Have you ever wondered what happens to wild animals that are orphaned or injured and need help? Wild at Heart is a wildlife sanctuary located in Lively, Ontario.
Accepting more than 900 animals in need into their care every year, the centre's volunteers and staff know very well.
With help from antibiotics, intravenous fluids, casts and constant observation, many animals recuperate and still many more receive their chance to mature from infancy.
It's work that keeps volunteers on their feet day and night. Presently, the centre is home to 18 raccoons, nine red squirrels, five grey squirrels, one snowy owl, two pigeons, one raven, four snowshoe hares, one mouse, seven crows, two flying squirrels, one porcupine and one groundhog. Above and beyond these, two moose calves were admitted to the centre last week.
"They're best buddies," Dr. Rod Jouppi, founder and board president of Wild at Heart laughed and said of the pair. "What one does, the other does. In the beginning they were pretty gangly and having a hard time running but they're doing pretty good."
At first, only one moose calf was being treated at the centre. Just four days old, she was found abandoned near the highway just south of North Bay. She arrived at Wild at Heart in the back of a police car and was quickly admitted for thorough observation indoors.
"She was really depressed, but when the other calf arrived two days later, it really turned her around," Dr. Jouppi said.
* Watch: What does a snoring moose sound like?
Instead of travelling in a police car, a second moose calf was located near North Bay and was brought to the centre by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).
In the second calf's case, her mother and twin managed to successfully cross a busy highway, but the mother moose never came back for the calf.
Many adult moose try to get out of the bush at this time of year to avoid flies in the woods. In their pursuit of open areas the moose are sometimes determined to cross a highway. "Moose are not very good at looking for traffic," Dr. Jouppi said. "The mother with the twin went across the highway and left this one behind.
She never came back. Sometimes mothers will do that. If they take one twin out of a dangerous area, they don't like to come back and take a chance with the twin that's safe."
At just over two weeks old, the female calves have made it through their first ten days (a critical time when moose typically receive antibodies from their mother) and are doing well at the centre. They'll pack on anywhere from two pounds per day at first, and five pounds per day by year's end. For now, they are receiving supplement "moose milk" made by a centre in the United States; the formula is as close to their mother's milk as possible and is costly to import.
The next critical stage for the moose calves will happen at the two-month-old mark when digestive issues can become problematic and potentially life-threatening. In the wild and in refuge centres, moose calves have only a 50 per cent chance of survival. If the moose girls make it through, they'll weigh 600 pounds or more by the time they leave the centre.
The care the moose and other animals are receiving at Wild at Heart is made possible by volunteers and donations.
To learn more about the centre and how to donate, visit wahrefugecentre.org/donate/
