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Rice and an old sock can help an orphaned animal

Contributed by: Clay Evans on 4/13/2007

LYONS - If you're an orphaned squirrel, raccoon or other small mammal, there's no substitute for mom like an old sock filled with plain rice and warmed up in a microwave.

"Rice socks," as they are called at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary, which provides medical treatment and care for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife, help give baby animals the best chance to survive and return to the wild.

"Rice socks are really nice," said Libby Osnes-Erie, animal care manager for the private, non-profit sanctuary in northern BoulderCounty. "They are soft and squishy, so babies can lie on top of them. It's sort of like lying next to their mom."

Osnes-Erie said rice socks also can be used to keep babies warm when trying to reunite them with their mothers. Often when baby animals are placed in a box with a source of warmth near where they were found, the mother will retrieve them.

"Rice socks are great for reunites," Osnes-Erie said. "They can keep (babies) warm for a few hours."

Rice socks not only help baby animals, but also provide a unique, fun, easy way for service clubs, scout troops, schools and other groups to contribute to the care of wildlife in need. Greenwood sends educational ambassadors out into local communities to teach people the do's and don't's of interacting with wildlife and what to do if you do find a baby bird or mammal. As part of the program, many groups make rice socks.

"This is a nice, interactive thing people can do," said Andrea Lawless, volunteer coordinator for Greenwood.

Other groups opt to construct a kind of "transition" housing for squirrels released back into the wild. The boxes are placed in trees at release sites so young squirrels have a place to call home from the moment they are released.

"A lot of Boy Scout troops help us build squirrel nest boxes," Lawless said.

Greenwood is Colorado's largest wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary in terms of service, handling some 4,000 animals and 140 species a year. The sanctuary is not government funded, and relies primarily on the support of individuals who care about wildlife.

Greenwood can make excellent use of the $1,000 grant to support its ongoing education program, which includes interactive volunteer activities such as making squirrel nest boxes and rice socks. The money would be used for materials and to pay for staff time to go out into the community

If you are part of a group that would like to learn about urban wildlife and rehabilitation or create rice socks or squirrel boxes, call the sanctuary at (303) 823-8455. The Web site is www.greenwoodwildlife.org.



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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Jeff Thomas has posted 1639 stories and 83 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Jeff Thomas's average story rating is 4.73.
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