Soft Landings of Tennessee

04/11/2024

WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS FOLLOW I'm currently calling him Indy. As in Indianapolis speedway. This duck came in yesterday thanks to a great catch by . We were called because he had been in the same space for at least 24 hours and was not able to get out of the pond anymore. Suspected leg injury. Upon examination after capture, one leg is definitely broken probably in two places. There are scrape wounds on both feet and legs, and the non-broken leg has lacerations and one large wound where it joins the body. Rescue isn't just about the capture. Rescue is about figuring out what's wrong and how to fix it too. And sometimes that means putting together a story that might be plausible so you understand how the wounds happened. CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

03/11/2024

If you find a "dead" hedgehog during the cold months, do not bury it, do not throw it in the trash...
No one wants to see a dead animal in their garden or road, but it could be a hedgehog hibernating from November to March.
They usually dig holes to stay safe, but we have less green areas, bushes or wooded areas these days and it’s becoming harder to find a safe place to spend the winter sleeping.

Some may come into your gardens seeking safety and warmth to hibernate, some are so exhausted from looking that they end up sleeping in various strange places like roadside streets or even on pavements.

When they are in hibernation, their heart rate and general body functioning slow down considerably, as a way of saving energy that can confuse a person that the hedgehog is dead.

Just in case you see a stationary hedgehog, make sure it is in a safe and warm place and that it can last five months.

If you find a hedgehog in your garden or somewhere on the street, make a hole in a cardboard box and in a dry, safe and quiet place so it can spend the cold months there.

Hedgehogs are an endangered species, they are completely harmless and very important in our ecosystem. They eat beetles, snails, frogs, lizards, snakes, including poisonous.

They also destroy mice nests.

They are not afraid of bees or wasps. The hedgehog can easily destroy a hornet's nest and eat its inhabitants by ignoring their bites.

Scientists have long noticed the immunity of hedgehogs to strong poisons, including bites from insects. This antidote phenomenon is not yet known to scientists.

Be aware when you see a hedgehog in the cold months. It costs nothing to help such a fragile wee thing.

Let's be kind to animals!

Credit ~All Animals

03/11/2024

Very important information. Be educated.

📲 We have been receiving a lot of texts and tags about the Squirrel Named P'nut and the raccoon that were euthanized. 🐿️ 🥹🦝 So here are our thoughts.

👆🏽First, when we heard about this story and they were euthanized, it broke our hearts. 💔 But were we surprised, not at all! That squirrel & raccoon did not deserve what happened to them. The enforcement team that was sent in to retrieve WILD animals should have been wearing proper protective GEAR (DUH) - especially if they really had concerns about rabies. 💯

🐿️ This squirrel hadn't been in the wild in seven years and squirrels aren’t a rabies vector species so chances it had rabies was almost zero.

🤦🏼‍♀️ Anyone who works for the state handling wildlife should be more educated clearly, and be vaccinated for rabies already. It doesn’t look good when you are taking a squirrel from this man because he isn’t licensed to care for it and then you don’t even handle it properly and get bit - causing the forced euthanizing of this animal. It most def makes the DEC look like the “idiots” in this situation, not the "experts"! 🤦🏼‍♀️

🙄Apparently, New York has NEVER identified a squirrel with rabies - SERIOUSLY PEOPLE? 🙄

🦝 Let's add a raccoon to the situation, and then it becomes much more complicated. Pretty sure the raccoon was the major problem and caused the state to get involved b/c it was then a public health risk. 🫥

🦝 Raccoons frequently carry rabies, and a variety of zoonotic diseases, including parasites, which can also be transmitted to other animals including dogs and cats. A healthy, releasable wild raccoon running around your home really isn’t safe and shouldn’t be glorified as a fun pet to have, especially for the common person without any experience or education. 👎🏽 😞 😡

The idea of taking healthy wild animals and keeping them confined for their whole lives makes me so sad and mad. These animals deserve to be free, unless they are NON RELEASABLE and legally permitted!

