Give the Gift of Wildlife!
Looking for a gift idea for the wildlife lover in your life or the person that has everything and needs nothing? For the holidays (or anytime during the year) you can symbolically adopt one of Wildlife Center of Long Island’s ambassador animals! We will send a gift package to the adopter including a photo, biography, fact sheet and fun information about their adopted animal! For our highest level, we will include a personalized video message to the adopter. Symbolic adoptions help to support our wonderful ambassador animals including high quality food, medical care and enrichment throughout the year! Coming soon to our website for our Ambassador Adoption program is our new Ambassador Opossum, Poppy!
All adoptions received by December 15th will be mailed in time for Christmas!
Patient Spotlight
On September 24th, we received an all too familiar call about an adult Canada Goose that was hit by a car on Huntington’s Park Avenue and left to die. Canada Geese are some of the most beautiful, intelligent and socially complex birds there are, yet due to their large population numbers and the mess they can leave behind, some people have deemed their lives as disposable. As a busy thoroughfare right near Huntington’s Village Green and Heckscher Park, Park Avenue is a frequent spot for Goose crossing and unfortunately also a frequent spot for vehicle strikes. Fortunately for this goose, both a Good Samaritan and Town of Huntington’s Public Safety Department reached out for help!
After rescue by our volunteer Janine, the goose arrived at our center safely. The goose was suffering from severe head trauma, a degloving wound to the scalp exposing the majority of the skull and internal bleeding. Our rehabilitators provided pain medication, cleaned the wound and provided the goose with supportive care. The first 48 hours for a head trauma patient are often very difficult and not all patients make it through that period. Fortunately, the goose survived the initial treatment and was soon brought to our veterinarian for wound assessment. Our wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Ellen Leonhardt, was able to utilize some skin from the goose’s neck to surgically close the significant head wound. Slowly and steadily, each week we began to see improvements for this patient with wound healing, improved appetite and behavior.
After six weeks in care, in mid November, the Goose’s head injuries had healed and the goose was ready to return back to the wild! We released the goose early in the morning back to its home at Heckscher Park. This beautiful patient was eager to return back to its flock and immediately began vocalizing, bathing and preening in the water.
This patient overcame all odds to make it back to the wild. We hope this goose’s story can serve as a reminder to the importance of driving with caution and vigilance. All lives, even those of the most common, are worth saving.
Upcoming Events
We’re getting WILD ABOUT READING at the new Northport Books!
Join us for our last of our Story Hours on December 14th! We’ll be learning all about Owls and meeting one of our special ambassadors!
Sign up is required.
Visit: https://northportbooksli.com/pages/events
