Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota has record year of animal patients
ROSEVILLE, Minn. — It's been a busy year for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota. Tuesday they passed a record of 21,000 patients. Including a late season mallard duckling.
"He is 167 grams right now. He came in under 50 grams and now he is 167 grams so he has tripled in size in only 10 days," said Dr. Agnes Hutchinson, a veterinarian at the center.
A concerned citizen brought the duckling in after finding him abandoned last week.
"I have to admit I didn't think it was true when they told me," Hutchinson said.
That's because this is a record latest hatchling.
"This is the third or the fourth latest duckling hatchling in the state of Minnesota on record," said Hutchinson.
The center had the previous records as well, admitting clutches of mallard ducklings in December 2016 and 2017.
While the weather could play a role, Hutchinson says they don't know for sure.
"I think that's too broad to understand and to know that we could say like this is the exact reason why this happens," said Hutchinson.
The center received another potential late state record back in September.
"We also had a grebe baby come in in September. That's way too late," said Hutchinson.
The grebe has since been released, but they still have their hands full with other feisty fowl like a cardinal that was stunned after hitting a window.
"She was didn't want to fly, didn't want to it was kind of like head trauma," said Hutchinson.
But now she is well on her way to being released.
"So I like to see that she is perching, that she can gain height and fly around and evade when I am going to capture her," said Hutchinson.
Once the duckling is ready to go, they say that they will find an open water with a food source location and release it this winter.
If you find an injured animal the center says not to touch it. You should call them first and they will talk you through the proper steps.