum was frantically hanging around looking for them but this horrible guy kept chasing her off. He asked what purpose raccoons served in a city, he doesn't seem to understand that until a few years ago Vancouver was covered in forest and has always been the raccoons home. People then chopped down all the forest and now they bitch because the raccoons have nowhere to live and have to nest in attics.

I would have liked to ask him what purpose he thinks he serves in the world, because I'm pretty sure it's none.

So, although I am really sad for their poor mum, where these babies would have grown up is horrible. All tower blocks and concrete, not a tree in sight and they would have had to live off garbage.

Now instead when they are old enough, they will be driven hours away from here and released in pristine old growth forest in the wilderness where they belong.

I tell them bedtime stories of the beautiful forest they will one day live in as they fall asleep. :-)

I also tell them that they must learn to hate and distrust all people, or they will never survive in a world where humans have become unable and unwilling to share this planet with anyone else.


Anyway...here they are...together with big bro Wynono (who is 90g heavier than the smallest baby)



They all have to have painted dots on their head so that I can tell them apart (and don't feed the same baby twice!)

Easter update

Hello

Last night myself (because I can't eat the chocolate) and Rennee (because she bought them) planned an Easter egg hunt for all the others which was a lot of fun.

And I didn't miss out completely because Rennee very sweetly bought 2 presents for me too, 2 'sisters' for Wynono..(which he enjoyed snuggling up to but here he is posing with both of them)




And I weighed him yesterday and he is now 250g, last Monday he was 180g so he has put on lots of weight in one week and is getting bigger and more raccoon like by the day!




And here is my favourite photo of Wynono, just after his feed this morning and just as the first rays of sun where coming through the window.

Cuddles with mummy..

Critter care olympics

It rained yesterday but the sun came out in the evening so we decided to set up a games activity...!

This mostly involved relay races doing silly activities but was lots of fun and we all ached from laughing!!

Picking up grains of rice with thick gloves and a beanbag on my head..



blindfolded egg and spoon race




Three legged race!





Thats all the news from now...Wynono is well and has me well trained to come running whenever he starts screaming!

Nono is a TV star

Yesterday was a hectic day! We had to start work at 5.30am (after a 2am feed for me..yawn) and get all the animals cleaned and fed before a TV crew arrived at 9.30am. They come quite often I think, this time it was mainly focused on the bears and on the 2 little cubs that came in, but obviously they also wanted to film the most handsome baby raccoon in the world. So Wynono was on TV (only in Canada though, he isn't international yet- haha)


Day off today, so I'm just hanging around, trying to catch up on sleep and might go for a walk later. I can't go anywhere for long though because I still need to feed baby every 3 hours.

As he is an only child for now, I have got him a soft toy sibling for him to cuddle up to..



Raccoon skin on their hands and feet are like silk, soo soft!


With his mummy (and yes I am wearing pink!! We all got given official hoodies so that we could look presentable on TV and pink was the only colour left in my size)

Introducing..

At long last....


I would like to intoduce you to my new baby. :-) He is a little boy raccoon (about 2 weeks old) and I have named him Wynono which is a Native American word for first born.




I bottle fed him for the first time today but he is a great baby and just took it and ate it all in about 5 seconds, even though I am new to him.. I might be more tired as the weeks go on though as I have to get up at 2 am to feed him.





He has a very loud cry and suckling on a finger is sometimes the only way to quiet him..(he also makes a really sweet chirruping sound when he is happy)





I have been reading up on the raccoon manual which comes with a sweet little quote that I will try and live up to...


"Love and nurture the baby you have found and after giving life, you have to give the greatest gift of all, the freedom to enjoy that life"

yumyum

We went out for a meal in Vancouver the other night as a goodbye dinner for one of the interns that was leaving. We went to a veggie/vegan restaurant that is open 24 hours a day and still we had to que outside for a table for an hour!

But it was really nice (and cheap!) My whole meal came to £7!

My dinner..





Some of the other interns and me..



I am having a lovely day off lying in the sun, and will hopefully update with baby pictures later tonight!

Soooooo cute

Just a quick update to share this picture with you all...because he is just so adorable.



Had another sunny day here today, spent a lot of time in the forest collecting bear branches for them to play with. And then we collected skunk cabbages which i fed to the bears (making sure that my favourite Mario, got lots more than his fair share! hehe)

Going out to a vegan restaurant in Vancouver tonight with all the other interns.

