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Animals
Transcript
00:00 This guy's a very polite eater.
00:02 A baby mink is abandoned on a pet store shelf.
00:05 He's very well behaved.
00:07 A young coyote has a nasty case of mange.
00:10 I have had mange twice, and it is awful.
00:13 It drives you absolutely crazy.
00:14 So I really feel for these guys.
00:16 And how do you feed a snake with an injured jaw?
00:19 I don't want to tube him or force feed him, though.
00:20 I don't want to mess with his jaw.
00:23 It's known as the city within a park.
00:25 The greater Toronto area is home to one
00:27 of the most diverse urban wildlife populations
00:30 in North America.
00:32 Here, more than 6 million busy humans
00:35 live alongside 350 different species of wild animals.
00:40 When wildlife clashes with urban life,
00:42 it's usually the animals who lose.
00:45 That's when Toronto Wildlife Centre steps in,
00:48 saving animals one day at a time.
00:50 [chirping]
00:51 [goat bleating]
00:55 [chirping]
00:58 [whoosh]
00:59 In the big city, you're more likely to see
01:02 a mink on someone's back than roaming
01:04 through the downtown streets.
01:06 But the greater Toronto area is actually
01:09 home to a healthy population of these semi-aquatic weasels.
01:13 In fact, there may be eight or more minks
01:17 per every square kilometre.
01:18 Oh, there's a mink.
01:19 [gasping]
01:21 Unfortunately, that doesn't make them any easier to spot.
01:25 They're experts at hiding out in the city's many rivers
01:28 and marshes, which is why a Bowmanville pet store owner
01:33 was shocked to find an unfamiliar baby animal
01:36 crying out on the empty pet store shelf.
01:40 She quickly rushed it into Toronto Wildlife Centre.
01:44 So just a couple of days ago, we had a tiny little animal
01:46 brought in.
01:47 We're pretty sure it's a mink, from what we can tell.
01:49 It's really, really hard to identify species sometimes
01:52 when they're so incredibly young.
01:53 Natalie Karvonen is the centre's founder
01:56 and executive director.
01:57 This poor little thing was found by someone
02:00 and just left behind in a pet store on a shelf.
02:03 At this stage, a baby mink needs a lot of care
02:06 and almost hourly feedings.
02:08 Toronto Wildlife Centre is a charity-funded organization,
02:11 and overnight volunteers are hard to come by.
02:14 So Natalie will have to work overtime
02:16 to keep this little guy's needs met.
02:19 I'm going to be fostering him this coming weekend.
02:21 It's good that it's coming over the weekend
02:23 because at this age, he needs to be fed
02:25 about every couple of hours,
02:26 really pretty much throughout the entire day.
02:29 And when they're so little and vulnerable,
02:31 the more frequent tiny little feedings we can give them,
02:33 the easier it is on their system as they get used
02:35 to this very strange artificial formula.
02:38 The mink took to the formula and is growing nicely.
02:42 Now at five weeks old, this baby mink is able to survive
02:46 on fewer feedings a day.
02:48 But he isn't ready to hunt for himself.
02:50 So Lisa Fosco, the Rehabilitation Manager
02:54 at Toronto Wildlife Centre, still has to play mom.
02:57 Here we have a baby mink.
03:00 And we have had him since he was a few days old.
03:05 You can smell his musk.
03:09 And he is one of our favourites,
03:13 just because we've raised him from a little guy.
03:16 He's been doing really, really well.
03:18
03:22 This guy's a very polite eater.
03:25 He may be polite now, but this could be a big problem.
03:29 He's very well behaved.
03:31 Good manners don't go very far in nature.
03:35 Lisa wants him to be much more aggressive.
03:39 It's a critical part of his success in the wild,
03:42 and it's not going to happen with too much human coddling.
03:46 So this mink will be getting a little space.
03:49 So these guys tend to stay in an area that nobody comes in here
03:52 unless we're going to be feeding them.
03:54 We never want them to see us any more than they have to.
03:57 With any wild animals, it's going to be important to keep them
04:00 in a nice, quiet room just so that we don't stress them out.
04:03 Minimal handling is the key.
04:05 It's a technique employed at the centre
04:07 to make sure animals don't bond with humans.
04:10 They need to go out there and understand
04:12 that humans are their primary predator.
04:14 If he gets this message, he'll be staying at the centre.
04:17 Oh, this guy will be in captivity for another probably 8 weeks.
04:21 Right now we're trying to talk to other rehabilitators
04:24 to see if anybody else has a single mink his size
04:26 because we'd like to give him a friend at this age
04:28 so that they can grow up together.
