Injured animals take up residence in Carole Linguantis living room
Introduce us to the wildlife inhabiting your living room. This eastern painted turtle had a hook in his face. A fisherman found him and removed the hook. I got him in late September. He needed antibiotics and food, and by the time he healed up it was too close to hibernation time to let him go. I had him in a 50 gallon trough but he wasnt sunning himself, so I moved him into a substrate of peat and moss and I give him water and food in separate containers. And these are frogs that came out of my ornamental pond. The pond is only a few feet deep so its hard to hibernate. The frogs come stay the winter. Whyd you become a rehabber? This is my second chapter. I have four sons, two almost out of college. I always wanted to do rehab work, but with kids it was too much. I think as you get older you really need to give back -- and I dont want to work with humans . What creature do you get the most calls about? Gray squirrels. The first year I had maybe 25 baby squirrels. It was a really good baptism by fire. I was feeding all the baby squirrels every two to four hours, depending on the species. I couldnt do anything else. I had two litters of red squirrels this year. A lot of nests got blown out of trees during Irene. The first litter of four died. The day after that, we got a litter of five young with their eyes still closed. They thrived. Sometimes I still see my squirrels coming to my bird feeders. My five little girls, wild and free. Before, they liked each other. Now they fight over territory. So you dont mind when squirrels eat out of your birdfeeders? I feed em. I decorate the little crabapple with sunflower seed, pinecones and corn on the ground. Its for the birds and squirrels. My sister visits from Maine and when she sees the squirrels she bangs on the window. Get out of here! Its like, whats your deal? You buy birdseed, who cares who eats it? Its funny, people with their wildlife. Youve chosen turtles as your specialty. Why turtles? Ive always loved turtles. My dad was one of the bad ones; hed bring box turtles home where we lived in suburban Long Island. I found them fascinating. My first pet was a turtle, when I was eight years old. Peewee. An Asian yellow pond turtle. I had him for 28 years. I had seven little children here and they left the door open . I was heartbroken. Turtles are relatively easy. Once you clean somebody up and get them going, they dont need the same kind of extensive care as, say, baby squirrels. But you might have a turtle for two years. Also, when you save a turtle its of so much more value than just a squirrel. It takes one turtle 40 years of life to replace itself. Squirrels are hawk food. Of all animals, wood turtles pull hardest on your heartstrings? I find them highly intelligent. I think they recognize people; theyre shyer around strangers. I believe they can tell your face. Theyre so calm and serene and trusting that were not going to do anything to them. Unfortunately thats not always true. Its magical when you find them in the wild. I feel the same thing every time I come upon one – elation. Despite being pro bono, animal rehabbing is a full-time job. How do you juggle it with work? I took a fawn to work. It spent a couple days running around the office, making this noise until I transferred it to another rehabber who does deer, to be raised away from people. The wood turtle went on vacation with us to Arcadia National Park in Maine, because what was I going to do? Wed stop the car, walk the dog, make sure the turtle was comfortable. Id put her out on the deck in the sun. How do you feel when you lose an animal? It depends. If its inevitable, you detach. I had a chipmunk that dogs mustve played tug of war with. You make sure theyre comfortable and let them pass away. But if its something youve been working with awhile, it feels pretty bad. Especially when its like, if you had known something different But then theres the next phone call. You have to move on. And you gave it a chance. If you didnt do that, it would never have had a chance.