cawildlife911.org

cawildlife911.org Working to save injured & orphaned wildlife from Nevada County and other areas.

The mission of Wildlife Rehabilitation & Release is to receive injured and orphaned wildlife and rehabilitate them in the most humane manner possible, with the goal of returning them healthy and physically conditioned to their natural habitat. WR&R volunteers serve the public, governmental agencies, and the individuals who find wildlife in distress among the following areas: Raptors: Nevada, Yub

a, Sutter, Colusa, Sierra, Glenn, Plumas, Butte, Lake & Tehama; Songbirds: Nevada County and some outlying areas; Small mammals: currently are unable to intake mammals. Because we believe that wildlife is vital to the enrichment of our environment, we strive to educate the public to understand and protect our local wildlife. We do this through school education programs, presentations to community organizations and public events.

06/08/2026

Baby Deer (Fawns) Advice 🦌

Every year, baby deer are picked up and brought into us under the general belief that they are orphaned or in trouble. Whilst this is almost always done out of sheer kindness, the reality is that they are very rarely orphaned at all and should be left well alone and monitored from a safe distance.

Nursing mothers will often leave their young hidden away in the grass for extended periods of time. Newborn fawns have little to no scent, making them practically invisible to predators. Adult deer, however, have a strong scent and are more visible. By staying away, the mother avoids drawing unwanted attention to her baby.

She is never too far away though and will be keeping an eye on the area her fawn is laid up and will return in order to feed her young when it's safe to do so.

If you find a fawn, kid or calf please...

1. Move away immediately
2. Do not be tempted to touch the deer or pick it up – your scent may stop the mother returning to feed her baby
3. If you have a dog, please keep it away from the deer and on a lead under full control

WHAT HAPPENS IF A FAWN IS PICKED UP, TOUCHED OR MOVED?

If humans, dogs or any other animal touches or picks up a fawn,their scent rubs off on them. This foreign scent can alarm the mother and prevent her from returning to feed her offspring.

WHEN IS INTERVENTION REQUIRED?

âś…If the fawn is covered in flies and fly eggs
âś…Obviously injured (blood and injuries clearly visible)
âś…If your dog has picked up the fawn

IF THE FAWN NEEDS RESCUING, WHAT IS ITS CHANCES OF BEING RELEASED BACK TO THE WILD?

Whilst we here at OWR have a good success rate with young deer, we always try all other available avenues before taking on the task of hand rearing them. If there is any remote chance of reuniting them back with their mothers, we will try to do so.
If they do require hand rearing, then of course we shall do absolutely everything we can for them.

When hand rearing fawns, we keep to a strict code of conduct:

1. They are kept with and reared with other baby deer. (this is extremely important!!)
2. They are not cuddled, played with or treated like domestic pets.
3. The sole aim for all of our baby deer is for them to be returned back to the wild as wild deer.

The chances that a fawn is orphaned is extremely slim, and in the event that you should find or are concerned for a fawns safety or welfare, please do not hesitate to contact us. We always advise to contact us before intervening đź’–

06/08/2026

MY LIGHT WAS NOT DECORATION.
IT WAS THE ONLY WORD I HAD LEFT.

You may see me on a warm summer night and think I am only a little beauty in the grass.

A tiny light.
A soft flicker.
A spark that makes the dark feel magical for one second.

Maybe you remember catching fireflies as a child.

Maybe you remember jars with holes in the lid.
Bare feet in the yard.
The blinking over tall grass that made summer feel alive.

And maybe the saddest part is this:

the children growing up now may become the last ones who remember fireflies as something ordinary.

Not a story.
Not a picture from someone else’s childhood.
Not a rare thing people drive far away to see.

But a real summer night.
A real backyard.
A darkness alive enough to answer back.

Because my light was never only beauty.

It was language.

I am a firefly.

I do not sing like a bird.
I do not cry out like a frog.
I do not leave a scent trail in the wind.

I flash.

That glow is how I speak into the dark.

It says:

I am here.

And somewhere out there, another tiny life may be waiting to answer.

Another firefly.
Another pulse of light.
Another brief chance for the night to continue us.

But now the dark is harder to find.

Porch lights stay on all night.
Floodlights wash the yard white.
Pesticides sink into the grass.
Leaf litter disappears.
Wild corners are cut down.
Wet ground dries out.
And the quiet places where my young should grow are cleaned, brightened, sprayed, and erased.

My light still flickers.

But fewer and fewer nights can hear it.

Please understand:

when you see a firefly, you are not watching decoration.

You are watching a living message.

