Daniel Andrews holds a baby red-eared slider. More than 20 of the turtles came to the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center after authorities found them being sold without a permit. Andrews said the Center plans to return the turtles to their native habitat, near Austin, Texas. Photo by Jordann Fowler
The residents of a children’s playpen are quacking loudly. Daniel Andrews leans over the enclosure, setting down a bowl of food for the two ducklings inside.
Percy, a pelican, joined the shelter in 1999, Andrews said. Percy broke a colarbone while migrating and has become a fixture at the Center.
The South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center provides shelter for many species of injured and orphaned, non-domesticated animals.
The Center relies almost solely on donations and volunteers to keep its doors open, and Andrews the operations manager, said he’s one of its only paid employees.
“We repurpose all sorts of donated household items,” he said. “Playpens are great. What works for a baby human helps us care for baby ducks. We’ll take almost anything we can get, as long as it’s in good shape.”
Emily Payne, an intern at the Center, said she began working there for school credit, but soon became enthralled by the animals.
“I help wherever I can,” she said. “I’ll put seed out for birds and pick up plates for the owls after they’re done eating. You might not think about but there’s a lot that needs to be done other than just working directly with animals. I wash a lot of clothes and sheets because we’re constantly wrapping the animals in them.”
Andrews said the duo of ducklings came to the Center after Texas Tech Police Officers found them abandoned in a dorm stairwell. Like most other animals housed at the Center, Andrews ultimately hopes to release them back into the wild. However, he said, that’s not always an easy task.
For instance, they have to be fed almost every half hour and stay confined to an incubator until they grow feathers, he said. From there, they move to an individual cage and then on to the Center’s aviary, where they learn to fly.
Daniel Andrews slices fruits and vegetables for a few of the Center’s reptiles.
Orphaned baby birds at the shelter face a much more difficult adolescence than their wild counterparts, he said.
“In the wild, with the parents teaching them and showing them what to do, it’ll take anywhere from three to 10 days for a bird to learn to get around, at least between trees and bushes,” Andrews said. “In captivity, that takes between two and four weeks because it’s all going to be trial and error. They can’t watch their parents.”
In the time it takes some animals living at the shelter to become ready for life outside, they face another challenge. If they spend too much time in captivity, they run the risk of losing their connection to the wild.
“Some of the animals we have are considered an imprint,” Andrews said. “It means that they’ve gotten too used to people and wouldn’t be able to survive on their own. I think it’s the worst thing that can happen to a wild animal. It costs them their freedom.
An imprinted animal on the loose can be dangerous, he said, both to itself and even people.
“People think, ‘oh, there’s plenty of them running around outside. I’ll just turn it loose.’ It doesn’t really work like that. They’re too used to people. They’re too used to regulated temperature and food that’s regularly available. They never really learned the social skills and how to forage and find homes or protect themselves. So turning them loose is almost a death sentence.”
One of the Center’s recent additions is a baby squirrel. Photo by Jordann Fowler
Andrews said a free animal that’s been habituated can pose a threat to society. Habituation, a type of imprinting, means the animal can sill hunt, but doesn’t view people, cars or pets as a threat.
“You have a bobcat that suddenly decides to come into your back yard because you’ve left the barbecue meat out,” he said. “You try to chase it away, but it doesn’t back off. There’s food and it doesn’t view you as a threat anymore. One or both of y’all is going to end up being hurt.”
Gail Barnes, the Center’s education & volunteer coordinator, said she works to educate residents of the South Plains on how to coexist with the region’s native species.
Barnes said she takes birds and other animals as far as 300 miles to different schools, Boy Scout troops and 4-H club meetings as part of the Center’s outreach program.
“I quit my state job for this,” she said. “It was just what I was supposed to be doing. I started volunteering two nights a week and all day Saturdays and I found myself coming out every day. It has a weird draw. It’s like an addiction. I don’t miss my paying job at all.”
This enclosure, called Ambassador Row, houses roughly 20 of the Center’s larger birds. Gail Barnes said the birds travel around the region as part of the Center’s outreach and education program.
In giving her life to the animals, Barnes said she found her calling. She brought her husband along for the ride.
“It grew from doing 35 programs every year to doing 110 environmental education programs a year,” she said. “It’s become a full-time job. I live in hiking boots and smell like pelicans. To do this, you have to have a support network. My husband knows he’s going to be feeding the bats tonight.”
Daniel Andrews said the Center is always open to injured wildlife, regardless of the time, place, or resources involved.
“We’re going to take that animal in for however long it needs to be here. It’s just what we do. We’re going to take care of it. We don’t charge a fee for our service.”
About David Talley