Conservation agent offers tips about ‘orphaned’ wildlife

NEW MADRID, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation reminds residents before taking in young wildlife, they need to make sure the animal is truly orphaned.

“Each spring, I receive many calls from well-meaning New Madrid County residents that someone has found a young animal without its mother nearby and decided that it had been abandoned,” said Christopher Barnes, Missouri Department Conservation agent for New Madrid County. “Believing they are performing a good deed, they bundle the adorable, spotted/fuzzy/feathery animal off to their house and try to raise it themselves.

He continued: “Usually after a couple of days, the excitement wears off and I receive a phone call that they found a baby animal and do not know what to do with it. It’s a scene that’s as tragic as it is common.”

This is particularly unfortunate because in most cases it is unnecessary, Barnes said.

“Most young animals found in the wild aren’t deserted,” Barnes said. “Their mothers simply are not visible when well-meaning humans happened along. In our eyes, a human mother would never leave her baby alone in a clump of grass, so people assume when they find a young animal in that situation its mother must be dead or gone. We don’t realize that what’s good for human babies isn’t necessarily good for wild ones.”

The mother of these young wild animals will usually visit their young only long enough to nurse them, Barnes said.

“By staying away the rest of the time, they avoid drawing predators’ attention to their young,” Barnes said. “People who take young wildlife out of the wild often do so within sight or earshot of these mothers.”

The good news is that the mistake can be corrected, Barnes said.

“A mother has a huge investment in her offspring and will not give up on them easily,” Barnes said. “If returned to the area where it was picked up, most likely the mother will find them and continue to care for it, even if someone has had them for a couple of days.”

If a child brings home a baby bird, Barnes said to forget the popular myth that human scent will prevent the parent from taking it back.

“Return the animal as quickly as possible to the place where it was found,” Barnes said. “If you have a flightless bird in your back yard, keep your pets indoors and chase away the neighbors’ cats and dogs that come snooping around. The parent birds will continue to care for the little one until it can fly.”

Barnes also offered some takeaway points regarding young wildlife:

Young wild animals wondering around by themselves are not considered abandoned.

Young wild animals that are thought to be “rescued” by humans will most likely lead to death.

The majority of people aren’t equipped to supply young wildlife dietary needs.

If one shows up at a home, return it back to where it came from as soon as possible.

Wild animals are almost always better off in the wild than in captivity.

Some young deer, birds, rabbits, raccoons and squirrels do die as victims of predators or due to inclement weather or just bad luck. But, Barnes said, that’s how nature works.

“Predators need food to survive, and nature produces many more baby animals than needed to sustain wildlife populations,” Barnes said. “In most cases our intentions are usually good but remember that leaving young wildlife alone is in the best interest of the animal.”