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00:01Wildlife is not just in the wild.
00:04It surrounds us, whether we want it to or not.
00:08I'm Jan Shattuck.
00:10I run Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation.
00:14Rehabilitating wild animals is intense and exhausting,
00:19and it is incredibly rewarding.
00:24Our goal is to fix the animal,
00:28teach it what it's going to need to know to survive in the wild,
00:32and release it back where it belongs.
00:52So are we trying to catch him with the nets?
00:55Don't.
00:56Fear can be a big part of the job
00:59when you work in wildlife rehabilitation.
01:01He's moving in.
01:06I know. I know. I know.
01:09These are wild animals.
01:11They usually fear us, and we often fear them.
01:21Fear can be a good thing because it encourages a healthy respect
01:25that keeps us and the animals safe.
01:28But fear can also be paralyzing and get in the way of providing care.
01:34Whoa, what's happening?
01:35It's a fear response.
01:36They're seeing us as something big and scary.
01:39They don't like us, so they're going to act a little tough.
01:42For us, knowing when to be afraid and when to put fear aside
01:47is a big part of the job,
01:50especially when it comes to dealing with unpredictable animals.
02:02A lot of people are afraid of skunks,
02:06which can lead to situations like this,
02:09where a mother skunk got trapped and taken away from her babies.
02:13You have nice, full little bellies.
02:17Somebody was taking good care of you.
02:19I think if people could overcome that fear,
02:23they might love skunks the way I do.
02:25And my love for them makes it especially tough
02:28when one comes in that's in really bad shape.
02:39You are completely malnourished, which is terrible.
02:46Wow.
02:47You have terrible fur.
02:49And then, just as I'm heading out the door
02:52to an important fundraising banquet,
02:54we receive another drop-off of skunks.
02:58How many?
02:59Two.
03:00Two.
03:00Yes.
03:01And they're absolutely covered in ticks.
03:05And the ticks have just been going to town on her there.
03:09Holy God, look at how much blood came out of that one.
03:12The banquet organizer is probably calling
03:14because he wants to know where I am,
03:16but tick-covered skunks take priority.
03:19I actually had a bunny that died
03:21because it had so many ticks on it.
03:23It bled to death.
03:28Okay, come here.
03:30Do I have another one over here?
03:33Mikaela and I were able to get the two newest skunks cleaned up.
03:37Now I have to do the same for myself.
03:43Okay, so I might be a little late to my banquet.
03:46As long as I'm not stinky, he might forgive me.
03:50Since a lot of people are afraid to work with skunks,
03:53I typically manage them on my own with some help during intake.
03:59But the sheer volume of these guys all of a sudden is making me rethink that.
04:05If I'm going to bring someone else on to help look after the skunks full-time,
04:09it has to be the right person because skunks aren't easy.
04:21That's my personal favorite.
04:26Because he kind of looks like a little alien in here.
04:30He's so cute.
04:32I love working with the baby raptors that come in.
04:35They're so adorable and innocent and they just love you,
04:38but that's only because you're the one bringing them food.
04:40Until he gets very spicy and then he's not as cute anymore.
04:46Raptors can get very spicy, meaning they get very aggressive when they grow up.
04:51The spiciest of them all is the orphaned fruginous hawk we have in care right now.
04:55I knew right from intake that she was going to be feisty.
04:58She ended up biting one of our co-workers' lips.
05:02I've been working with hawks and raptors for eight-plus years now.
05:06This is the first one to gore me and I'm really annoyed about it.
05:09So, that was a lot of blood.
05:12That's a lot to deal with.
05:15This car looks okay though.
05:17I don't want anybody hurt again.
05:20All right.
05:22I wasn't afraid of hawks.
05:24This is so scary.
05:25Until I really found out what they were capable of.
05:28All this to weigh him.
05:30All this to weigh him.
05:33I'm going to catch him with the net and then you're kind of just going to stay around
05:37to make sure he doesn't do the .
