Megan Mosby
Executive Director
I don’t often write about things to come, but I am today. A highly anticipated and greatly organized event is taking place this Wednesday, January 31st. I like to refer to it as controlled mayhem.
We were selected by an international company, Tennant, as their charity to help during their convention in Arizona. Apparently, they choose a charity in each town in which their national convention is held, and in our case around 340 volunteers will show up in 6 large buses to lend us a hand.
Don’t be fooled for one minute by the simplicity of that statement. Here’s what we plan to accomplish in two hours with 340 motivated souls. There are basically 13 teams. Those teams will be assigned the following tasks: build a bridge over the wetland stream, hang branches in the Aviary, move DG and distribute throughout the west campus, move and distribute DG throughout the east campus, Paint the new reptile enclosure and touch up the flight enclosures, move the Research and Conservation equipment and store it in the Research and Conservation container, pull weeds on the Interpretive Trail and behind the 180ft flight enclosure, clean all windows inside and out, sweep and clean all floors and add finish to floor in the modular, move dirt and add pea gravel to four flight enclosures on the east side, move rock, add DG path in front of 3 tortoise enclosures, move rock and add DG to path to air conditioners next to tortoise enclosures, and rack and stack extra wood and move astroturf to storage unit.
Whew! I am exhausted just thinking of the flurry of activity!
And, if the labor wasn’t enough, the Tennant company bestowed us with a very generous grant which pays for all of the equipment that needs to be rented, the paint that must be bought, the bridge parts, the pea gravel and the DG and other items that make the renovations complete and free. This is what I call a win-win situation from a very generous and forward thinking corporation.
We are thrilled, needless to say, and I think the 340 volunteers seeing a job well done in sunny Arizona, will be a win for them also.
Thank you Tennant! We are beyond elated that we were chosen to be the lucky recipients of your generous efforts and your corporate responsibility.
This Week @ Liberty – January 29, 2018
Getting ready for the Tennant work day has been all consuming lately, coupled with having to do without the services of one of our key staff members and it’s been a busy couple of weeks. The intake window is still slow, but the numbers are inching up with each day. Birds and animals of all sorts are being brought in and are receiving extraordinary care. I was able to get some decent shots of the bald eagle that came in last week and this will be the balance of this update. I want to thank all the volunteers who sent me photos for TW@L!
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We are doing programs all over the valley, from the west side to the far east valley, and everywhere in between. Many are return requesters as once the word gets out what we do, everybody wants us to be at their event!
(Look for 3 photos)
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A sad arrival was this roadrunner that was rescued and brought in recently. He somehow had his feet tied together with string and did not survive the stress this caused him. People usually don’t realize that stress alone can kill a bird, even if the physical damage doesn’t appear overly severe. This is yet another lesson in not discarding trash into the environment with no thought to how an animal might get tangled in it.
(Look for 2 photos)
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A bald eagle was brought down from the Williams area last week. It was initially thought he had been hit by a train but upon the initial examination, it was determined that he presented no symptoms of trauma other than those indicating he had been on the ground for some time (feathers were in poor condition.) His movement and behavior led Jan to consider lead poisoning as the agent and upon testing a blood sample, it was confirmed: his lead level was very high. People assume only condors and other known scavengers eat things contaminated with lead but bald eagles are also opportunistic and if they consume an animal shot with lead ammunition, or eat a fish dragging a lead sinker, they too will be adversely affected by this dangerous element. The chelation treatment began immediately and as of this posting, the bird was doing surprisingly well considering his poor condition upon arrival. Fingers crossed for this proud bird as treatment continues!
(Look for 9 photos)
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Posted by Terry Stevens
Operations Director