(footsteps rustling) (light switch clicks) - [Narrator] Compared to most of us, Pauline Hice has an unusual job.
(drawer thuds) (door thuds) - So we're feeding out some mealworms, some rodents, as well as a couple day-old chicks.
I've probably disemboweled about 2,000 rat or mice, so I've gotten pretty good at it and pretty quick at it.
It's gross at first, but then once you see where it goes to, it's pretty cool and it makes it worthwhile.
(chuckles) - [Narrator] Pauline is fixing this specific morsel for a great horned owl, one of her patients at Think Wild, a non-profit wild animal hospital and conservation center near Bend.
- So the great horned owl was admitted five days ago, and likely was hit by a car.
This owl did sustain very severe eye trauma which will likely require us to remove the eye at some point.
(owl trilling) A lot of times people think, "Well, they need their eyes.
How are they going to survive without them?"
But they've evolved to be able to hunt primarily with their ears.
So, owls are the only raptor species that we can release even if they have one eye.
(door thuds) (birds chirping) - [Narrator] The owl is just one of probably two dozen raptors, rodents, and other wildlife Pauline is taking care of today.
- [Pauline] Okay, great.
- [Narrator] There's a red-tailed hawk, a mourning dove, some raccoons, a Cooper's hawk, some skunks, and a good number of the tiniest of the tiny.
- Most of the orphan birds that we get in are during this very sensitive stage of fledgling when they're learning how to fly but they can't really get up off the ground.
That makes them vulnerable to outdoor cats.
These baby birds are incredibly stressed.
They still interpret us, potentially, as a predator.
And unfortunately, in wildlife rehab, stress can be lethal to a lot of our patients.
(phone rings) - [Molly] Think Wild, this is Molly.
- [Narrator] Of the approximately 2,000 calls Think Wild gets each year, about half of them can be handled over the phone.
- The phone generally starts ringing about 8:02, so (chuckles) never a slow moment.
(Molly chuckles) - Hello.
- Hello!
- [Narrator] Over the course of this day... - [Molly] You rescued a baby bird.
- [Narrator] Molly Honea will handle upwards of 30 calls.
- How's he doing so far?
- Good.
- Amazing.
He's trying to get out of the box- - Oh, good.
- He's like- - Trying to fly, yeah.
(Molly laughs) - Okay, so he is alert and active.
(chuckles) Actually, we have a couple other baby blue jays in our care right now, so after 24 hours, once we make sure he's in good shape, then he can have some friends.
- [Both] Yay.
(bird screeches) - Initial exam showed no puncture wounds, but out of an abundance of caution, we did administer antibiotics because even the smallest puncture wound from a cat is lethal to baby birds.
So, prognosis looks really good for this little scrub jay.
- [Narrator] State regulations limit the kind of animals Think Wild can treat.
But all their patients are native species, and between 60 and 70% of those are birds.
- We want to promote co-existence and with Bend's growing population, the risk of human wildlife conflict increases and we are right at the interface and we are the people that help respond to those.
- [Narrator] By midday, the team is rounding up some very cute and very noisy raccoons.
(panel clanks) (raccoon screams) - [Laura] The majority of these are orphaned, so either kidnapped inappropriately, mom got hit by a car, something happened to mom.
Most of these guys are just healthy babies.
Do you want to practice some medical math?
- [Taylor] Always.
- [Narrator] Veterinarian Laura Acevedo is giving all these kits check ups.
- [Laura] So we'll sedate them, we'll do a physical exam on them, we'll get updated weights, we'll draw blood, and then we will give them their vaccines.
- [Narrator] Working just part-time, Dr. Acevedo is Think Wild's only staff vet.
- Wildlife and zoo animals have always been very exciting to me, they're exciting to most people.
But as a veterinarian, learning a new biological system and what medications each animal can or can't get, that just excited me a lot.
- [Narrator] Along with hospital and rehab care, Think Wild's handful of staff conserve beaver habitat, lead summer camps, and manage volunteers.
- All our funding comes from private donations or grants.
So we probably rely about 80% of all of our care on volunteer help.
- [Laura] One kilogram, 772 grams.
All right, our first two are ready.
So get a heart rate of both of those.
We'll just alternate flow-by.
I'll start with the physical.
If two people want to go in and poke the next two.
All right.
Do you mind writing for the female that she has listed complete deciduous dentition.
