Diets & Nutrition Abstracts
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Diet Doctors: Practical Skills for Treating Malfunctioning Diets Workshop Lecture
Stephanie Herman, Audubon Society of Portland Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
With effects impacting all aspects of our patients' health and well-being, good nutrition is one of the cornerstones on which high-quality animal care is built. As wildlife professionals, we face special challenges when designing and assessing nutritional programs because of our patients' incredibly varied (and often understudied) natural histories. Since we can so rarely fully replicate wild foods and feeding methods, we must do our best to create an approximate alternative and then depend heavily on our own judgment and assessments to determine the success of our practices. This workshop lecture provides an opportunity for participants to review the basic tenets of wildlife nutrition and feeding and discusses theoretical approaches to the assessment and improvement of existing feeding practices. This lecture is a prerequisite for the Diet Doctors workshop. |
Full Abstract
There are very good reasons why you might want to be that rehabilitator who takes the care and effort to incorporate foraged wild plant foods into your patients’ diets. Yet there are serious risks associated with the top 50 wild plant foods that are eaten by wildlife—toxicological risks such as cyanide, nitrate, maple, or oxalate toxicities. Discussion covers where the greatest hidden risks might catch a rehabilitator off-guard, reasons why wild animals in captivity may be more susceptible to these plant poisonings, and reasons they stand to benefit from the increased use of natural comfort foods. |
Farm-to-Cage Feeder Animals
Jordan O'Hara, Grey Snow Eagle House Pending Publishing Permission Full Abstract
One of the biggest challenges facing wildlife rehabilitators is providing patients with a healthy and balanced diet. Purchasing frozen feeders online is convenient but comes with issues such as businesses going under or being out of stock, care and health of the feeder animals, high shipping costs, and difficulty in obtaining prey for live training. The Grey Snow Eagle House has found it easier and more cost-effective to breed and raise feeder animals for the 65+ raptors in our care. This presentation provides a thorough overview of how we breed, raise, and care for quail, mice, rats, and rabbits. |