04:30 If they grow up by themselves,
04:32 they don't have the same social development.
04:34 And while we can't really tell the differences,
04:36 we assume that in the wild the other minks can.
04:39 We want them to be able to interact normally
04:41 with the others of their kind.
04:44 The centre hasn't been able to find a match for him yet.
04:47 So it's up to Lisa and her team
04:49 to turn this baby into a full-fledged wild mink.
04:53 All right, I'll see you in 3 hours, mink.
04:59 Meanwhile, Andrew White,
05:03 head of the rescue and release team at Toronto Wildlife Centre,
05:07 has just returned from an urgent call at a local school.
05:10 We've just come back from a rescue of a young coyote pup
05:14 who actually had been suspected,
05:17 suspectedly chased through a school yard by a dog.
05:22 And the school doors just happened to be open
05:25 and the little pup ran into there.
05:27 It has mange, which is a horrible skin parasite,
05:31 that really, really agitates them.
05:33 And he's scratched himself so hard
05:35 that it's rubbed him raw in places.
05:38 Our biggest concern is now that we have this guy,
05:41 is there's probably a couple more out there.
05:44 While Andrew sets out to find the remaining sick coyote pups,
05:48 Katie and Aaron are in the assessment room.
05:51 He said he didn't eat anything overnight, right?
05:53 Right, completely untouched.
05:55 I think I just want to give him some canned food this morning
05:57 with no meds in it and see if he eats it.
06:00 Because he only gets his Meloxicam at night.
06:02 So if he doesn't eat anything by tonight,
06:04 we can hand-feed him a bit tonight with his meds.
06:07 Yeah.
06:09 So he just needs fluids and his antibiotics this morning.
06:12 Okay.
06:13 And then I would like to run him, if we can,
06:16 and just check for a limp.
06:18 Sure. We can set up that kennel cab.
06:20 Yeah, because yesterday on intake,
06:22 he did the typical coyote thing
06:24 where he went from lying on his side to cowering in the back,
06:27 and I didn't actually see him walk at all.
06:29 But he reportedly had a limp, according to the finder.
06:32 So if we can get him to walk, that'd be nice.
06:35 Sure. Okay.
06:37 Yeah, this is the sore Andrew was talking about.
06:40 But you can see he has them sort of all over.
06:44 It's a girl. I should say her legs.
06:47 She has a big one up there and on this side too.
06:50 Mange is a parasitic skin disease caused by mites.
06:54 It's itchy and uncomfortable,
06:57 and it makes the infected animals scratch patches of their skin raw.
07:01 Those bare and scratched patches of skin are vulnerable to infection,
07:06 so antibiotics are the first order of business.
07:10 Yep, she's getting oral antibiotics.
07:13 If left untreated, the infection would have eventually
07:17 attacked the coyote's immune system,
07:19 making it too weak to care for itself.
07:22 Not very inflamed, at least.
07:23 No, not very inflamed.
07:25 Well, she's also already had one dose of anti-inflammatories and antibiotics,
07:29 so I'm sure that helps.
07:32 Erin and Katie can tell the mange is still in its early stages.
07:36 That's good news for this coyote pup.
07:40 She looks good.
07:42 Pretty typical mange, I would say.
07:45 She has the skin sores and the thin fur and whatnot,
07:48 but her eyes look great.
07:50 Okay.
07:51 Nice and clear, good color.
07:53 Very bitey.
07:55 I appreciate that.
07:57 And we'll just see if she has that limp.
08:00 Yeah.
08:06 I don't see any limp.
08:07 Just going to avoid the cabin entirely.
08:08 Yeah.
08:12 You want a glove?
08:15 Oh, never mind.
08:17 Perfect.
08:18 With the assessment complete, the treatments for mange will begin,
08:22 and Katie is feeling positive about her prognosis.
08:25 Her mange is not that bad.
08:27 She doesn't look very great, I know,
08:29 but she is not even close to the worst that we see,
08:31 and mange is so easily treatable.
08:33 I have had mange twice, and it is awful.
08:36 It drives you absolutely crazy, so I really feel for these guys.
08:40 After the initial treatment, the mites begin to die off,
08:44 and the itchiness subsides almost immediately.
08:47 But the staff at the centre are still concerned.
08:50 There's a chance that this young coyote may be carrying a deadly virus.
08:59 Lisa has been unable to find a pal for this lone mink
09:03 since he was dropped off at the centre four weeks ago.
09:06 He's been doing well, he's growing well, he looks good.
09:08 He's up for his weight checks.
09:10 We're going to look at his weight and look at his behaviour.
09:12 He's been alone too long.