You can just say "baby teeth."
I'm gonna hand you this guy.
He's all done.
All right, let's get a new towel, clean up for the next guys.
- [Taylor] He's fine.
You're fine.
(phone rings) - [Man] It's still alive.
You know, I don't know how long.
- Oh, wow.
- I put it in the shade, hoping that mom would come back.
- Will you take a photo and text it to me at this hotline number and then I will text you right back with the plan.
- [Man] Okay, thanks, Molly.
- Mm-hmm.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- [Narrator] Wildlife technician Taylor Dimmick evaluates the orphaned raccoon.
- [Molly] He's unable to walk or move.
He tries to lift his head when he approaches him, but not successfully.
- [Taylor] Okay, if he can bring him in, that's cool.
- Okay.
- Thank you.
- [Narrator] With the orphaned raccoon on its way in, Taylor brings in the next patient.
- Sleepy?
- For her, yes.
- [Laura] This bird came in with a kind of mushroom-capped bullet in her left wing and the plan is to take that bullet out today.
We're concerned about that lead leaching into the system.
- It's almost sterile here.
- All right, you wanna start getting some monitoring on her?
(machine beeping) Can I get a 22 and a 3 cc?
I'm worried that the bone has started to encapsulate it, in which case, I won't be able to get it out.
Just like with anything, the body starts to develop scar tissue, it starts to kind of wall things off if it doesn't want it there.
So I'm either gonna have to get through a big capsule of bone or a big capsule of tissue.
You can kinda see that there's some bone surrounding this bullet right here.
If I get in there and it requires breaking the bone to get it, I'm not gonna do it.
Ha.
That's loose.
That'll pop out.
- Ooh!
- [Laura] That'll pop out.
- Oh, nice.
- Exciting.
- [Narrator] With the hawk now sedated... - [Laura] All right, can I get some of that bupivacaine?
- [Narrator] Surgery gets underway.
- [Laura] That might be okay.
Okay.
(bullet clinks) (machine beeping) - Pretty big.
- [Laura] That'll break a bone on impact.
Thankfully, it was superficial, super superficial.
I don't know if the body was trying to push it out or what, but yeah, that was an ideal bullet removal.
All right, big girl.
We have some eyes opening.
Hey, sweet girl.
Hi.
All right, you can pull it.
Good girl.
Now this is out, we're gonna put her in a flight enclosure for two weeks and if she's flying well, she can go.
- [Narrator] That bit of very good news is balanced out by the arrival of the orphaned raccoon.
- [Man] I just walked out into the backyard and there the little guy was, you know, lying on his side breathing really fast and we didn't know what to do, so here we are.
- [Taylor] I'd say he has a pretty guarded prognosis, a raccoon coming in that sad and depressed and sleepy, to me, is probably pretty hurt, but we will do our best.
- [Woman] Thank you so much.
- Thanks for helping him.
- Thank you for being here.
- [Molly] Yeah, we appreciate you.
- [Taylor] Still breathing, but he's in such bad shape, he's not necessarily reactive at all.
- [Molly] Do you think we'll opt to euthanize or let nature take its course?
- [Taylor] He's in such rough shape that I don't know if it's something we could fix.
Right now, he's not stable enough for an exam.
Unfortunately, sometimes, the waiting around is the hard part.
(door thuds) - It's not always rainbows and sunshine.
I mean, there are winning moments and we really try to focus on those.
But by the time a wild animal is admitted to our hospital, we are really their last chance and sometimes bad things happen.
We tried our best and at least that animal got one last chance at being able to survive, whereas otherwise, it would have died out there.
- [Narrator] A couple of weeks later, the red-tail hawk is ready for release back to where she was found.
(box clattering) - Just careful.
- Yeah, I got her.
- Okay.
- Ready?
- Yeah.
- One, two, three.
Come on, stinker.
Oh, come on.
- [Narrator] Or maybe not?
- It's funny, every other red-tail would just fly away.
She looks like she's still trying to pick a fight.
She's running like a chicken, but she can fly.
She's probably just so stressed that she's not right now.
- She's flying.
- Did she fly?
- Yeah.
- Oh, thank God!
She's on her way, but on her own terms, apparently.
I'm glad she at least showed on-camera that she can fly.
(no audio) (no audio) - Great people just doing their thing in their own Northwesty way.
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