Good Care

Hays has an animal health center run by Dr. Jessica Brown. The center cares for domesticated animals, but it also cares for injured wild life. We learned about the challenges of providing care for wild life at our last fostergrandparent meeting. The organization meets monthly at the Sternberg Museum. One of the staff at the Sternberg, Theo, presented this month's program. Theo is a wild life rehabilitator. She works under the direction of Dr. Brown. Theo has had extensive training and can apply bandages, give shots, tube feed, figure the # of calories an animal needs, etc. She brought four animals in recovery with her to the meeting. Theo brought a box turtle, a baby squirrel, a Mississippi kite, and a brown bat. They are all interesting creatures.

The box turtle had been hit by a weed wacker and lost part of it's face. It is healing nicely, but suffered extensive nerve damage. The baby squirrel's mother disappeared and the babies were starving to death. There were several babies but now there is only one survivor. Theo bottle fed the squirrel at the meeting, and it was sweet to watch the interaction between squirrel and caregiver. The Mississippi kite was hit by a car and injured it's wing. The kite should be ready to fly soon. The brown bat's wing was also injured. In fact, Dr. Brown thought the creature was dead when she wrapped it in gauze and placed it in the trash can. She lives at her facility. The Dr. was taking a bath when she heard a commotion outside the bathroom. When she emerged after the bath, she realized her children had discovered the bat and it was ALIVE! Dr. Brown called Theo and told her, "I have the perfect patient for you." Theo loves bats. She loves snakes! She loves spiders!!! Did you know a brown bat can eat 6,000 mosquitoes in a single night? Theo will lovingly describe what her special friends do for our environment if you ask. And even if you don't!

There are some animals that are extremely hard to save. Deer is one such animal. Their injuries are usually far too extensive and it is kinder to put them down. The same thing is true of baby bunnies. Humans cannot duplicate what the mother bunny feeds her babies and the bunnies usually die. Most creatures, though, are in good, loving hands, if they ever need medical care in Hays, Kansas. The main objective when treating injured animals is to keep them pain free. Morphine is given, if necessary. And if an animal can be saved, everything will be done to save it. If an animal cannot return to the wild because it's injuries are too severe, that animal will be cared for by humans.

Theo has spoken to us at other meetings. She always gives our group good information. She is an educator at the museum as well as a caregiver. She is an interesting woman who leads an interesting life. Theo is very attached to the brown bat. She named him Lazarus because he came back from the dead. The bat will probably always have to depend on humans for his care, because his injuries were so debilitating. Lazarus is lucky there are Theos in this world. Loco Puppy and Trixie are lucky because there are Fiddlers in this world. The cat population in Emporia is fortunate that Carol and Tom live there. I am proud of my Fiddler kin, and I am impressed with veterinary medicine in Hays, Kansas.