09:14 Without a companion, he might miss learning some important social cues,
09:19 like how to be an aggressive animal.
09:21 A mild-mannered mink will not do well in the wild.
09:25 In all honesty, last week I was starting to get very concerned
09:28 because I was able to reach my hand in there, and that should never happen.
09:32 So what happens if the mink doesn't start putting up a stink?
09:36 If we have an animal that can't be released into the wild, there's two options.
09:39 One of them is to place him in a permanent captive situation somewhere,
09:42 and the other one is euthanasia.
09:44 And as much as that's not something we would want to do,
09:48 to be really honest with you, finding a home for a wild animal is very rare.
09:52 It's those terrible options that motivate Lisa
09:55 to turn this mild animal into a wild animal.
09:58 I'm just a little bit concerned about him because we've had him so long by himself.
10:02 So what I want to do is let us see how bitey he is, how hard he is to grab,
10:06 how aggressive he is.
10:08 If he's not, then we have to look at adjusting our plan.
10:11 If he's aggressive, then maybe he'll try to kill me,
10:14 and then we won't have anything to worry about. That would be amazing.
10:17 The more aggression this mink shows toward Lisa,
10:20 the better his chances are to be successfully released into the wild.
10:24 Anything less will mean prolonged captivity at best,
10:28 and possibly something much, much worse.
10:31 [chirping]
10:34 He's trying to kill me for real, so he's better than I thought.
10:37 All right. I'm sorry.
10:40 I'm impressed. He's wilding up nicely.
10:43 All right, buddy. I'm sorry.
10:48 [chirping]
10:50 I am so much happier than I was last week.
10:54 Okay, good.
10:56 So he is now at his next category of development.
10:59 He bit me for real. He must.
11:02 That's exactly what we want to see. That's green.
11:05 Despite this positive checkup, the mink is not out of the woods yet.
11:10 Next, he goes outside, and his big boy cage will be out there
11:13 for maybe two to three weeks, then be released.
11:16 Meanwhile, the rescue team has captured a second coyote pup,
11:20 also suffering from a serious case of mange.
11:24 The two pups appear close enough in age
11:26 that the centre would like to keep them together while they heal.
11:31 Lisa and head veterinarian Heather Reed
11:33 are getting ready to examine these new coyote pups
11:36 for signs of any further illness.
11:39 So he's crated.
11:41 After a recent scare with a very sick fox,
11:43 Heather wants to make sure these animals are cleared for the virus.
11:47 A young coyote.
11:50 A while back we had a young fox, kind of a similar age as our coyotes,
11:54 that came in and turned out to have a pretty bad infectious disease.
11:58 It had parvovirus, which causes really bad diarrhea
12:02 and a very sick animal.
12:04 So of course that's always at the back of our mind
12:06 when we get these sick orphans in.
12:09 Canine parvovirus can be a deadly and infectious disease
12:12 when it attacks young pups.
12:15 If either of these coyotes has this virus,
12:18 chances are they'll need to be euthanized,
12:21 and the centre's animal population will be at risk.
12:24 I've just peeked at her quickly, have it done a full assessment.
12:28 So the main concern was that she came in orphaned?
12:31 Young plus mage.
12:33 And we think she's eating on her own?
12:35 Yeah, they said that she ate everything but the dry food, which is good.
12:38 So I'm thinking that we look at her, then we look at the other one.
12:42 Geographically they can go together.
12:44 Ah, that would be great.
12:46 So I think that if we can clear them medically to go together,
12:48 I think that the best medicine is a friend at this age.
12:51 Okay, no, there's no wounds or anything.
12:53 Not that I could feel or see.
12:56 These spots are even good.
12:58 Yeah. Okay.
13:03 Great.
13:07 She's walking nicely.
13:10 Great.
13:13 So we got a fecal sample on her.
13:17 Yep.
13:18 So maybe if we look at the other one and get another fecal?
13:20 Yep, you can check them out.
13:22 The first pup gets the all clear.
13:25 Now it's on to the next.
13:28 All right.
13:32 It's okay, can you see a dentition?
13:34 Dentition has to do with the way teeth are arranged in the mouth.
13:38 It helps determine an animal's age.
13:44 On the lower, she looks like she's got the same dentition, canines and incisors.
13:49 I can't see her upper incisors yet.
13:52 It's okay, it's okay.
13:56 Over her back is where the wound was and the fur is missing.
14:00 Looks a lot better today here.
14:04 Okay.
14:07 Great.
14:08 So I think that they are --
14:10 As long as we figure out what the parasites and every --
14:15 I think that they can definitely go together in this room.
14:17 This is a much bigger room and it would be great.
14:19 So run the samples.