05:41It's risky and scary being in here with this orphaned hawk,
05:44but it's also important because it came in really, really underweight
05:47and we have to weigh it regularly to make sure it's improving.
05:57No.
05:58No.
06:061536.
06:09I think he went down.
06:11Yeah.
06:12Yes.
06:14There's that deadly mouth.
06:17This bird scares me, but I really don't want it to know that.
06:21Fear can be contagious and we don't want to stress it out any more than it already is,
06:24so we try to keep things light.
06:26Look at him.
06:27So angry.
06:33It clearly needs more attention, which means more scary close encounters.
06:37I think this might be a two-person job every day.
06:39I agree.
06:50God, I love you guys.
06:56Good job.
06:57That was brilliant.
07:01Hi.
07:02Hi.
07:05I got them done and him done.
07:07I was going to do this one and then, is it one or two?
07:11One.
07:12Okay.
07:13And what are you in the middle of?
07:15Nothing.
07:17I've never done an ink take with skunks.
07:22Just make sure you keep their tail down.
07:24I can tell Martina has some fear when it comes to working with the skunks.
07:28That's natural.
07:30But I'm hoping she agrees to help me because skunk intakes don't seem to be slowing down.
07:36Seven.
07:38Eight.
07:38Nine.
07:40Plus eight.
07:41Eight.
07:41We'll be back to 18.
07:43This is a lot of skunks all of a sudden.
07:46And, of course, they can be very unpredictable.
07:50There's one actually out behind you, but that's okay.
07:53Don't touch him.
07:53No.
07:54It's okay.
07:54You'll be fine.
07:56Right now, she's being too timid with skunks.
07:59You have to be confident and decisive.
08:02Where's your butt?
08:03Okay, I think I have the butt.
08:06Hi, sweetheart.
08:08We got in this little skunk that was caught by a dog.
08:12I'm really worried because she's just dragging her leg.
08:17She's actually not moving much at all.
08:19Oh, this pain.
08:21Oh, that hurts.
08:22Hey, honey.
08:25It looks pretty bad.
08:26Yeah, it does.
08:29If you can get a dose for GABA for a mammal, that would be lovely.
08:32Okay.
08:33This is very painful, and I would love to give her as much pain relief as possible.
08:43Now that we've given this skunk some pain relief, I'm going to take her to the vet to find out
08:48just how bad her leg is.
08:50Losing any of the skunks is just heartbreaking.
08:53I would say at this point, we'll be lucky if it's not broken.
08:58There's a more than 50% chance that she's not going to be viable.
09:18Hello, sweetie pie.
09:20How are you?
09:24How are you doing?
09:27How are you doing?
09:27Our little injured skunk has returned from its visit to the vet.
09:32I'm not crying.
09:34So it's good news.
09:36I'm really excited.
09:37We got the radiographs back.
09:38And it's not broken, which means we have hope.
09:44Is she not using both of her front legs?
09:46The front right one should be okay.
09:50Okay.
09:52I need Martina to overcome her fear of skunks if she's going to become my full-time skunk assistant.
09:58Is she being tentative with it?
10:00It just feels like it's pretty weak, probably.
10:04Unlike the other skunks, I'm not really scared that this one will spray me, but I'm scared that she's so
10:09fragile and injured that we won't be able to save her.
10:12She is weak.
10:13Yeah.
10:14I would agree with you.
10:16Martina clearly has a loving, gentle touch, which is so important when you're trying to heal an animal that is
10:23in this bad of shape.
10:25Maybe I'll leave her for now.
10:41Today we are releasing some of the older and healthy skunks at the center.
10:46So I'm bringing Martina along and she can see the end result of a successful rehab.
10:52Look at those little babies.
10:54They have no idea today is freedom day.
10:59Jan decided we should wear some extra protection for capturing the skunks, because this process can be very stressful for
11:06them.
11:06And we all know what stressed out skunks can do.