🥹 Every year we get wild animals from people trying to raise them on their own (with good intentions mostly) but because they aren't educated on diet, diseases, parasites, these animals have health issues and too much familiarity to humans and dogs/cats.

😤 Sometimes they are insanely obese, have metabolic bone disease and are kept in small cages, miserable from not being able to run and climb as much as they would out in the wild, and without the proper vet care! And some people just dump them back in the wild! 😡😩🥲

🫶🏽 Keeping them permanently should be a last resort, when all other options have been exhausted. Licensed wildlife rehabilitators really should be called when you find orphaned or injured wildlife. Unfortunately we just don't have enough licensed wildlife Rehabbers in any state. 🤍🐿️ ♥️🦝 🤍🦨

🥹It looks like, from the videos that Peanut was cared for and clearly loved. That being said, we still don’t agree with the family keeping Peanut and Fred as pets, and using them for fame and probably fortune on social media, especially in a state that's illegal to have them. 😭

😳 They were warned multiple times by many others who knew that this could be the outcome if they kept on posting them all over social media! They are ILLEGAL in NY to have as pets as well as in many states, even then you have to have a PERMIT by the state. 😤

💯 These animals deserved to be with an experienced wildlife rehabilitator so they had the best possible chance of release back into the wild. 🍁

Keeping them as pets, ESPECIALLY the raccoon, is not what’s best for them. I am a legally permitted wildlife rehabber, Reese is blind and would never survive in the wild, and Rooster is far to docile and wouldn't be able to survive in the wild either. They are vaccinated, dewormed, Rooster is nuetered, and Reece will be spayed because we have two amazing wildlife veterinarians here.

However ... 🤯😱🤯 sending 6 armed men to collect a raccoon and a squirrel is ridiculous, to put it mildly. Wildlife rehabbers don’t grab 5 of their friends and a bunch of guns when they go out on calls to rescue wild raccoons.

💯 Rehabbers don’t have the funds, time or the resources. A large percent of your rehabbers are female too. It’s typically a single woman with a pair of welding gloves that goes to rescue injured or abandoned raccoons/wildlife. 🙋🏼‍♀️

💁🏼‍♀️To us, this was more about ego. Less about protecting the public and more about making an example of them. Most definitely less about what was best for the animals and more about a show of force. 💪🏽😡

😩There were many, many ways the state could have handled and THIS, was absolutely the worst way. 🫣

03/11/2024

Don't forget to reset your chickens tonight!! who are we saving all this daylight for anyway?

19/10/2024

Forever wouldn't have been long enough but I loved you as much and as long as I could. May you be welcomed into the Summerland with the honor due a faithful companion and friend. Next week marks a year since I lost Chewy as well. So it's a little bit difficult right now in my world. I still miss Chewy every single day. It's hard when you lose a little piece of your soul. Rescue is amazing and wonderful and special. Rescue is hard and painful and heartbreaking.

16/10/2024

Some days the good guys get to win. And it's really nice.

25/09/2024

Wording often indicates intention. No rescue is asking for a “donation” of another surrendered animal 😅

We want to address a common misunderstanding: surrendering your pet is not a "donation" to us.

We receive surrender requests referring to unwanted rabbits as “donations” all the time. The most recent wasn’t even 20 minutes ago and read, “This little guy doesn't get the attention he needs here. I'd like to donate him to your rescue. Please get back to me ASAP.“

When a bunny is surrendered to Dolly’s Dream Home Rabbit Rescue, it involves much more than a simple handoff and adoption. We don’t make money off of your rabbits, regardless of their breed, if they’re pedigreed with papers, or if they’re healthy.

Each time a bunny is surrendered, we spend a minimum of $350 each spaying/neutering, vetting, microchipping, deworming, and on foster supplies. Most of the cases we’ve been intaking are medical cases as well, that cost significantly more. There is no money to be made in rescue.

