Once again the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center
– Morgan Hill’s own WERC – has jumped into action to save bobcat
kittens. “Saving” does not mean taming them to a happy life as
somebody’s pet.
Once again the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center – Morgan Hill’s own WERC – has jumped into action to save bobcat kittens. “Saving” does not mean taming them to a happy life as somebody’s pet.
“Saving” means treating them like the wild animals they are, encouraging their fear of that dangerous human being and training them to survive alone in the wilds. Because that is the WERC goal. After six months or so of training, all rescued bobcats – if at all possible – are reintroduced into the area where they were originally found.
Photos of humans clad in bobcat-like (well, sort of) masks and bobcat suits are a press staple in South Valley. Details of caretakers rubbing themselves with eucalyptus leaves and herbs plus the vividly descriptive bobcat urine, all to mask any human scent – before entering a bobcat nursery – are memorable. Silence is the third leg of the procedure: sight, smell and hearing must be totally devoid of human influence.
The procedure, developed by WERC director Sue Howell and supported by many volunteers donating thousands of hours to provide round-the-clock bobcat care, has been adopted as “official law” by California Fish and Game.
WERC also rehabilitates other animals, including birds of prey, and has an extensive education program. Wildlife and environmentally aware citizens should all join in appreciating this staunch group of hardworking dedicated folks. Sue Howell, Evelyn Davis – bobcat training supervisor – and veterinarians John Quick and Shanna Compton – and their dozens of compatriots are doing a unique and important job. Thanks, folks.
HEROES WITHOUT CAPES
A quick-thinking neighbor with a fire extinguisher and a mom who remembered “Stop, Drop and Roll” saved four boys from even more serious injuries last week. The boys, all in the 12-13 age range, were in a backyard trying to get a flip-top lighter to ignite and poured white gas over it for encouragement. It lit.
Unfortunately, so did fumes in the gas can standing nearby. The can exploded, spraying fire all over the boys‘ clothes and one boy’s face and hands. According to Capt. Dennis Johnsen of the Santa Clara County Fire Department said the neighbor, hearing the boom, jumped over the fence into the boys’ backyard and doused the flames with his fire extinguisher.
A mom who was in the house also heard the explosion and ran outside, rolling the most seriously affected boy in the dirt and grass to put out flames. He suffered third degree burns (the more serious kind) on his face and hands. And the boys themselves apparently kept their heads, pulling off their burning clothes.
It is comforting that, when it was most important, these adults remembered their disaster and emergency training classes. They saved the day.
WERC can use donations of many kinds: its website is www.werc-ca.org and address is W.E.R.C, P.O. Box 1105, Morgan Hill, CA. 95038-1105.
