My Ambassadors

While working and studying at the May Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, I was assigned wildlife education ambassadors that I worked with, cared for, and educated the public about. All of these ambassadors are unreleasable and used to help educate the public on why their species are important, as well as educate students in the program on how to properly care for them and handle them. None of these animals are pets or are treated as such.

Willow

Willow is a female pileated woodpecker. She was deemed unrealeable after being hit by a car. She was brought in with fractures to her wing and leg. After being placed as an education animal, she suffered injuries to her toes due to problems with her enclosure. Willow is unable to fly or perch vertically, which would be important for her in the wild.

Captain

Captain is a male red-tailed hawk. Like Willow, he was brought to the rehabilitation center after being hit by a car. Due to impact, he lost vision in his right eye and is now unreleasable. While he is able to fly short distances, Captain can't perch or target his prey well enough to survive in the wild. In healthy red-tailed hawks, their vision allows them to read a newspaper from across a football field.

Cloudfeather

Cloudfeather is a female leucistic red-tailed hawk. She was initially brought to a rehabilitation center after being hit by a car. Radiographs were taken upon intake and 8 shotgun pellets were found scattered throughout her body, including two in her skull. Due to injuries from being hit and a poor prolonged prognosis from the bullets, she was placed as an education ambassador. Cloudfeather's white coloration is caused by an albino recessive gene, which is why she is not completely white. Hawks like Cloudfeather and other bird species are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. It is illegal to shoot them, keep them without proper licensing, or any part of their being.

Bindi

Bindi is a male corn snake. He was given to the May Wildlife Rehabilitation Center as a pet surrender. Corn snakes are one of the most popular species of snake to keep as a pet. Even though their maintenance is low in comparison to some mammal pets, it is important that they are not neglected and given the attention they deserve on a daily basis.

Cache

Cache is a male American Kestrel. Cache flew into a chimney and suffered severe burns to his wing as a consequence. He is now unable to grow necessary primary and secondary flight feathers to be confidently released. While Cache's story is unique, the best way we can help kestrels is to discontinue the use of pesticides/insecticides in agriculture. Kestrels end up ingesting the insects, and in turn the pesticides. In peregrine falcons, the ingestion of DDT-infected insects led to the weakening of eggshells and a reduction of successful hatchlings.

Sophie

Sophie is a female great horned owl. She was brought to a rehabilitation center in Alaska after being hit by a car. She has a malunion fracture in her wing and cannot fly because of it. She was transferred to Colorado, where she continued to be an ambassador. She was then transferred to the May Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to continue to educate the public. To avoid hitting any wildlife, the best thing to do is avoid littering. Our garbage often attracts mammals, some of which are prey for raptors like Sophie. When they spot their prey, they get tunnel vision and often do not see the oncoming vehicle.

Stella

Stella is a female American Kestrel. Much like Cache, she suffered burns to her wing. However, Stella suffered chemical burns to her feathers and skin from fertilizer. She was brought in June 2020 as a fledgling. While waiting for permanent placement, Stella served as a foster for young kestrels that would be able to be released. Because she is so young and new to the process of education, it has been tasked to me and a coworker to train her for future use in education programs.

Ruby

Ruby is a female Andean milk snake. She was originally a pet surrender to another facility, where she was not receiving the care she needed. She was then taken in by another professor on campus and given to the program for educational purposes. Milk snakes like Ruby are often confused with coral snakes. This is an example of Batesian mimicry, where a nonlethal animal mimics a lethal one. In this case, the milk snake is completely harmless, whereas the coral snake is venomous. A simple rhyme to distinguish the two is "red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, a friend of Jack."

Mykola

Mykola was a juvenile peregrine falcon when he arrived at the MWRC in May of 2022. He was made an education ambassador and placed after injuring his left wing. I was a mentor in the center at the time and was charged with training him, as he had no prior experience working with people. I still work with him and we’ve made great progress together in this training journey.