Spring is Here: Baby Animals by Ms. Holly

Spring is here and so are baby animals! I LOVE baby animals and when I see one that is all alone, it just tears at my heart. My first instinct is to help the baby animal, but I am encouraging everyone to leave baby animals where they are. Miss Holly and Mr. Shawn can’t take care of them and neither will your local animal shelter or nature center. Here are a few tips on what to do if you find a baby animal all alone:

1. Baby birds often fall from the nest or have tried to fly and are resting. If the bird is featherless and appears brand new and you can reach the nest, put it back in the nest. If the nest is too high, hang a basket or something as high near the nest as you can with the baby in it.
2. If you find a rabbit that is at least 4 inches long and eyes open, it is fine on its own. If you find a nest and a baby rabbit in the nest-leave the baby there and the mother will back shortly, however If the nest looks like it has been disturbed, cover it up with natural materials from the area and try to keep all pets and children away from the area.
3. Squirrels- leave baby squirrels where they are and the mother will come for them.
4. Sometime turtles may need to be helped get across the road so they don’t get hit.  If you stop to help a turtle, please be very careful of traffic.You can be most helpful by getting the turtle to the side of the road that it was facing. If you find baby turtles, please take them to the nearest body of water-don’t pick them up and keep them as a pet. It is against the law to keep Michigan’s wildlife as a pet. Feel free to bring it to WMAES and let it go in the pond or we would love to do that with the students and it is a good opportunity to learn how to safely return animals to the wild.
I hope you have a spring filled with baby animal sightings! I am looking forward to sharing some of my favorite baby animals with your students, like our Eastern bluebirds and hopefully our local Box turtle will make an appearance.

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