562.434.0141 - 379 Newport Ave Ste. 302 Long Beach, CA90814

30 June 2008
And now for what is hopefully a final update on Matilda, the Duck.  If you're not familiar with Matilda's case, refer back to the Press releases of 15 May 2008 and the weeks before. We released Matilda back to her home on the Long Beach Fuel Dock where her mate, Quackers, was waiting.  It was quite a sight.  I opened the carrier Matilda was in and as she started to stick her head out she also started to vocalize.  Quackers was on the far end of the dock, he heard her quack and responded.  Matilda heard Quackers answered back. Quackers started quacking and running down the dock to Matilda.  It was truly a romantic moment.  All you could hear was quacking and the pitter-patter of webbed feet against the wooden dock as he ran down the dock to greet his long lost mate.  They were immediately all over each other with their greetings and were inseparable  the entire rest of the day as they swam around the harbor.

Here's a shot of Matilda and Quackers as they pass by the AWRE rescue vehicle.  Perhaps now you can understand our need for help with a rescue vehicle.

 Last week Janelle called from the Long Beach Fuel Dock reporting Matilda had fish line wrapped around her and appeared to have a fish hook down her throat.  This is a common occurrence in the Long Beach Harbor area due to the fact the birds will eagerly try to steal the fishermen's bait.  The ducks can't tell the difference between when humans are being nice and are "just feeding the ducks" or when they are fishing with hooks attached to the food being thrown in the water in order to catch fish. I arrived at the fuel dock where I met Janelle.  She grabbed a pair of binoculars and showed me where Matilda had built her nest out on one of the oil islands in the harbor. This appeared to be an easy capture once I got to the island.  This is another reason why AWRE is in desperate need of a rescue boat, we are the only organization which will regularly go out on rescue calls in the harbor and beyond, when injured wildlife is involved but our biggest delay with water rescues acquiring the use of a boat, is finding an available boat.  Believe me this is much easier said than done. I told Janelle I had no problem doing the rescue and it should be a simple fix but I needed to be able to get to the island.  She looked up, saw a friend going by, flagged him down and had me and my gear on the island in less than 5 minutes.  As I had predicted (a very rare time, believe me, animals very rarely react as predicted), approaching and capturing Matilda was no problem.  As Janelle had thought, Matilda had swallowed a fish hook and was wrapped in line and had about 10 to 15 foot of line wrapped around her and another good length trailing behind her, waiting to become entangled in something.  A fatal situation if not removed. After gently removing her from the nest, I noticed she had seven eggs incubating under her.   Also knowing the predatory nature of the local Gulls, I had to remove the hook and line on site if we wanted to try and save Matilda's babies to be. I setup shop next to her nest and proceeded to remove the swallowed hook and the line from her wings, body and legs. It never ceases to amaze me at how fish line can become such a massive, constricting knot, sharp as a razor blade, which can cause such a slow, painful and agonizing death. The Gulls obviously have had their eye on Matilda's nest because they started gathering the minute I pulled her from her nest exposing the eggs.  Some were even so bold as approach the nest to try and steal an egg while I was working on Matilda right next to the nest. The hook and line situation was taken care of quickly and easily and Matilda was placed back on her nest, everything just as I found it minus the fish line problems.  Another happy ending.  I just love Happy Endings and am sure looking forward to seeing Matilda's babies.

17 June 2008
We have had an influx of Cormorants lately and thought this would be an opportunity to introduce you all to a very remarkable creature.  When on land, they are very "Charlie Chaplin-ish".  This is due to the fact the webbing on their feet is angled towards their centerline, making walking a bit difficult and quite humorous ( well at least in my eyes) especially when they are trying to make a quick get-away and are going around a corner.  Think about, imagine if every time you tried to put your right foot down to take a step you had the problem of stepping on your left foot and every time you picked up your left foot you had to get it out from under the right foot and visa versa. As I said, watching them on land is quite comical, but this humorous, awkwardness on land completely disappears as soon as they enter  the water. The moment a Cormorant enters the water a miraculous if not magical transformation takes place.  They turn into, for lack of proper terms, a guided torpedo which is capable of making turns at angles and speeds we have yet to be able to create a machine which can duplicate.  These remarkable birds are designed by Mother Nature to chase down and catch fish and she did an incredible job with the Cormorant.  They can literally chase down and catch any fish.  They can swim faster than most fish species and can out turn the soon-to-be fish dinner as the fish try and escape weaving between kelp and any other object to free them from their fate. Talk about design, look at their beak and see the hook on the end which allows the Cormorant to grab and maintain a good grip on the fleeing fish. Believe me. they can get and maintain a very good grip on whatever they grasp with this tool and talk about being strong and fast.  If you work with Cormorants for any length of time, I can guarantee you will get tagged. They are truly incredible but one feature many over-look is the color of their eyes.  Take a moment and examine the photograph and see why even Elizabeth Taylor would be appreciative if not envious of their beauty.

10 June 2008
Another fantastic week at AWRE. Four of our five board members, as well as three of our volunteers, for a total of seven AWRE team members, were selected, chosen and have received The President's Call to Service Award.  Talk about being proud.  I am so proud of our AWRE team members and am so thankful for all of their dedication and caring they have all shown over the years. It is their effort, their work, their perseverance, their kindness, their dedication to our wildlife, our environment and our communities which has made AWRE worthy of earning and being bestowed upon ( I just love that phrase and had to throw it in) two different Presidential awards.  These awards are the President's Volunteer Service Award and the President's Call to Service Award and the latter of the two awards were received by seven of our team members. Each which earned their awards on their own merit (unlike other "government actions"), there were no hand outs here, just lots of hard work which we all did without knowledge, need or want of recognition for our efforts.  We just want to heal our sick and injured wildlife. What a great team and I am so proud of each and every member of the AWRE team and fell truly honored to be able to play with them.

5 June 2008
Here's our latest patient data report

ALL WILDLIFE RESCUE & EDUCATION PATIENT DATA REPORT 

1 January 2008 through 31 May 2008