Recently, Hurricane Debby passed through the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, providing Southwest Florida with days full of rain and storms. Due to the weather, the von Arx Wildlife Hospital received an influx of animal admissions.
Hurricanes affect native wildlife in a multitude of ways. Flooding and high winds displace animals and damage nests. It is likely that birds get caught up in severe weather and high winds for days and are carried or blown off course.
This past Monday, August 5, the wildlife hospital received twice as many admissions as they regularly do because of animals impacted by the storm. Six eastern cottontails, one hatchling striped mud turtle, and two hatchling soft shell turtles were all admitted after being displaced by flooding but by far, our most common admissions were grey squirrels and eastern cottontails.
During the storm, five squirrels were admitted to the wildlife hospital after being blown from their nest. The rescuers wasted no time transporting the squirrel kits to the wildlife hospital knowing the nestlings required immediate medical attention from professionals.
Sadly, a similar situation occurred with three nestling squirrels but their rescuer was unaware of the von Arx Wildlife Hospital. The three nestlings found after the storm didn’t receive professional care for four days. Two kits passed away under the rescuer’s care and the third squirrel kit was weak, hypothermic, and unresponsive upon admission to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital; he did not survive.
While severe storms predicted for this hurricane season may cause power outages and disrupt cell phone service, please know that hospital staff will ride out these storms on-site when able and will always return to work as soon as possible after a storm passes. Even if you can’t reach us by phone, Wildlife Hospital operations resume as soon as threats posed by dangerous weather have cleared.
If you find an injured or displaced animal, contain the animal in a quiet, dark, warm area of your home. Do not attempt to offer food or water. Bring it to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital as soon as it is safe to be on the roads. Immediate professional care is incredibly important, especially if an animal has withstood the effects of a hurricane. The sooner a sick, injured, or orphaned animal receives medical attention, the less suffering the animal endures and the chance the animal will make a full recovery increases exponentially.
The von Arx Wildlife Hospital is part of and located at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. We are open 365 days a year from 8am to 7pm. Please call (239) 262-2273 for wildlife assistance or bring an animal to our hospital at 1495 Smith Preserve Way in Naples, FL.