11:09Oh, shoot your gorgeous skunks.
11:11I don't know how many of them are.
11:14Right there.
11:14Right there.
11:15Down.
11:16Did he walk past the door?
11:17Yes, like an idiot.
11:19Here you go.
11:20Here you go.
11:21Here you go.
11:22Okay.
11:24Whew.
11:27Okay, let's get them out to the car.
11:32Okay, this one.
11:33No, it does fit.
11:34It fits.
11:35I swear to God it fits.
11:37Now see if you can face them that way.
11:39I'm sorry guys.
11:41It'll be all worth it soon.
11:47Martina has learned a lot through this process.
11:50The biggest thing that she may have learned is that it's impossible not to fall in love with skunks when
11:57you get to know them.
12:07They're so shiny.
12:09They are.
12:11They're very healthy.
12:15It's incredible being a part of getting these skunks back to where they belong.
12:21Now we have to go back to the center and see what we can do for the injured one that
12:25was left behind.
12:29Do you want me in there with you?
12:31If you'd like to.
12:32I wouldn't mind a guard.
12:34Our spicy fruginous hawk arrived skinny and has lost weight since so Jan's bringing in a hawk expert to try
12:40and figure out why it's lost weight.
12:43Probably a female guessing.
12:51Go over.
12:52Go over her.
12:54That's it.
12:55There you go.
12:56And down.
12:58Good.
12:59I know you're so bitey.
13:01You're so bitey.
13:03Good to come?
13:04Yeah.
13:04Okay.
13:12You have mouth.
13:13I got mouth.
13:13So he doesn't get his little fingers bitten.
13:16I have wing.
13:19Everyone's got part.
13:20440.
13:21Okay.
13:22Even our hawk expert knows a healthy fear of them is a good thing.
13:26Since we have her pinned down, he's also going to help us band the hawk so she can be tracked
13:29once she's released.
13:32Ah, it'll fit.
13:33Perfect.
13:35That's it.
13:36That's it?
13:37Yep.
13:39There you go.
13:40We're good.
13:42If we get any data on her, I'll keep you guys in the loop, obviously.
13:46Yes, please.
13:47Yeah.
13:50Nice try.
13:52The biggest thing is they concentrate on flying and parents are bringing them food.
13:57Our expert believes she's so young, she didn't learn how to hunt from her parents.
14:01So I guess that's going to be my job now.
14:13Are you nervous?
14:15I'm nervous for sure.
14:18We were able to return the first group of skunks that arrived to the wild, and now Jan is going
14:23to show me her plan for how to get our injured skunk, who we're now calling Hop along, to join
14:27them.
14:27She's not really bending here, so I'm just not quite sure where we're at.
14:37That shoulder is bringing it forward.
14:40It's just not bringing the foot up.
14:44What I usually do is I take her out and I do her PT, which basically consists of letting her
14:50kind of walk back and forth here and trying to support that one foot.
14:55So if you want to do her PT while I clean her cage.
14:59Sure.
15:00Okay.
15:01Use your finger and kind of see if you can get her to stay off that wrist.
15:05If that leg doesn't get better, so that she can actually like run and stomp and do skunk things like
15:14dig, she's not going to be releasable.
15:21She's just working so hard to be a viable skunk.
15:25And so I really, really, really hope she makes it.
15:31Small progress.
15:33Small progress is good.
15:35I feel like Martina is overcoming that fear she had, and the way you overcome fear is love.
15:43Martina loves this little skunk.
15:48Good job, little girl.
16:04Looking after the animals is a round-the-clock job.
16:07I'm on the night shift, so I'm going to check in on our remaining skunks.
16:13It's just my first time dealing with skunks, especially alone.
16:17Like I know that Jan taught me how to do it, but I've never worked with skunks previously.
16:24So getting to work with them now, it's exciting, but it's definitely nerve-wracking.
16:28You never want to do something wrong.
