Wildlife Care Center Intake Summary 1995-1999
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Scientific Research at the Wildlife Care Center
Wildlife rehabilitation facilities are often on the front lines of identifying and understanding problems facing local wildlife populations. The 3-4,000 injured wild animals passing through the Wildlife Care Center each year can tell us a great deal about the impacts of disease, habitat destruction and anthropogenic (human caused) activities on our local wildlife. The information gathered can help us determine what kinds of educational outreach, management strategies and regulatory and non-regulatory programs will best protect wildlife diversity in the Metro region.
The Wildlife Care Center conducts its own research internal research efforts and provides biological samples and statistical information to other local, state, and federal institutions, which are conducting wildlife research. This section of our website proves information on the types of information we collect and the types of research projects we are participating in.
The Wildlife Care center sees between three and four thousand injured wild animals each year. The following is a breakdown of the types of injuries we saw between 1995-1999.
CAUSE OF INJURY BY YEAR 1995-1999
Cause of Injury | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
Unknown | 386 (16%) | 428 (16%) | 592 (22%) | 649 (22%) | 585 (21%) |
Cat Caught | 560 (23%) | 598 (22%) | 596 (22%) | 689 (24%) | 527 (19%) |
Human Interference[1] | 401 (16%) | 388 (14%) | 482 (18%) | 439 (15%) | 401 (15%) |
Hit by Car | 397 (16%) | 364 (14%) | 318 (12%) | 391 (13%) | 359 (13%) |
Orphaned[2] | 80 (3%) | 125 (5%) | 252 (9%) | 256 (9%) | 319 (12%) |
Hit Window | 141 (6%) | 176 (7%) | 112 (4%) | 145 (5%) | 123 (4%) |
Dog Caught | 66 (3%) | 86 (3%) | 77 (3%) | 80 (3%) | 91 (3%) |
Habitat Destruction | 23 (1%) | 15 (<1%) | 46 (2%) | 60 (2%) | 45 (2%) |
Gunshot | 20 (<1%) | 13 (<1%) | 21 (1%) | 13 (<1%) | 25 (>1%) |
Poison | 5 (<1%) | 9 (<1%) | 23 (1%) | 9 (<1%) | 30 (1%) |
Other | 380 (15%) | 490 (18%) | 205 (7%) | 173 (6%) | 275 (10%) |
[1] Human Interference refers to situations where humans, often with the best of intentions remove young birds and mammals from the wild mistakenly believing that they are in need of “rescuing.” The most common reason cited for human interference situations is “fear of cat predation.”
[2] The most common causes for “orphaning” of animals brought to the Wildlife Care Center is mother mallards being struck by cars as they attempt to cross roads with ducklings and adult songbirds being killed by cats as they attempt to protect fledglings learning to fly from the ground.