A call.
A reply.
A fragile sentence written in light above the summer grass.

And if we are not careful, we may be the last generation to see that sentence written across an ordinary night.

If we want that light to stay in the world, we must leave room for darkness.

Turn off unnecessary outdoor lights.
Avoid pesticides.
Leave some leaf litter, taller grass, and damp quiet corners.
Let children enjoy us gently, but teach them to let us go.
Let part of the yard remain wild enough for small glowing lives to finish their story.

Because my light was not decoration.

It was the only word I had left.

And if the night grows too bright,
no one will hear me.

06/08/2026

The single most useful thing you can add to your yard this month isn't a feeder or a fancy native plant. In a June heat wave, it's water — and almost nobody offers it the right way.

A deep birdbath is a drowning hazard for the small creatures that need a drink most: bees, butterflies, and beetles can't land on open water. The fix takes five minutes.

Take a shallow dish — a plant saucer, a pie tin — and fill it with pebbles, marbles, or flat stones, so there are dozens of dry little islands to stand on. Add water just up to the tops of the stones, never over them. Set it in the shade, near flowers if you can.

🌿 What helps
Refresh it every day or two so nothing stagnates or breeds mosquitoes. That's the whole thing.

You've just built a watering hole. In a heat wave, a bee that drinks is a bee that makes it back to the hive.

We are receiving calls all day long about fledglings on the ground. Fledglings are young birds that have left the nest o...
06/08/2026

We are receiving calls all day long about fledglings on the ground. Fledglings are young birds that have left the nest on their own. They are learning how to walk and eat and navigate the world for the first time. They are supervised by their parents. They are supposed to be on the ground. It’s the natural cycle of their life. Please let them be & do not pick them up. Please keep your cats inside to ensure their safety during this delicate time. Thank you so much for caring and sharing. .

06/02/2026

I WASN’T THE SMELL UNDER YOUR DECK.
I WAS THE MOTHER YOU TOOK AWAY.

You noticed the smell first.

Near the steps.
Under the deck.
Close to the place where the grass was pushed aside and the dirt looked freshly opened.

Maybe you thought:

“Skunk.”

“Problem.”

“Get it out.”

So someone set a trap.

And when I was caught, maybe everyone felt relieved.

The yard was quiet again.
The smell was gone.
The hole under the deck looked empty.

But it was not empty.

I am a mother skunk.

Under that deck, in the dark, there were babies.

Not pests.

Not a smell.

Babies.

Tiny bodies with closed eyes.
Little paws.
Soft striped backs pressed together for warmth.
Mouths that still needed milk.

They did not know I had been taken.

They only knew I stopped coming back.

They waited where I left them, because that is what babies do.

They cried under your floorboards.
They crawled through the dust.
They searched for a mother who was no longer allowed to find them.

Please, if you see a skunk going under a deck, shed, porch, or crawlspace in spring or summer, do not rush to trap her.

Do not relocate her.
Do not seal the hole immediately.
Do not block the entrance without checking for babies.

Assume there may be young inside.

Keep pets and children away.
Watch from a distance.
Call a humane wildlife professional, animal control, your state wildlife agency, or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for guidance.

Sometimes the safest answer is patience.

Sometimes a mother only needs a few weeks before her babies are old enough to follow her out.

Then you can seal the space properly so it does not happen again.

Because I was not just “the smell under your deck.”

I was the only road
between those babies
and the rest of their lives.

06/02/2026

I WASN’T DANCING IN CIRCLES.
SOMETHING INSIDE MY HEAD HAD TWISTED THE WORLD.

You might see me on a sidewalk and think I look strange.

A pigeon turning in circles.
Head tilted.
Neck bent too far.
Feet missing the simple path from one crumb to the next.

Maybe you think I am drunk.

Maybe you think I am funny.
Maybe you think I am “just a pigeon” doing something odd in the street.

But I am not playing.

I am sick.

I am a pigeon.

Sometimes a virus or another serious neurological illness can twist the map inside my body.

My head turns where I did not ask it to turn.
My neck bends the wrong way.
My feet lose the road between one step and the next.

Food may be right in front of me,
but eating can become a battle.

A bird can be surrounded by crumbs
and still starve if its own body no longer knows how to aim.

Please do not laugh and walk away.

Do not throw me back toward a flock.
Do not let children chase me.
Do not let dogs or cats come close.
Do not force food or water into my beak.

If I am safe enough to contain, use gloves or a towel.
Place me in a ventilated box, pet carrier, or crate.
Keep me warm, dark, quiet, and secure.

