Aspen began the new semester of classes a few days late due to the snowstorm. New classes, new professors, same old hard work, which is why she was surprised to receive a text from Professor Dawson a few weeks into the semester. She had taken his class freshman year. The text included a picture of a large black bird and a message that read, “HELP!” After her morning classes, she headed to Professor Dawson’s office. A few students lingered in the department offices where Aspen found him discussing his backyard visitor with a few other professors.
“Hi Professor Dawson,” Aspen said as they all noticed her.
“Thank goodness, I didn’t know what to do. Then I remembered you interned at the wildlife center. This bird is huge and it’s been in our backyard since Sunday,” he said pulling up a video on his phone. The video showed a turkey vulture about two and a half feet tall hopping around the professor’s backyard. Aspen could tell from the video that the bird could not fly, as the professor had walked right up to it taking the video and it just hopped away. Aspen informed him that they needed towels and a cardboard box. Professor Dawson collected the necessary items, then sent his teaching assistant, Richard, with her to his house to rescue the bird.
“How exactly did I get roped into this?” Richard said apprehensively as they open the gate to the backyard.
“Don’t worry this should be easy, I just need you to corral it towards me,” Aspen replied. The two split up, going opposite directions. The privacy fence was a huge advantage. They quickly had the bird trapped in the corner. When Aspen got close she threw a large beach towel over the bird. It immediately lay down under the weight of the towel. Aspen easily picked it up then turned to Richard who was stunned by her bravery, “Ok, grab the box,” she instructed him. They walked through the gate together, Aspen with the bird tucked under her arm. He grabbed the box from the car then quickly moved out of the way; scared the bird might escape and get him. Aspen had the bird in the box in a second and folded the flaps down so it could not escape. As they drove to the center, they could hear it rustling around in the box. Aspen sat in the back with her hand on the top holding the flaps of the box down.
When they arrived at the center Richard cautiously carried the box for Aspen; his need to be gentlemanly overriding his fear of this crazy wild bird box. He knew at any moment it would pop its’ head up like a jack in the box and scare him to death. Aspen held the door as he carried it in. Nicole was at the window organizing intake cards from the previous year, “Hey Aspen, how are you?” Nicole said smiling.
“I’m good. One of my professors needed help with a turkey vulture in his backyard. I have it here in a box.” She stood to the side so Richard could hand the box over. Nicole could tell he was happy to be rid of it. Just as Nicole set the box down the vulture’s head popped out through the folded flaps.
“Well hello there!” Nicole said startled. Richard’s eyes got big.
“Bet you’re glad you gave the box to her, hun?” Aspen joked with him, as he jumped back.
“Heck yeah, that still gave me a heart attack,” Richard said holding his chest. Nicole had the bird under her arm in seconds and took it to a kennel in ISO. It would have some quiet time in isolation before she examined it. Richard was in awe. “I can’t believe you ladies. You are fearless! I would have run from that bird and never looked back. Let’s not tell Professor Dawson about this, ok Aspen?” The girls smiled at each other trying not to laugh. Most people were shocked by what they did. It took a special kind of person. “Does anything scare you guys?” Richard asked peering at the rat snake on display in the lobby.
“Absolutely!” Nicole said, “but we have a job to do so you just have to do it and get over it. See ya later Aspen,” Nicole said as Aspen and Richard waved goodbye.
The two continued their conversation as they drove back to campus. “I use to be scared of snakes but when I was in high school I volunteered and at an event, I was given a huge Kingsnake to hold and tell people about. Goliath was his name. He was so nice, wrapped all around me, woven in and out of my tee-shirt, and just hung out. Needless to say, I wasn’t scared of snakes after that.”
Richards’ face was scrunched up in disgust. “Oh, my- no! Absolutely not! I just leave if I see a snake. I don’t care if it’s venomous or not. I’m outta there!”
“That is a better reaction than most,” Aspen laughed.
“What do you mean?” Richard said.
“Well, a lot of people kill snakes, all snakes. They just grab shovels and chop; but snakes, even venomous ones play an important part in our environment. They keep vermin and insect populations under control, and their venom is used in the medical fields for many things from cancer to Parkinson’s disease.”
“I didn’t know that,” Richard said shocked.
“Most of the time people get hurt messing with the snake; either trying to capture it or trying to kill it, instead of just walking away.” Back on campus, the two went their separate ways. Richard would gather more information next time Professor Dawson requested help.
The following weekend with her studies under control, Aspen headed to the wildlife center to volunteer. The weather was unusually warm, almost summer-like, but it was February. As she entered Morgan greeted her. “Hey, Aspen! Can you believe this weather? I had to break out my shorts.”
“I know it’s crazy,” Aspen replied. “Do you have anything for me to do?”
“Absolutely. Can you take Lawrence outside and watch him while he enjoys the sun and gets some enrichment?” Morgan asked while retrieving Lawrence the opossum, from his cage. He had MBD, Metabolic Bone Disease. The vitamin D from being in the sun helped him, but there was no cure. Aspen carried him outside and set him gently on the ground behind turtle park, a small pond made for the resident turtles. Aspen sat on the ground and watched Lawrence as he sniffed around. He waddled off and when she repositioned herself on the ground he jumped around, startled, and hissed at her with that crocodile smile.
