Got

Things have still been slow at the hollow.  The Owl is getting stronger, but still needs to be force fed and his head is still tilted to the side. Time will tell.  The young gull is doing very well after being bathed of all the cruddy oil that was coating his feathers.  The adult gull with the pellet; well, he is being tougher.  He still hasn't decided to eat on his own, so we have been tubing feeding him.  Anyone who has worked with a gull knows this is quite a feat.  They aren't exactly the calmest animals, and generally have a tendency to regurg anything you put in them.  He is bringing some of the tubed food back up, but is keeping most of it down.  Today at the afternoon tubing he decided that he didn't like the process (though that isn't anything new).  He has been a biter since day one; today while I was putting the tube in, he was able to maneuver his beak to the side just a bit and bam.  He got me good; he got the point of his beak underneath my right middle finger nail.  OUCH!  It hurt so bad and of course proceeded to bleed.  It hurts to type it hurts to wash, it just plain hurts.  That lets you know that even "trained" professionals can get hurt by even an animal that doesn't seem so fearsome.  This is where I tell you again, do not try doing this at home.  I know of people who have been bit on the face by a gull, because they can get that head free and oh so quickly will get you!

Today I did a bit more painting, but not on the floor, on the wall.  After the flooding in the warehouse in January, the sheetrock had drawn up some of the moisture and of course mildewed.  So the goal yesterday was to bleach wash it, and today was to paint it with Killz.  I forgot just how badly that primer paint smells.  The worse part, it isn't water soluble!  I had to use mineral spirits paint thinner to wash the brushes and pan.  That meant of course that my hands (especially since my hands are soo dry they are absorbing everything), and clothes smelled like it all day long.  

Towards the end of the day we got a deer call from a property on island -that has deer fencing all around it, but they leave the gates open, awww... when we left there were two deer standing right inside of the fence, I don't want to think about them getting spooked and getting tangled in the fence.  Of course the outcome for the deer wasn't a positive one, but at least she isn't laying on the ground thrashing anymore.  

We also got calls about a "harbor seal" with lacerations up by the logs on a very frequented beach.  One of our volunteers went out to take a look because the MMSN coordinator was on her way back on the ferry.  Well, it turns out to be a small elephant seal, who is going through his catastrophic molt.  So, it looks like it has many cuts and bit out spots, but really this is all natural.

She sent me a photo tonight which I am sharing.  Again time for another reminder, the marine mammal protection act says to knowingly stay 100 yrds away from marine mammals.  The problem with where this ele is, if you don't know it is there, than basically it gets walked right by.  Please do not approach MM! Thanks.. Beware image #2 could be more graphic than you want to see, so if you are squeamish.. don't look.

Ele resting, it takes a lot of energy to go through what they are.

The skin/hide molting away.