14:21 If it's not -- even if they have different parasites, can we just treat them, put them together?
14:24 I think so.
14:25 We'll just know what to treat them with and then we'll get them hopefully set up today.
14:29 You think we can get them in here today?
14:31 I think so.
14:32 We can redo the cage.
14:33 They're nocturnal so they've got all day.
14:35 And then before evening we'll put them together.
14:37 Yeah.
14:38 I think it will work out.
14:39 It's good that we've got to the same age.
14:41 I think it's great.
14:42 It's actually pretty lucky.
14:43 It's the best news.
14:45 Not only do these coyote pups not have parvo,
14:48 they both get to have a new friend.
14:51 The great thing is that these guys are eating on their own.
14:54 They do not have a fever and they do seem to be overall a lot healthier.
14:59 They do have the skin parasites,
15:01 but they don't seem to have the systemic infection that the other fox had.
15:06 So we're always thinking about that,
15:08 but in this case I think we're pretty sure that this is not a problem for these coyotes.
15:13 They're going to be here for a while.
15:14 They've got to regrow their fur.
15:16 They have to get a little bit nutritionally caught up,
15:18 and then they'll go to our outdoor pen and be able to grow into wild coyotes together
15:23 in a nice enclosure outside.
15:25 Things are looking up for the coyote pups,
15:27 but it's a little less rosy for the next patient.
15:33 Lisa is about to examine a tiny snake with a possible head injury,
15:38 but the information on his chart doesn't add up.
15:41 Okay, I have a little issue with people saying he ate two mealworms.
15:46 I just can't believe it.
15:48 Two phoenix worms, four mealworms, two waxworms, and one butterworm.
15:53 One of the staff members at Toronto Wildlife Centre
15:56 found this snake under a wood pile on her property.
15:59 When she took a close look, she could see that there was blood on the side of his head.
16:05 So she brought him into the centre for an assessment.
16:08 When he came in, he had a little bit of a head tilt.
16:10 He had some swelling, he had some blood, and he had an abrasion on the inside of his mouth.
16:14 The first step is to establish whether this guy has eaten anything since he got here.
16:20 We generally what we do is we give them a very specific amount
16:23 where we count out the individual worms or bugs or whatever we're feeding them.
16:27 For this guy, we're feeding him four different kinds of worms.
16:30 And so right now what I'm doing is just counting what's remaining
16:34 based on, you know, compared to what we gave him.
16:36 So we try to just be really cautious and make sure that we're counting well.
16:39 You know, I'd like to see him eat before determining whether or not he's releasable
16:42 just because of where the injury is.
16:44 But at the same time, being a snake, he could choose not to eat for a month or two.
16:49 What we try to do is we keep their temperature at their optimal range
16:53 and their humidity at the optimal level.
16:55 And that will generally encourage them to eat, but I can't make him eat.
16:59 That comes back to us of whether or not he's not eating because of his injury
17:02 or because he just doesn't want to eat in captivity.
17:05 So that's one of the challenges with working with these guys.
17:08 That means this little snake's health is still a big mystery.
17:13 At Toronto Wildlife Centre, every animal is cared for by a team of rehabilitation experts
17:19 and veterinarians, as well as vet techs and a slew of support crew
17:23 who feed, clean, and care for the animals.
17:27 Sometimes it takes a few people to determine something simple like
17:31 how much food did this snake eat for breakfast?
17:34 Okay, so I don't know.
17:36 I handled him quickly yesterday just to see how his reaction time was.
17:39 I'm not convinced that he's eaten anything.
17:41 Aaron was the supervisor who first admitted this tiny snake.
17:45 There's more sample here if you want it, Lisa.
17:47 Yes, I do.
17:50 Something went in at some point.
17:52 On your hand? Oh, yeah.
17:54 A little bit of blood in that left eye.
17:56 Well, sorry you messed up his paperwork, but I'm happy to have the sample.
17:59 Just a little concerned about some possible blood in that left eye.
18:02 Seems to be a little bit darker.
18:05 His jaw bones look perfect.
18:07 Yeah, the alignment was always fine.
18:09 Just had a little spot of blood, both on the maxilla and a little spot down by the margin of the mandible.
18:18 Looks great.
18:19 Yeah, I'm happy.
18:21 Okay, can I palpate his skull?
18:24 Sure, let's get a weight on him too before we put him back.
18:28 I need to deglove.
18:30 I don't feel him very well, so we generally wear gloves.
18:34 I'll just wash my hands, but to feel the little bones in his skull,
18:38 I just want to make sure that I'm getting good palpation.
18:42 Oh, he's swollen right here.
18:44 I didn't feel that with the glove.
