Naturally Kiawah Guest Edition 2014 | Page 31

FIELD NOTES Kiawah Island Golf Resort Naturalists - a male surf scoter. Now, at least, he had a name. I read, “Voice: usually silent.” Right. “Habitat: ocean surf, salt bays; in summer, fresh Arctic lakes, tundra.” Arctic tundra? This little guy has a long, long flight to make from coastal South Carolina. But first he would have to mend. All of the vets nearby were gone for the day. Finally, an emergency animal clinic in North Charleston agreed to see a wild surf scoter. So, we packed him in our car and drove 45 minutes into the night, into the land of ailing poodles and spaniels and Siamese cats. Two days later, when I called Holly, the wildlife rehabilitator who had taken him home, she was guardedly optimistic. He was dehydrated, dangerously thin, and weak. They weren’t sure why. He had been given fluids and an antibiotic and was beginning to eat. His wings were okay nothing broken - but he still didn’t have full use of his legs. Time would tell. Three weeks later, Holly told me he had died. By this time, Charleston area wildlife rehabilitators had taken in three surf scoters, all found on the beach, all with similar symptoms. They were thought to be migration fatalities. At the outset of each long journey, weaker birds try to keep up until they can fly no longer. Left behind, they languish, unable to feed, and eventually, too weak to paddle, they float to shore, where the tide leaves them on the sand, like seaweed or coral or a conch shell, glistening in the sun. Now, looking back, I wonder. Should I have left my duck on the beach, after all? True, Holly and the other wildlife rehabilitators learned from treating the surf scoters. Next year, they might have better success with their downy patients. Patterns might begin to emerge. But how do you weigh the value of scientific evidence against the pain of protracted suffering? There are those, too, who would argue that the survival of one individual surf scoter, unlike a whooping crane or loggerhead sea turtle, makes little difference in the larger scheme of things. Would it not have been better to have let nature take her course, rather than trying to intervene? Don’t bobcats and hawks deserve their meal, too? What is it in me that would not, even now, could not, leave a bird to die undisturbed by the sea? n Kiawah’s naturalists are at the front lines of the mixed emotions about injured or sick wildlife. On the one hand, it is our love, respect, and compassion for wildlife that draws us to this career field in the first place. Most of us can tell stories about the animals we have taken home to care for, from box turtles struck by cars to baby squirrels knocked out of their nest when their tree was cut down. Regrettably, we have also seen the dark side of humanity’s good intentions, baby loggerheads brought in off the beach, fledgling birds taken from their parents and otherwise healthy young animals dying of malnutrition from a diet of cat food. Death is a fundamental and natural part of the complex interactions of Kiawah wildlife. A sick animal may have a genetic defect that, if it is nurtured back to survival, will only make the next generation weak. An injured fawn might be a life saver for a bobcat, providing the one big meal that allows it to survive a rough season. Sometimes the animal is dying from human-related causes, hit by a car or starving as habitat and food are lost to development or pollution. We ought to feel distressed when we see an animal suffering as a result of our actions. It seems like it is our responsibility to step in and fix it. Yet no matter how much plastic we pull from the stomach of sea turtles, or how many stunned warblers we save from the foot of a bright skyscraper smack in the middle of a nocturnal migration path, the underlying problems remain. We can spend vast amounts of money and time trying to rehabilitate individual wildlife, but more will continue to die from human causes unless we discover and prevent the harm from occurring in the first place. Wildlife rehabilitation is important for educating the public and saving individuals from species with low or endangered populations, but more lives may be saved by using our limited resources to encourage conservation, reduce pollution and increase education. If we want to preserve the species as well as the individual, we must remember to take a step back and draw upon those strong feelings of compassion to give us motivation to tackle the challenges faced by our remarkable wild neighbors. n 28