Our adoption fees are $100 for a single bunny and $150 total for a bonded pair. We lose money on every single intake. It’s worth it to us, but you’re not doing us a favor by “donating” your bunny unless you donate the $350 minimum they will cost us as well. That doesn’t cover the time for socialization and litter training, space, or other resources we use either.

So, if you find yourself in a situation where you have to surrender your pet, please understand that it comes with real costs for our rescue organization. It is not a “donation.” It is not helpful for them.

We are always happy to help and receive nearly 200 requests per week, but recently tons of owner surrenders have acted like they’re doing us a HUGE favor by bringing in their unwanted bunny. In reality, we’re putting in all of the money, time, and energy to make sure your unwanted responsibility is healthy, loved, and well taken care of.

Our team has spoken with many other rescues who are seeing the same problem from owners.

Surrendering an animal is not a donation. It does not help the rescue. We cannot write you a donation receipt for your bunny, no matter how many times you ask. Each intake costs time, money, and space that our volunteers donate - not the previous owner.

22/09/2024

Meet Ranger. He was reported injured at Cameron Brown Park in Germantown Tennessee. My number of people in Germantown banned together to contact the Rangers, the city, and pretty much everybody else they could so that they could find help for this baby. The Rangers were able to capture him and we picked him up on Friday. He's just a baby. We believe he is a domestic Rouen duck or possibly a Mallard mix but he is still very young and only getting the beginning of his Drake tail so he is in his first feather. He is also under nourished so I think he has a lot more growing to do. He has a really good attitude for a park duck which also makes me think he was raised by humans. He's sitting in my lap right now with the cat watching television. I also attached his x-rays which show that one foot is badly broken and mostly healed and his webbing is damaged on that foot. Likely this is from snapping turtles. His knee has fluid and some joint damage possibly from being pulled by the turtles or from the way he was walking because of the broken foot. Either way, he is on long-term antibiotics and pain medicine and is under the treatment of Dr Pope at All Creatures Pet Hospital in Collierville. If you would like to donate to our rescue and the care of our special ducks, you can find links at the top of our page on Facebook and Instagram. We will keep you posted of his progress.

20/09/2024

There apparently are two ducks at Cameron Brown Park with injuries to their legs or wings or both. Soft Landings and the park rangers and Germantown Parks and Recreation are coordinating rescue efforts at this time. If you go and you see these ducks, please take a picture and post it here along with time and location. Please do not continue to contact the Rangers or the City of Germantown as efforts are already underway. Thank you for letting us know about them and for being concerned for their welfare! We will update as we can!

20/09/2024

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday in person, on Facebook, through the rescue, or just in their mind when they thought they were talking to me :-) it was a wonderful day for celebrating a half century plus two of orbiting Sol. I have so much to be grateful for and so many wonderful people that care about me. I want for absolutely nothing in this world.

If there is anyone who wants to do something for my birthday, I asked that they find a small rescue of animals near them and give them a donation. Small rescues are struggling so much right now and social media makes it almost impossible for us to get our messages out there because big rescues pay for ads that we cannot afford. And it's the small local rescues that are being overwhelmed every day with animals.

I don't come around on Facebook a whole lot anymore because honestly the emotional fatigue of rescue plus working in vet med has been a lot. In the last few months it feels like we received three to five messages a week from someone who wants to surrender their animals to us because they either cannot care for them, have too many and have become overwhelmed, or impulse purchased poultry and now don't know what to do about it. Every day at the clinic we see owners who have purchased exotic pets that they did not prepare for properly and are not willing or able to spend the time and money to make sure they have everything they need. Poultry sales at Farm stores and the reptile shows and exotic animal shows contribute to the problem by providing cheap and easy access to animals that require a great deal of care and maintenance without providing any education to owners.

I encourage you not to purchase any living thing from these places. If you want to purchase a puppy, find a reputable breeder not a guy on the side of Houston Levee selling puppies out of the back of the van. If you want to purchase poultry, please find a local rescue or contact in your local community that breeds. If you want to purchase exotic animals, please do your research in advance and perhaps contact a local veterinary office that can help you find a rescue or a reputable source or at least provide you with care information and cost of veterinary care should you need it. For example at our clinic, a reptile visit is over $100. A visit for a rabbit, guinea pig, hedgehog, etc is around $110. An avian visit is nearly $130. Most owners find this extremely shocking and sadly by the time they seek veterinary care it is often much more expensive because the animal is extremely ill.