18:46 Small spot of blood exists in the inner margin of the left mandible.
18:48 Yeah, I can feel it right here under his left mandible.
18:52 It's minor.
18:53 So my thought is that we hold him another day or two and then just feel it again.
18:58 I mean, I couldn't even feel that through latex. It's that subtle.
19:01 So maybe we recheck him in like two days because we've got a nice weather window.
19:06 Sure.
19:07 Okay.
19:08 I just want to get a weight on him before we put him back.
19:10 Yeah, get a weight and then I'll run his lab sample.
19:12 Come on, buddy.
19:14 12.3.
19:17 He's down.
19:18 I don't want to tube him or force feed him, though.
19:20 I don't want to mess with his jaw.
19:21 Okay.
19:25 Okay.
19:28 So, he looks great.
19:31 While some animals would probably stay away from the woodpile after an experience like this one,
19:37 Erin is not hopeful this little snake has learned his lesson.
19:41 We can keep our fingers crossed.
19:45 Time for the mink.
19:47 It's the big day for the centre's one and only mink.
19:51 After eight weeks at Toronto Wildlife Centre, it's finally time for him to be released.
19:56 But they have to catch him first.
20:01 So he's in his igloo, but don't catch him right away because I'd like to see his behaviour.
20:05 Yeah.
20:06 I'd really like to see their behaviour before the release just to verify that they've got all the equipment they need to be wild.
20:12 So I want to see, you know, some aggression and some fear to us being in its territory.
20:20 And I want to see that it's good at eluding being caught, although I do want to catch it as quickly as possible.
20:26 It looks beautiful.
20:27 Yeah, he's right here.
20:29 He's huge.
20:30 Wow.
20:31 Beautiful.
20:32 All right, let's get him.
20:33 He looks great.
20:36 It's Stacey's first time with a mink.
20:39 And it looks like it's going to be up to her to catch him.
20:43 He's right behind the igloo.
20:44 If you go on the left of it, I'll scare him.
20:46 And he might come right to you.
20:47 Ready?
20:48 Three, two, one.
20:53 Ready?
20:56 He's running.
20:57 Go tighter.
20:58 Tighter.
21:01 Ready?
21:02 Yeah.
21:07 You want to just unravel him into the cage?
21:12 From the net?
21:13 Yeah.
21:14 All right.
21:26 One thing is clear.
21:27 There are no longer any doubts about this mink's level of aggression.
21:32 Can you spin it once?
21:34 Yeah.
21:35 Like --
21:39 Just go for it.
21:40 Just do it.
21:41 If we lose him, then we'll re-catch him.
21:44 Okay.
21:45 The first try didn't work.
21:47 At least now they're more prepared for take two.
21:52 But so is this mink.
21:55 Same plan.
21:56 Okay, just cover it.
21:58 Cover it.
21:59 This time we won't lock him in the net.
22:01 We'll just smother him.
22:02 Okay.
22:12 I'll let you do the door.
22:20 Overall I think that went good.
22:22 He showed that he's nice and wild and he certainly knows how to get away from predators being us.
22:27 That's pretty impressive.
22:28 Considering he started off, what, this big in our care?
22:32 Wow.
22:33 That's so cool.
22:34 Now with the mink safely in his cage, it's time to set him free.
22:41 Lisa has arrived with the mink at a spot close to where it was found as a tiny baby.
22:47 This majestic pond is a mere five minutes' drive from the store where this mink was originally discovered.
22:54 But unlike the store shelf, this location couldn't be more perfect.
23:00 It's okay, buddy.
23:01 Come here.
23:08 It's okay.
23:09 And yet the mink is reluctant to leave the safety of his familiar towel.
23:15 It's okay, buddy.
23:16 Or maybe it's Lisa.
23:22 Somehow, cradled in his towel, this otherwise aggressive mink appears much less threatening.
23:29 After all, he's only ever known the shelter of Toronto Wildlife Centre.
23:34 Now it's up to him to make this new habitat his home.
23:42 It's okay.
23:55 Just as it looks like he's ready to go forward, he comes back to his towel one more time.
24:04 He's back in his towel.
24:18 And then finally he disappears into the thicket.
24:25 But Lisa isn't ready to leave just yet.
24:28 She stays for one last look.
24:32 When we're releasing animals, we worry about how they're going to do.
24:35 Have we done our job properly?
24:38 But when we have gotten to the point where we do feel confident that they will survive and we've done the best we can,
24:43 that's such a great feeling.
24:45 The animals that have had to overcome the biggest obstacles to get back into the wild are definitely the most rewarding, for sure.
24:52 (Music)
25:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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