Transcript:

Heres a program from our archives.Ambience, Birds If you found a bird that had fallen from its nest, what would you do? I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.Soucy: I think a lot of people, the first thing they want to do when they find a baby animal, be it a bird or not: they want to give it a drink. That's the worst possible thing to do; they want to feed it, that's the next worst possible thing to do because you're probably killing it with your kindness most times. The very best thing to do is just to leave it alone, leave it darkened, leave it warm, and get it to someone who knows what they're doing.Leonard Soucy is President of the Raptor Trust, a New Jersey organization which specializes in rehabilitating injured birds of prey.Soucy: The general public, even though well intentioned, really can give little restorative care to wild birds. I think you must seek out the help of a professional. We're not telling people not to try and help, if there's truly a situation that requires help. But what I'm saying is, rather than try and take the raccoon or the baby bird in and care for it yourself when you don't know what to feed it, and you don't know anything about social behaviors, things like that, I would much prefer that you seek out the help of a professional organization or a licensed person who offers animal care. There is a list available from the State Department of Environmental Protection that lists all the licensed wildlife rehabilitation in this state and most other states for that matter. If you called your fish and game association or your state authorities, you could find out from them someone in your area that would be willing to take the mammal or the bird and care for it.This archival program is part of our thirtieth anniversary celebration. If you want hear more, check out our podcast. Im Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.