All of this word salad if you've made it this far is to say thank you for everything you do for me, and for the community, and for the rescuers and the animals. Because I know everybody on my friends group is an animal lover. And if you have the opportunity to contribute in some small way, I encourage you to do so. Until they all have homes and love!

14/09/2024

September is the birthday month of both Director Melanie Simmonds and Director Ana Xjor. Instead of being selfish we want to make this SHARING SEPTEMBER and fundraise for our community of sanctuaries and rescues across the country. Together, we form a network that can accomplish more than one person alone. Our goal is to foster a sense of friendship and community between all rescues because we're all here for the animals. Even if we have our differences, the animals are what matter.

And so in honor of Ana's birthday today, September 13, We want to ask that you give $5 for $5 Friday to Three Hot Chicks aka Tender Loving Coops.

https://linktr.ee/tenderlovingcoops?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=a4d6315b-5fcf-4e46-a85a-3fa419314c28

You can also help them by purchasing mealworms which will also get them donations.

Wendy at THC/TLC personally helped me so much when I had Chewy. I had so many questions and she was always so patient with me and she also was supportive and kind when I lost Chewy and was devastated. Recently they've taken on a medical case with Stanley the goose and we love the work they've done so far!

Please support their efforts and give a happy birthday to our amazing director and high heeled goose grabber Ana!!

06/07/2024

Credit to Three Hot Chicks

I adopted your rooster today
The one you left at the pound
because he crowed too much
so no longer could he stay around

I adopted your rooster today
The one you dumped in the middle of nowhere
He was dehydrated and starving
But I guess you didn't really care

I adopted your rooster today
The one you said was mean
He lashed out at me too
But he was only protecting his queen

I adopted your rooster today
He was covered in wounds and mites
But you left him for dead
So it doesn't matter to you, right?

I adopted your rooster today
He is afraid and doesn't eat much
He seems a bit depressed but
in time, he will learn again to trust

I adopted your rooster today
I will give him all that he needs
Patience, love, security and understanding
And hopefully he will forget your selfish deed.

29/06/2024

Welcome home Sweetpea!! I met Kathy from halfway between our rescues today to get her. She is blind and she tugged at my heart from the first day I saw a post about her. She had some snacks and water them settled in for the ride. She napped most of the way with a little stop for more water. She has opinions about people who cut me off as she stood up and gave me a quacky lecture!! She had a bath when we got home and is resting in a bassinet for now. She will spend several days in the office where I can get to know her and make sure she's adapting well before she goes to the rescue center to make some friends.

22/06/2024

Some muscovies are really good sitters but really poor mothers. And some muscovies are really good mothers and really poor sitters. Usually they sister wife and it all works out. Sometimes, however, a mother sits and hatches and then can't manage to keep up with all the babies. That's how you end up with one single baby left over and the males of the flock keeping mother away from the baby so they can get her on a nest again. It's the way nature works whether we like it or not. But, then you have wonderful people who step in and save the baby and then spoil it rotten. Meet Bittybit.

12/06/2024

We got a call last week that there were two Muscovy babies in Shelby Farms Park and the rangers had picked them up and we could get them at the rangers center. My rescue volunteer went and got them and they stayed with her for a few days. We then get a call that they found a third one on one of the trails. So I went and picked that one up. The reunion was adorable and they were so happy to see each other. Unfortunately they won't see at least two of their friends again because they were removed by predators before rescue. They are all very friendly, don't mind human touch, and they are very happy to be together. I believe it's two boys and a girl. They are in the rescue center enjoying some good food and getting the rest of their feathers before they are up for adoption.

11/06/2024

In case you didn't know yet .... I am Snow White.