Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Centre Inc.

Earlier this week we released Rudy, a red-tailed hawk back where he belongs. Rudy is a juvenile red-tailed hawk, we estimate about a year old. He came to us in October after being shot by a pellet gun. One of his wing bones was fractured. The amazing staff at VCA clinic in Masonville successfully removed the pellet and after regaining his strength, Rudy was ready to go. Salthaven volunteer photographer Chuck Dickson shares some of the images he captured of the release.... #Salthaven #ldnont

About a month ago, this mourning dove kind of admitted himself into Salthaven’s clinic. He was emaciated and dehydrated and missing a lot of his feathers. A month later, and after spending a lot of time in our flight pen regaining muscle, he was ready to go home. Another successful release! #Salthaven #ldnont

Today we’re sending a shout out to Barbara from Windermere on the Mount. Once again this year she knitted animals and sold them, raising $2,100 which she donated to Salthaven. On behalf of all of us, thank you Barbara for taking the time and making a big effort to help sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife at Salthaven! We appreciate you! #Salthaven #ldnont

To survive in the wild, William needed to relearn how to hunt to compensate for his partial blindness: no easy task for a bird that typically relies on two eyes to scan a wide landscape for moving targets. It was time to enrol William in Salthaven’s mouse school. Want to know about the rescue of William, a red-tailed hawk brought to Salthaven by a trucker after being hit on the 401? Check out the latest issue of The Londoner's Patient of the Month.

We’re doing everything we can to save this cottontail. He was found entangled in a soccer net and when he arrived at Salthaven he was suffering from organ congestion (the heart can’t beat well enough to push blood through the body; blood begins to back up leading to congestion) and shock. It’s still too early to tell what his prognosis is. We are treating him for shock and keeping him comfortable and warm.

We’re getting the first full week of the new year off on the right foot by releasing a red-tailed hawk today. Rudy has been with us since October. He was found on the outskirts of London with a pellet from an air gun in one of his wings. Thanks to the team at VCA Masonville, the pellet was successfully removed and after spending some time rebuilding his strength, Rudy is ready to go!... You can watch the release live on Facebook at 11:00 a.m. today. Hope to see you there! VCA Canada

Another successful release! This eastern screech owl wasted no time heading for the trees after rehabbing at Salthaven. He was found at the side of a rural road in early December. He had some head trauma, so we think he had been hit by a car. Just a few weeks later though and he was ready to go home. #Salthaven #ldnont

Clever, intuitive and loyal. Just three words to describe this bird that is found in abundance in Canada. Can you guess what it is? ... Find out in this Salthaven Fun Fact.

We get lots of visitors to the Salthaven pond but the steep embankment makes it challenging for young geese and ducks to get in and out. That shouldn’t be a problem anymore. A big shout out going to Wes and Bryce from Firefield Landscape in Strathroy for generously donating their time and equipment to level out an area and help those little webbed feet access what we fondly refer to as the Great Salt Lake. Thank you!

Bat Squad’s Back! With the weather turning colder Salthaven’s Bat Squad is back, ready to help rehabilitate sick or injured bats over the winter months. Will we have another set of twins born this season? We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you find a bat in need of help, give us a call at 519-264-2440.

Gus is an 8 foot black rat snake and one of Salthaven’s wildlife ambassadors. Like all of us, she loved the summer-like weather this past week and was given the freedom to roam our property. Rat snakes are indigenous to southwestern Ontario. However, because of habitat destruction and secondary rodenticide poisoning they can only be found in two small segregated areas in Ontario and as a result are very rare.

Yesterday we showed you an easy way to help prevent birds from flying into your windows. Today, the Salthaven team is nursing a northern saw-whet owl back to good health after it collided with a window. Just one example of the many birds and owls we see each year that have been injured after a window strike.