Ohio wildlife rehabilitator digs in for COVID-19 long haul

Even during the evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has hampered the care of humans, the institutions charged with caring for injured, orphaned, and rehabilitating wildlife likewise must soldier on.

Among those agencies is Lake Metroparks with its Kevin P. Clinton Wildlife Center in Kirtland.

Here, staff members are caring for an ark-load of wild animals. Among them are 29 so-called “wildlife ambassadors,” animals that could not be returned to the wild due to the severity of their injuries or some other reason.

The staff is also dealing with providing treatment to a current patient list of 16 wild critters, including two bobcats – one male and one female – as well as a handful of big brown bats.

“This is the time of year we typically see bats being brought in as people start home remodeling projects and find the bats, which the homeowners typically don’t even know they have,” said Tammy O’Neil, the Center’s manager. “We’ve had as many as 30 at a time.”

Missing, however, is the Center’s platoon of volunteers, furloughed by the threat from COVID-19. That is leaving the Center to rely solely on trained staff, working in squads of four people per team on a three-day rotation.

“We’re getting through the day and all of our animals are being cared for,” O’Neil says. “We have not been able, though, to keep up as well as we’d like with the on-going training that our Animal Ambassadors could use.”

O’Neil said the teams are practicing the same type of distancing and protective gear protocols associated with any other health care body. The wearing of masks, gloves and the like are standard procedure.

Fortunately, the parks system has the hard-to-find health care essentials on hand, having ordered them before the pandemic created a shortage of the gear.

“And some of our staff have made masks at home and are using those,” O’Neil said. “And the entire Center is disinfected each evening.”

Though the Center is well-equipped and adequately staffed, the parks system is taking no chances with potential exposure to the virus. That is why the Center is requiring each staff member to have a body temperature check before starting the work day as well as an order to stay home if one is feeling a bit ill, O’Neil says.

“So far we have not had anyone get sick, but we really do miss our volunteers,” she said also.

Yet because of the Center’s limited staffing and the need to care first for what wildlife it does have, the care facility is not now taking in additional wildlife of any kind, O’Neil says

Instead, people who do call the Center are asked a series of question to help determine the nature of the individual animal’s case.

As often as not, O’Neil says, “eight out of 10 times” the animal will be fine if left alone.

For the few cases in which it appears that further triage is necessary, the caller is directed to call the Ohio Division of Wildlife. This agency maintains a list of licensed wildlife rehabilitators who might be able to take in the subject, O’Neil says.

Of some concern to O’Neil as well is that this is the time of year when the Center begins receiving an increased number of inquiries regarding orphaned wildlife.

“It is our busy time of year,” O’Neil said.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com