“It’s just me silly,” she said to him as he instantly calmed and continued his sniff fest. He had found a small patch of clovers, and nosed around a bit before moving on. He turned the corner and Aspen realized sitting was not going to work. This opossum was on the move, and she needed to stay on her feet to keep up with him. She found him a few feet away rubbing his face on some ferns. Aspen had seen Vader do a similar thing at home, but it was more disgusting because Vader enjoyed rubbing his face in rabbit poop! Lawrence rubbed for a few minutes then was on the move again. The MBD caused his rear hips and legs to be weaker than normal so he did not walk well. He was like a toddler just taking their first steps. He would get some momentum going then stumble to the side.
Suddenly Ms. Duck realized there was a human that could be petting her, so she barged right up. Her loud quacking started Lawrence who turned and hissed before shuffling off. Ms. Duck stood before Aspen, head down, back flat, tail feathers up, waiting to be pet. “Hi there Ms. Duck. You certainly cut to the chase don’t you,” Aspen said petting her, but keeping a close eye on Lawrence who was now sniffing under a nearby bench. After a few minutes, Aspen had to leave Ms. Duck to follow the ever-wandering opossum. Aspen sat again with him in the clover. Tired from all his roaming, he finally just sat and let her pet him.
Ms. Duck was not happy. As she approached she nibbled at the ground near his tail. Aspen jumped up to intervene but not fast enough. Ms. Duck nipped the very end of Lawrence’s tail, which sent him into defense mode. He jumped and turned, flashed that crocodile grin, and made a kind of barking noise at Ms. Duck. It all happened so fast. Aspen instantly shooed Ms. Duck away and allowed him to calm down before picking him up to take him back in. “My goodness- that was scary wasn’t it Lawrence. Ms. Duck must have been jealous, either that or she thought your tail was a giant yummy worm. Either way, I think it’s time to go inside.”
After putting Lawrence back in his cage, Aspen told Morgan about the encounter. “Oh my- I bet Lawrence did not like that one little bit. Ms. Duck can be quite the diva I am afraid. I have to go examine this bunny that just came in hit by a car. Can you hold down the fort for a few?”
“Absolutely!” Aspen replied headed to the front intake window to hang out in case anyone came in. It actually turned out to be uneventful. Aspen just stood there talking to Pearl the whole time. Pearl was an albino bluebird. Pearl had terrible eyesight and could not fly well, so it was the newest education animal at the center. Morgan was back in no time. “How is the bunny?” Aspen asked.
“Not good I’m afraid. It has some major de-gloving on the right rear leg, and it has torticollis from the impact. It is just spinning in circles in the kennel. I gave it antibiotics and pain meds. We’ll just have to wait and see. I see you are admiring Pearl. You can get him out you know,” Morgan said opening the cage and placing her pointer finger right in front of Pearl, who instantly stepped up onto the finger.
“So it’s a male?” Aspen asked.
“Well we can’t be sure without doing a blood test and we just don’t care that much, but based on the song he has been singing I am pretty sure it’s a male. Normally in Bluebirds, we would be able to tell from the feather pattern if it were male or female. Females are usually much blander. They need to blend into the nest to be safe. The males, on the other hand, are flashy and bright. This guy would have a white lower belly, rusty chest, and vibrate royal blue head and back. Even though Pearl is albino, you can still see a slight tinge of color to the chest,” Morgan said stroking the bird.
“Yeah, I see. It almost looks cream, whereas the rest is white. Why does he have bad eyesight?” Aspen asked.
“Albinism usually affects eyesight for a number of reasons. The eyes will appear red; they can be very light-sensitive, and usually have impaired vision to some degree. You can tell Pearl cannot see well because he can’t fly well at all. Imagine being a helicopter pilot, you wouldn’t take off very fast or zoom around much if you couldn’t see where you were going.”
“He is a cutie pie,” Aspen said. “What else do you need me to do?”
“Can you feed the tank turtles?” Morgan asked putting Pearl back in his cage.
“Absolutely,” Aspen replied. She checked the turtle-feeding log to see what they were fed the previous day. They liked to vary what was fed to the turtles so they wouldn’t get bored. She saw they had krill and dried crickets so she prepared them chunks of silverside fish. There were lots of turtles at the center, some were patients that would be released, others were residents that were injured or kept as a pet so long they could no longer fend for themselves. Aspen started with the tank in the lobby, as she stood there lifting the lid the two little turtles swam excitedly in front of her. Like a dog excited to go outside when it saw its master, the turtles associated the human form with food. They knew what was coming and were eagerly waiting. As soon as the krill hit the water the turtles each gobbled excitedly. Aspen continued to the blind river cooter, a tank of yellow-bellied sliders younglings, a tank with a map turtle, then another with Grandpa who was missing a leg. Feeding tank turtles was an art, too much food and the tank would get dirty fast, and not enough and you have hungry turtles. Aspen knew just the right amount for each tank. She spent the remainder of her time on housekeeping chores before heading back.