Then contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, pigeon rescue, bird rescue, or avian veterinarian.

And please keep me away from backyard chickens, pet birds, or other pigeons until trained help takes over.

Because I was not dancing in circles.

My body had turned the world into a maze,
and I was losing my way
one step at a time.

A friendly reminder that all the fawns are being born as we speak. And some are a few weeks old by now. If you see a bab...
06/02/2026

A friendly reminder that all the fawns are being born as we speak. And some are a few weeks old by now. If you see a baby fawn in your yard resting, please let it be. We are getting lots of calls every day with people concerned because the mother has left the fawn in their yard to go out and forage. The mother does not abandon her baby, she is close by and nourishing herself, so that she has enough energy to breast-feed her baby. If you know, the mother has been hit by a car or has passed away for any other reason, then please give us a call Thank you so much for caring and sharing. Valley.

05/26/2026

**I WASN’T JUST A BODY ON THE ROAD.**
**MY BABIES WERE STILL HOLDING ON INSIDE ME.**

Most people would drive past.

Maybe they would feel sad for a second.
Maybe they would look away.
Maybe they would think the story was already finished.

But if the animal on the roadside is a female opossum, the story may not be over.

I am a marsupial.

My babies do not begin life in a nest.
They begin almost impossibly small, crawling into my pouch and attaching there while they grow.

And if I am hit by a car, they may still be alive.

Hidden.
Silent.
Still attached.
Still warm for a while inside the only nursery they have ever known.

That is the part most people never see.

A dead mother can still be carrying living babies.

If it is safe to stop, do not stand in traffic. Do not touch with bare hands. Wear gloves. Check the pouch only if you can do it safely.

If babies are attached, do not pull them off.

Place the mother gently in a box and contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator immediately so the babies can be removed safely.

If babies are crawling nearby, keep them warm, dark, and quiet until help is found.

Please do not feed them.
Please do not give them water.
Please do not try to raise them yourself.

I was not asking you to fix death.

I was asking you to notice the lives still holding on.

**Reality check:** Virginia opossums are North America’s only marsupial. Babies may remain in the pouch for about two months, and young opossums found with or near a dead mother often need immediate help from a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Attached pouch babies should not be pulled off by an untrained person.

**Sources:** Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources — opossum guidance; Wildlife Center of Virginia — safely checking deceased adult opossums; Tufts Wildlife Clinic — baby opossum care guidance.

It is baby season. This little skunk was found wandering around in the afternoon in someone’s yard because its mother wa...
05/26/2026

It is baby season. This little skunk was found wandering around in the afternoon in someone’s yard because its mother was hit by a car unfortunately. If you find young Wildlife wandering around lookind displaced, it is orphaned, please give us a call. Thank you so much for caring and sharing. .

05/18/2026

You took the trash out in the dark and I was near the edge of the driveway. I stomped my front feet against the asphalt. I hissed. I raised my tail like a flag and took two quick steps toward you.

You dropped the bag and ran inside.

I'm a striped skunk. I've been living under the brush pile behind your shed for a year. I have terrible eyesight, I move slowly, and the performance you just watched wasn't an attack — it was me asking you to back off so I wouldn't have to use the one defense I'd rather not spend.

🦨 The stomping and the tail are designed to give you every chance to leave.

I do this because spraying costs me. My body holds enough for a handful of uses, and once I run out, it takes over a week to produce more. During that time I have no defense against coyotes or great horned owls. Every spray I fire at something that wasn't a real threat is one I don't have when something is. I don't want to waste it on you.

Here's what most people don't know. While you sleep, I dig up ground-nesting yellowjacket colonies you didn't know were in your lawn. My thick fur protects me from the stings. I eat the adults, the larvae, and the comb. I dig up the grubs that kill your turf. I hunt the mice working their way toward your foundation.

By midsummer, you might see a mother leading a single-file line of miniature skunks through the grass at dusk. They're learning to hunt grubs. They already know how to stomp their tiny feet.

🌿 If you see me:

- Stop moving and speak softly — my vision is poor, but I hear well. Let my ears tell me you're a person and I'll waddle the other way
- Back away slowly — the stomping ends the moment I feel you retreating
- Don't trap and relocate me — you'd lose the only thing in the yard actively digging up yellowjacket nests before someone steps on one

I've been working your property line for a year, eating the things that sting and the things that chew. You only noticed me the night I asked for space.

That's because I'm good at my job 🌱

Address

809 Maltman Drive
Grass Valley, CA
95945

Telephone

(530) 432-5522

Website

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