16:31So just a little bit of nervousness.
16:34I don't want to feed them wrong.
16:36Maybe they're nervous of me too.
16:39But so far they haven't sprayed me.
16:41I've definitely thought that maybe they would spray me now.
16:45I'll have my fingers crossed that hopefully it doesn't end up happening.
16:56Yeah, I gave them fresh food, changed their water, and now I'll shut off the lights for them.
17:05And we're done.
17:07It would be kind of nice to continue doing this.
17:18It's not all the way back and just dragging anymore.
17:21That's good.
17:22So we have improvement, but we are totally not out of the woods yet.
17:28She's still pretty tired.
17:29She gets tired really quick.
17:31Don't you?
17:33I'm really glad you're here.
17:35Because usually once I start cleaning everybody else, I can't keep an eye on her.
17:40Martina's confidence with the skunks is growing, but she still has a ways to go.
17:45I'm going to see how she does taking over Hopalong's physical therapy on her own today.
17:52Nice to know that she trusts that I can do this on my own and that I won't mess something
17:59up hopefully.
18:01Like they're totally new to me and they're pretty much like Jan's babies, right?
18:05Like she loves her skunks.
18:08She looks like she's pretty tired.
18:11And it looks like she keeps cleaning her bowls out pretty good.
18:15So, she's pretty chunky.
18:27Okay.
18:29I am back in the raptor pen going face to face with our scary ferruginous hawk.
18:34She has to learn how to hunt for herself, so today we're graduating to live mice.
18:40Look, I really hope she attacks them and not me.
18:50We're kind of hoping that she gets enough weight on her to go because she's angry.
18:56If she's able to catch these live mice, then she's perfect and can go.
19:00She's eyeing up the pit.
19:10She's in the pit right now.
19:14She got it.
19:15Yay. Good.
19:20The nervousness was always there when dealing with this hawk.
19:23We've seen what it can do.
19:24But a healthy fear is a good thing when it comes to wild animals.
19:40She's holding her hand pretty flat, which is really good.
19:45Oh my goodness.
19:47Oh, she's so fast.
19:49She's doing super great.
19:51Honestly, a lot better than I guess we kind of expected.
19:54Our little Hopalong, who is doing so well.
19:58I'm very happy to have Martina.
20:00And I'm very happy that she now loves skunks.
20:03Martina deserves all the credit, not only for helping Hopalong heal, but also for overcoming her own trepidation.
20:09You want to take a towel here and wrap one up in it?
20:13Oh, kind of like a burrito?
20:14Yeah.
20:15Oh my gosh, they're so chunky.
20:16I know, they're so chunky.
20:19Oh, I'm so happy for you too.
20:21Hopalong is ready for a new challenge.
20:24Going outside, which could be a little overwhelming.
20:27Until now, she's only had one roommate.
20:30Now we're going to integrate her with a whole bunch more.
20:34I know, it's really scary, isn't it?
20:36This is our last trip.
20:39I'm going to miss my babies over here.
20:42After today, we won't be able to pick them up like this.
20:45The hardest part of being a mama is letting go.
20:49One last lesson for Martina.
20:54We'll have to see how they do with the other skunks.
20:57It is always a bit of an interesting introduction process.
21:01Ready?
21:02Yeah.
21:06Oh, this one's going to come and greet.
21:08See, we got the greeting.
21:13What do you think, little Hopalong?
21:19I was trying to see if there was any hint of a limp for her.
21:23I think she's looking pretty good.
21:26Look at her just being swarmed.
21:30I think she looks pretty good, too.
21:32Bonding with Hopalong was part of the healing process for both Jan and I.
21:37But she needs to be a wild skunk and start fending for herself.
21:40I'm just starting to realize that I'm definitely going to miss her.
21:44I feel like she's just going to be so happy to have friends.
21:48I think so, too.
21:51You're going to make a good skunk mommy.
22:02You're going to make a good skunk mommy.
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