Continued Interview HSUS NRRO

This painting reminds me of the young and needy animals that Dave Pauli from the NRRO is continually helping. Here is another part of the excerpt from his interview. Dave is continuing to answer the question: What are some of NRROs successes this year.

"And although not always the highest profile cases ... the literally DOZENS of individual animal rescues we provide each year are perhaps the most rewarding part of this vocation. Most of these cases involve us taking physical custody of the animal and in 2006 they included a caiman, a half dozen turtles from different sources, and a raft of native wildlife including hawks, owls, falcons, pelicans, raccoons, deer, dozens of ducklings and a host of other individual rescues. Some of these are orphaned wildlife but most are "pets" that have gotten too big, too mean or too costly for their caretakers to handle. Each case in unique, each case has it veterinary bills, special diet or special circumstances.... but all are similar in that we are made aware of an animals in a negative situation and by applying some individual attention we can change the situation to the best possible situation for the rest of that animals life. There really are simply toooooooo many of these cases every year to pick a favorite and the favorites end up being those cases that we have in hand at that moment. For today we have "feral rat" that had several dental problems and rather than deal with them the owner apparently turned the rat loose outdoors. We got her a few months ago and she was really in poor shape and her local rescuers could not afford the bi-weekly vet bill to clip off her mis-aligned teeth. She is now an NRRO office project and she is looking very good and has accepted both our special soft diet and the in-house dental work necessary to provide her a normal life. We also have a half dozen feral turtles turned over by Fish and Game or by people who did not know how to care for sliders, snappers or box turtles during the winter months. The Red Eared Sliders that people bought in Pet stores but then released in Montana ponds will be headed ( pending receiving state approval) to their state of origin for release. A large snapping turtle that had been in captivity for 14 years ... was not a candidate for release...so he has recently been placed in a lifelong reptile sanctuary where he will share a pond with another snapper. Each story of taking an animal from a small and often un-natural place and getting it back to it native range or a much larger improved living situation makes it worth it. Some of the projects like last months Ice Rescue Project of three domestic ducks in Bozeman that were threatened by local dogs as their pond froze solid is an example of project that are tough to justify on a balance sheet but are also opportunities to help that cannot be passed up. In this case the locals could not gather the resources nor trained people to conduct an unsafe ice rescue of the domestic ducks before the ice froze and the awaiting dogs could reach them. We sponsored a three person billings ice rescue team ( me, Suzi and Disaster Rescue Trainer Kim Little) to go over and demonstrate to local animal control and a fire department rescue team how to safely do an ice extraction. The ducks were captured, ( and moved to a private winter pond), the local trained and the situation addressed. Again it is sometimes difficult to justify the staff time and resources to these smaller rescues...but to the three ducks, the affected property owners and the animal control and fire fighters...this was a win win solution!!!!"