Since 1982, the Wildlife Center has treated more than 59,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. We’re about to admit patient #60,000! The staff have determined that patient #12-0768 – the 768th patient admitted this year – will be the 60,000th patient admitted in the Center’s 30-year history. With an average of 14 patients admitted a day within the past week, we will see our 60,000th patient very soon!
So what will patient #60,000 be? If you’ve got a guess, send an email to patient60k@wildlifecenter.org. We’ll send a Wildlife Center t-shirt to one of the individuals who submits the correct species. To help you guess, here is a summary of patients that were admitted in May 2011.
May 11 update
The Wildlife Center is up to 751 patient admissions for the year … so only 17 patients away from #60,000!
May 14 update
On Sunday, May 13, the Wildlife Center admitted the 60,000th patient in its nearly 30-year history. The patient, #12-0768, was a very young Virginia Opossum. The opossum’s rescuer removed the infant opossum and its littermates from their mother after she was found, dead, in the middle of the road in Shenandoah County. The opossums were admitted to the Wildlife Center. The opossums weighed only 3 grams each and did not survive. Virginia Opossums give birth after an extremely short gestation period of just 13 days. Opossums are very small at birth – about the size of a navy bean – and crawl to the mother’s pouch to suckle for 55 days. The opossums admitted on May 13 were likely just a few days old – and at this period of their life, should be constantly nursing in their mother’s pouch. The most common cause of injury for opossums at the Wildlife Center is vehicle collision. Many opossums are hit by cars each year because they are feeding along the side of the road. Young opossums may become orphaned after their mother has been hit by a car. You can help by not throwing litter out of your vehicle, even biodegradable apple cores or banana peels, and teaching others to do the same. Litter prevention is an important step in saving the lives of wildlife. Congratulations to Rosemary in Pennsylvania for the correct guess … you’ll be receiving a Wildlife Center t-shirt!