by: Nancy Churchill
March 1981
Captivity is sometimes tolerable, but it is seldom more desirable than freedom. This is true for man - it is also true for wild animals. Wild creatures become captives in a variety of ways; however, the environments provided are usually inferior to their natural habitats. Moreover, the harboring of wild animals results in unforeseen problems and may even represent potential dangers. Finally, when the novelty wears thin, it is frequently difficult to find an acceptable way of disposing of unwanted wildlife.
Each spring, thousands of apparently abandoned or injured infant wild animals are "rescued" by well-meaning people. Juvenile wildlife, however, are considerably more self-sufficient than are human babies at comparable ages.
Infant snowshoe hare, for example, are weaned and have a full complement of teeth when they are two to three weeks old. Yet, these young rabbits, who need no further assistance to survive, are frequently captured and bottle-fed. Red squirrels, whose development is slower than that of rabbits, are often found on the ground after a spring wind storm. However, they have powerful voices and, if places out of the reach of dogs and cats, will attract their mothers who will carry them back to the nest.
Young foxes and raccoons depend upon their mothers' care for a much longer period than either rabbits or squirrels, but this care is intermittent rather than constant. Their mothers, who must also defend their territories and hunt for food, visit the dens to tend the cubs frequently, if irregularly. However, the very act of a person approaching such an infant will deter the mother from appearing at the den.
Many people believe that a baby wild animal, once touched by man, will be abandoned by its mother. This is an old wives' tale and completely erroneous. Of course, there is a chance that those infants who are least wary will, when left alone, become victims of accidents or predators. This, however, is natural selection - or evolution at work.
There are occasional cases when human care is genuinely required. For this reason, the Lands and Forests Act provides for the rescue of "distressed" wildlife, but the good Samaritan is obliged to pay for the veterinarian's examination and treatment, after notifying a Lands and Forests officer of his intention.
One should be aware, though, that, without human intervention, death of an injured juvenile wild animal is not inevitable. The maternal instinct is strong. Injured or congenitally abnormal young, if left to the care of their mothers, often recuperate completely or adjust to the atypical condition. Blind fawns, for example, have been raised to adulthood in the wild. It is probably more humane, in most cases, to leave an injured animal where it is. In captivity, it is often impossible to provide adequate food and shelter without constantly subjecting the animal to stress and/or destroying its protective fear of man.
There are some very good public health reasons for hesitating to give aid to "distressed" wildlife. The chance always exists that the animal has a disease transmissible to humans and/or domestic animals. For example, raccoons, skunks, foxes and wild canids (coyotes) can be infected with rabies, distemper or mange with no obviously recognizable symptoms. Following exposure to rabies, immediate immunization is necessary, a procedure which does not, however, guarantee that the exposed individual will not develop rabies. Mange of a fox, which is transmissible to dogs, involves extensive treatment to control, and, if untreated, causes a lingering and horrible death. The history of injured or "abandoned" wildlife is usually unknown, and this should be reason for extreme caution.
Though few people admit it, often the motive for "rescuing" wildlife is to obtain novel pets. However, wild animals seldom make safe and suitable pets. Raccoons and skunks become fat, vicious and destructive. Many is the couch that has been ruined by a skunk's digging in it or by a raccoon's tearing it apart. Rabbits, squirrels, and woodchucks can become simple vegetative consumers of food, sitting and staring or pacing endlessly. Foxes may become unpredictable escape artists, deer hazardous beggars.
The perils of keeping deer as pets is almost legendary. A most tragic incident occurred during the War of 1812 in the Ohio Territory.
A Major McKee of the British Army, who had survived numerous skirmishes with Indian raiders and with the Kentucky militia, was given a white-tailed deer by admiring Shawnee Indians. He became very attached to the animal and was exceptionally pleased when his pet grew a fine set of antlers the next summer. One morning, as Major McKee was struggling into his buckskin trousers, the deer gored him in the buttocks. His troops broke into uproarious laughter; however, an antler tine had severed his femoral artery, and, before the laughter subsided, he had bled to death. Traditionally, only bucks were considered dangerous; however, recently in New York, a woman who tried to intercept an apparently tame doe that was threatening a child, was kicked in the head by the deer and required treatment at a hospital.
The antics of "tamed" wild animals often result in tragedy for humans, but in many instances, the antics of humans result in tragedy for our native fauna.
Examination of an adult wild canid, after it had been shot by a conservation officer because of its strange behaviour, revealed a 10-inch metal choke chain buried in the tissues of its neck. It had either been released or escaped to the wild wearing the collar, which must have been put on when the animal was a pup. As the wild canid grew the chain cut into the skin of the neck and throat, causing pressure on the spinal column and trachea, which was undoubtedly responsible for the animal's curious conduct.
A small, severely emaciated fawn, moving feebly about a field, was picked up by a conservation officer and died the following day. It appeared that this fawn had recently been released after having been held in captivity, as evidenced by its greatly elongated hooves and the oatstraw "bedding" found in crevices of the hooves. Apparently, its diet had been inadequate, as is often the case with pet fawns. Obviously, this animal was in no condition to fend for itself.
When one domesticates a wild animal, a vow of "till death do us part" has been taken, because death for the pet is nearly always inevitable when it becomes more of a nuisance than a novelty.
"Just drop it off in the nearby woods", you say. Granted, this would be a simple solution for the pet's owner, but the animal probably wouldn't have long to live should this be done. Not only has it lost its instinctive fear of man, but also it has become generally less wary, hence, likely game for predators. In addition, the "nearby woods" may not provide the animal with habitat suitable to its needs. If it is one of many imported species, the danger exists that it may introduce exotic diseases to native wildlife or replace native species through competition for food.
"Give the pet to a zoo," you suggest. Zoos not only have commercial sources for their wild animals but also provide for breeding within the zoo and are usually filled to capacity. In any event, they are extremely unreceptive to furnishing homes for discarded pets, which are sometimes in poor health, usually unresponsive to mating and invariably neurotic.
"Animal shelters, what about animal shelters?" you ask, with a sly grin, feeling certain this is a trap out of which no one can wriggle. You're right! In most instances, it is a trap - a trap for the unwanted wild pet for whom the animal shelter ultimately becomes the death house. thousands of unplaced wild animals must be killed every year. They are a glut on the market and suitable homes are nearly impossible to find.
"So," you conclude, "you might as well take Bandit, the raccoon, out in the backyard and shoot him the same day that you bring him home! If you don't, you are merely postponing the inevitable."
That would be one possible conclusion; however, a more realistic one would be to enjoy wild animals from a distance - a distance which allows them to live out their lives on their own terms where they were meant to be - in the wild.