Nature’s Nurses : An Army of Volunteers Tends to Needs of Sick, Injured Wild Animals

For the last three years, Jean Roper’s life has been humming along. She can’t help it. Almost everywhere she goes she is accompanied by a flock of baby hummingbirds.

They lunch together. They shop together. And because she must feed them every 15 minutes, she is one of the few people in Los Angeles who actually prays for traffic jams when they’re in the car together.

Such is life for one of the dedicated legion of state wildlife rehabilitation volunteers, a sprawling network that takes care of sick, injured and orphaned birds and mammals.

It is a program that aids thousands of wild and endangered animals throughout California each year. Licensed by the state Department of Fish and Game, members of the rehabilitation program provide medical care, food and temporary shelter to an ever-increasing number of animals who fall victim to encounters with natural enemies, man and the elements.

The volunteers serve as midwives to the state wildlife protection agency, filling a void left by budget and staffing shortages.

“Society has dictated that there is a need for a program like this, especially since we don’t have the personnel or facilities to do it all ourselves,” said Gordon Cribbs, Fish and Game’s regional patrol chief. “We have to rely on veterinarians and organizations that are responsible and who follow the department’s positions and policies. It’s a great resource for us.”

For every Fish and Game warden like Cribbs, there are thousands of birds and mammals that need tending. That means lots of work for “rehabbers” like Roper, Dana Lukas and Ann Lynch.

The three women work in the South Bay, just a small section of the rehabilitation safety net that stretches throughout Region 5, the southernmost wildlife area of the state, which encompasses 10 counties.

State wildlife officials say the network in Southern California is probably the busiest in the state. There are about 65 veterinarians, animal care shelters and individuals licensed in the region to provide care and shelter for the creatures until they can be returned to the wild. Although the network is loosely knit, the members stay in steady contact with one another, often swapping animals, medicine, equipment and know-how.

Like most members in the program, they take on the work as the offshoot of a lifetime devotion to animals. Lukas said she can’t remember when she wasn’t taking home injured chicks, cats, dogs and other furry critters. Today, her carrying cases are filled with more exotic creatures. Lukas is a licensed specialist for birds of prey, providing emergency care for a large number of hawks, owls, kestrels and other raptors that have been injured or have been mistreated by unlicensed owners.

When a hawk is hit by a car or an eagle gets blown ashore by a fast-moving coastal storm, Lukas is often called to pick up the bird and take it to her back-yard hospital and aviary in Torrance. At times there is a long waiting line for the incubator, where she treats birds with concussions, broken wings, bites and infections. At times, she has had up to 70 birds in her care.

“You can’t save them all,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just luck and maybe wishful thinking that they survive. But when they get well and you release them, it gives you a lot of satisfaction.”

Roper also started out as general care-giver to animals before “someone slipped a hummingbird” in on her and forever changed her life.

Now her home is a showcase of specialized feeders, plants, cages and carrying cases designed to help her deal with what she calls “feathered pit bulls.”

“Hummingbirds are really not nice at all,” she said. “They do everything individually, they’re very territorial, the mothers will drive the babies out of the nest--there’s just no sense of family. But they are absolutely fascinating.”

For most of their breeding season, Roper is never more than a few feet from the federally protected birds. The baby birds have such voracious appetites that Roper wears a beeper timed to go off every 15 minutes so she can begin the next feeding. If she goes to the supermarket, the birds go too--in a special canvas bag that allows for quick snacks while she waits in the grocery line.

“I end up talking to my purse a lot,” she said. “You get a lot of strange looks but after a while you stop caring what people think.”

Roper works as one of 13 apprentices under Lynch, who heads South Bay Wildlife Rehab. Lynch mostly handles raccoons and other mammals and serves as the liaison between the state and her growing band of specialists.

Lynch and other licensed wildlife workers must file detailed quarterly reports to state officials each year outlining the organization’s activities. Last year, her organization alone took in nearly 500 animals. And, she said, each year seems to get busier.

“There’s just so many birds and so few Fish and Game wardens that the work is really left to us,” said Lynch, a science teacher at Palos Verdes Intermediate School. “In an emergency, if someone like us can’t get out there quick, these animals just aren’t going to make it.”

The job is not for the fainthearted or the financially strained. Lukas estimates that she spent $4,000 last year on food, medicine, transportation and other rescue supplies. With an appetite for two rats a day, a red-tailed hawk can be an expensive temporary house guest.

Fish and Game officials say they closely monitor the rehabilitation program to weed out inexperienced animal handlers and zealots who may not want to return the birds and mammals to the wild. Once a bird becomes “imprinted”--dependent on humans for food and protection--its chances of survival are drastically reduced.

“We don’t let just anybody participate in the program,” patrol chief Cribbs said. “We always prefer that if we have animals that need to be rehabilitated, that it be done through a government agency first.

“If we had our choice, we would always prefer that wild animals not be brought into captivity at all because there is always a chance they can be imprinted. That’s especially true in this region, because we have the most diverse area and the greatest potential for interaction and conflict with the public.”

The steady encroachment of man upon nature has provided more work than the growing network of rehabilitation specialists can handle. Lynch has lobbied for a centralized wildlife center, where the injured creatures can be hospitalized and prepared for release. Such a center, she said, would allow others to volunteer time and money without actually taking wildlife into their homes.

“These animals need an advocate, and the more people we can train and educate the better,” she said. “I have a soft heart, but that also usually means an empty pocket. People involved in rehab do a tremendous amount, but it’s never enough.”

Injured Animals: Handle With Care

Wildlife rehabilitation specialists say that well-meaning people can kill birds and mammals by handling them improperly. They offer these guidelines for caring for injured or orphaned animals:

* Call a veterinarian or animal control shelter.

* If you find a bird that needs immediate attention, keep it in a warm, dark and quiet spot.

* If you find a baby bird, return it to its nest and wait for one of its parents to return before taking any other action.

* Keep hummingbird feeders and birdbaths clean to avoid spreading infections.

* Do not handle adult mammals unless you know how. Only licensed specialists are trained to handle wild animals.