The baby mink was found alone on a road in St. Louis County. She was observed for several hours to ensure she was truly orphaned before being captured and brought into WRC for care. Usually mammals do not do well alone but because she was nearly weaned the mink thrived from day one at WRC. She had a healthy fear of humans and would shriek when anyone entered her enclosure. After spending several weeks acclimating to outside weather, building strength and swimming in her pool she was released into beautiful river bottom habitat in Crawford County.

WRC animal care staff and volunteers (Theresa Knoblock, Kelly Olea and Jodi Weiss) saw a baby skunk in the front "yard" of the Wildlife Rescue Center as they were leaving on a Thursday night. They investigated and found him to be underweight and covered in fly packets. By his condition it was apparent that he was not being cared for and was believed to be orphaned. He was admitted to WRC and spent about 5 weeks with us before bring released back onto WRC property. Skunk was admitted 7/21/11 and released 9/5/11.

During the time the Olea skunk was in our care, 2 other young skunks were spotted on the property and a den was found near our lake. The two skunks are believed to be siblings of the one we admitted and were watched closely but never appeared to be in any distress. We believe their mother may have been hit by a car just as the babies were being weaned.

In mid August, an adult goose was admitted with severe wounds caused by fishing line wrapped around and embedded deeply into both legs. The goose was very close to losing both legs and had to have his feet splinted to hold them in the correct position while his wounds healed and he regained his strength. Thanks to the superb care of Dr. Marie Bauer and our animal care staff, the goose is now able to place his feet correctly without splints and has made amazing progress. He will be released within the next two weeks.

Admitted 9/11/11 with an opossum jaw bone lodged in his mouth and throat. A case of the eyes being much bigger than the stomach. The jaw bone was surgically removed by our volunteer veterinarian, Dr. Katherine Kettenbach. He is recovering quickly and will hopefully be released in a few weeks once he's able to swallow normally.