News

The Friends of Texas Wildlife now provides a periodic e-mail  Newsletter  Click here to signup for our newsletter.  The Newsletter archive is coming soon.
 

Friends Members Complete FEMA Training

Congratulations to Friends members; Janette Winkelmann, Cheryl Meyer, Thomas Conley, Evelyn Lowery, Lynn Morris, and Vickie Shultz for completing the following FEMA courses and earning their certificates:

Introduction to the Incident Command System, ICS-100
ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents, ICS-200
National Incident Management System (NIMS) 

This course work is a required prerequisite to the subsequent FEMA specific disaster course work, along with BP preparedness courses that will enable these Friends members to assist the Wildlife in our region affected by the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
 

Def Leppard Signs to Help Texas Wildlife

The British Rock band Def Leppard while on their Summer tour, made a stop at the Woodlands Pavilion and offered an autographed guitar for auction to support the Friends of Texas Wildlife. 

Shortly,  Friends of Texas Wildlife will announce the plans to auction the Def Leppard autographed guitar.  Shown to the left is Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen putting the final signature on the 1993 Gibson Mark III.   If you would like more information about this guitar and auction please contact; 
guitar-auction@friendsoftexaswillife.org

 

You’re Never Too Young to Care About Wildlife

Meet Maria Moriarty, an extraordinary young lady. Friends received the following email last week from Maria:

“Dear Friends of Wildlife, I am 10 years old. I live in The Woodlands. I am very interested in being a biologist and studying animals all over the world when I grow up. I bought bags of dog and cat food to give to you. Please tell me how to get them to you. I live in Alden Bridge near Cypress Lake where the new duck sign is. Thank you.”

We receive many emails from individuals who want to help in some way and all are so greatly appreciated. This one, however, left a powerful impression. We hear so much about today’s youth - usually in a negative context - and here was a 10-year old more concerned about the welfare of our wildlife than some adults.

On Monday, July 7 Maria and her mom delivered the dog and cat food that she purchased with her own money. According to Maria’s mom, Maria has always been interested in wildlife. She currently has an albino hedgehog, 2 hamsters, 1 mouse, 2 dogs, and 4 siblings. Maria is 1/3 of a set of triplets!

In the fall Maria will enter the fifth grade. She loves and is active in all sports. She says baseball is her favorite. She’s also an avid reader and was recently given 3 books about rescuing wildlife that, according to her mother, are “never far from her side.”

Maria is now an honorary member of Friends of Texas Wildlife and is going to share information about Friends with her friends and classmates.

Spending just a little time with Maria can’t help but restore faith in the youth of today. They are our future and they are who we continue to do what we do for - so they can learn to appreciate and care for the wondrous wildlife we are so fortunate to co-exist with.


Duck Signs Approved

Congratulations to volunteer Jill Tagudin and her husband Ray Culotta on successfully convincing the Alden Bridge Village Association of the need for a “Brake for Ducks” sign at Cypress Lake in Alden Bridge as a community project for Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Church. Accompanying the signs, Jill and Ray implemented a local “Duck-Traffic” protocol which has 3 steps: stop for ducks crossing the road; use hazard lights to warn following traffic; and flash headlights to warn approaching traffic. Other ponds in The Woodlands are now being evaluated for their need for the warning signs.

To find out more about duck traffic issues, visit www.duckheroes.org.

Thanks also to Jill for including a link to our web site from hers.
 

Record Setting Numbers of Animals

Friends continues to receive record numbers of animals every day - squirrels, raccoons, possums, songbirds, and now fawns. Friends rehabilitators are working around the clock to care for all these wonderful creatures. One of our rehabilitators recently took in a mother raccoon with 6 week-old babies. The mother had been trapped overnight in a Have-A-Heart Trap in the attic of a residence and had been so frantic to get to her babies that she had nearly torn her arms to shreds trying to escape. When retrieved, she was so weak she could barely climb in the cage. The mother has required considerable veterinary care and the babies were so small they take extra time to feed and care for. Mother and babies are still being cared for and are doing better each day.

Friends can offer recommendations for removing wildlife from a home without the use of a trap - loud radio, bright lights, fox urine, etc. Please contact us first to prevent this from happening again.

Another rehabilitator has been caring for as many as 28 animals at a time - 15 of which require feeding every 3 hours.

All of Friends’ rehabilitators are truly working around the clock caring for these creatures - that’s why your help and support is so important. Please help spread the word that we need more help - all kinds.

Friends of Texas Wildlife
P.O. Box 130786
The Woodlands, Texas 77393-0786
Phone: 281-259-0039
Email: inquiries@friendsoftexaswildlife.org