Might have pictures of my baby tomorrow or monday! :-)

Squirrelly update

Had a great day today, the sun was shining and spent most of the day with the bears and the otters. The bears all have such individual personalities, and are just so great to be around. Their paws (and claws) are sooo strong and yet gentle enough to separate beansprouts from the rest of their food. It's safe to say that beansprouts were not a big hit!

The squirrel from last week is now called Zanthie and she has turned into a proper little squirrel already and her eyes opened yesterday!



And..she has a little friend. A boy squirrel who is a week or so younger also came in, so they have been paired up together. They snuggle up to each other- it's so cute!

A day in the forest

The whale watching people phoned this morning and said that it was too windy to go out on the boat, so we will now have to wait until August to try again. (I will get my baby in a few days so won't be able to go again by my next day off)

So instead we went to visit a suspension bridge which is suspended over a temperate rainforest and then went for a walk. The bridge was fun but the forest after it was beautiful!

A few pictures for you...

Forest canopy (it was very damp and chilly)



One of the many waterfalls..



Sitting by a stream (hoping a bear would come along, but none did- haha)



Water that looked tempting to swim in if only it wasn't so cold!

Random pictures and news

So..the news is that I think I am getting a baby! He is a newborn raccoon who's mum was chased out of an attic and came back for 3 babies but was scared away before she could come back for him. :-(


I don't officially have him yet, so will update with news/pics as soon as I have any.


We have had a few injured adult wildlife come in this week. One included a beaver who got her head caught in a gate along a stream. She is huge, and very placid - and I was amazed that her tail was more like snakeskin than rubber.




And we have such a cute pack rat in....he is such a chilled out dude, eats a lot and likes to make himself comfy in between giant pig outs! You can't really tell from the photo but he is about 3 times the size of a normal rat.




And one more of my favourite bear, how gorgeous is he?!



I am hopefully going whale watching tomorrow with 85% chance of seeing Orca, so my next post might include some Orca pictures!

Ouch and Awww

The ouch part first...

I was out in the woods collecting bear branches for them to play with when i turned round and impaled my eye on a sticking out branch! My eyesight is fine, my eye is just rather bloodshot, so hopefully it will be ok, if not I better get working on a patch and a pirate accent! (mee matey)

Now for the Awwww part... (at the request of Terri!)

Baby bear cubs..

Up to my knees in....

Bear poo!


Today we cleaned out the bear dens, it was hours and hours of shovelling out straw and 3 months worth of waste!



This then had to be all bagged up (and wet straw and poo weighs a ton) And then all the bags had to be carried out of the enclosure..some of our bag collection..



It also started to rain/sleet so all in all a hard days work today. But one look at the bears faces lets us know that it is all worthwhile. They are all here because humans have made them orphans so it's only right that we try and give a little back to them so that they will have the chance to become wild bears. They were all born wild and in a few months they will all return there.

My favourite bear




Talking of bears, we had two orphans come in today, they are tiny, less than 1kg each and oh my god..so cute. Their mum was killed by a train. :-( The owner does all the bottle feeding of baby bears and to minimise contact we won't be allowed to go see them again until they are bigger and come to live in the big bears enclosure.

I am still waiting (not so patiently) for raccoon babies to come in!

Arrival of the first baby

So yesterday we had our first baby in. I went with a supervisor to collect her as she was going to be mine originally but then as she is an early baby and I will have lots of chances to raise loner term babies (raccoons) it was decided that she would be Megan's. As she is the first baby she is being given lots of extra attention from all her auntie's!

Baby squirrel



Enjoying her milk..



Being burped after dinner..(how cute is she?)




We have had a really busy last few days, been working with the bears a lot which I LOVE. And today I was giving one of them medication through the fence and he licked my hand. 2 weeks ago I would have been happy to even glimpse a bear and now I am getting licked by one. They have fully woken up now and we collect browse for them and fill up the pools so they have things to keep them entertained.



I had a nice birthday, I cooked polenta for everyone (what do you think mum?) and then we had cake and popcorn and watched The Green Mile..





There is apparently a resident Orca pod near here so I am hoping to drag someone down to Vancouver to come whale watching with me next week (have to do it before I get a baby because after that I won't be able to leave the centre for more than 3 hours!)