I’m Chris Benson, the licensed wildlife rehabilitator at the Animal Institute's Wildlife Clinic, and I specialize in coyotes (and five other species).
Right now, my dog and I are hanging out alone after dark near the den of a family of coyotes. I’m not worried…
The Animal Institute is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit animal protection organization. If you would like to support our charitable lifesaving work in this community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation, which will be used to buy the necessary medications, patient cages, veterinary supplies, animal care supplies, etc., that we need to save these precious lives.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Our orphans get so excited when anything new or different appears in their abode.
It's getting a little chilly tonight so we added a dog igloo (thanks to a neighborly donor), and look at their joy at discovering wheat straw for the first time! 😆
#animalinstituteswildlifeclinic #Animalinstitute
Raccoon cuteness overload 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
If it’s between the nursing momma raccoon and the fox, the raccoon will always win, hands down #fierceandfabulous
🦊🦝
Note: this fox is sick with mange. The Animal Institute are in the process of trapping, in order to treat and release.
WARNING: GRAPHIC VETERINARY VIDEO
UPDATE #1 in comments - wonderful news with video!
This sweet little girl is Samantha. She is a juvenile raccoon who is suffering the agonizing seizures of a mostly-fatal viral disease called Canine Distemper, which is epidemic in our community for raccoons and other animals. This video shows one such seizure during my evening rounds to administer the following:
• Anti-seizure medication
• Corticosteroid for immune-mediated neurological condition
• Anti-inflammatory & pain medication
• Antibiotics for infection
• Water for hydration
Every single day, countless raccoons and other susceptible mammals invisibly suffer such seizures in silence, away from human help. Nearly all of them die agonizing deaths, leaving their corpses in the wild to infect other animals. A very few of them find their way via Good Samaritans to the Animal Institute's Wildlife Clinic, where we try to save them. Samantha's next-door neighbor in our clinic is Hope, who survived this horrendous disease, and is preparing to be released.
A sad and ironic note is that when humans do witness animals suffering this disease, they usually mistake it for rabies. We believe that more than 90% of the rabies cases reported in our community are actually Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) cases, and not rabies at all. While rabies can infect humans, distemper can not. We are not at risk. Unfortunately, animals suffering from this disease are slaughtered in error due to rabies fears, making it a tragedy twice over. And yet, the Animal Institute is learning more with each new case, continually pushing the boundaries of wildlife veterinary medicine, one patient at a time.
The Animal Institute is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit animal protection organization. If you would like to support our charitable lifesaving work in this community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation, which will be used to buy the necessary medications, patient
This little boy named Emerald came to the Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic suffering from the nearly 100% fatal canine distemper virus.
Emerald is entirely wild; neither tame nor imprinted. His docility is evidence that he is fighting for his life. The next few hours are critical, and his life hangs in the balance.
In partnership with Dr Justin & Cassie Verner at Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, we are treating Emerald with our experimental distemper protocol, in an attempt to save his life. Success requires us to arrest his neurological collapse, while maintaining functionality sufficient for releasability. It’s a race against time.
Please stand vigil with us for Emerald.
If you would like to support the charitable lifesaving work that the Animal Institute does in our community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
UPDATE: Emerald passed away peacefully early this morning. 😢💔
UPDATE: Despite our best efforts today, Queen died in my arms at exactly midnight.
WARNING: You will observe her seizures in this video.
Queen the juvenile fox came to the Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic today, after being struck in the head by a vehicle in Dahlonega, Georgia. In partnership with Dr Justin & Cassie Verner at Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, we are treating her for head trauma with seizures. If we are successful stabilizing her, then she will undergo medical imaging under anethesia in a few days. Until then, her condition remains very precarious.
Please stand vigil with us for Queen.
If you would like to support the charitable lifesaving work that the Animal Institute does in our community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
FABULOUS FOXY FREEDOM!
Amaretto the Fox came to the Animal Institute exactly one week ago in terrible condition from life-threatening mange. He could not open his eyes, could barely walk, and was quite simply defeated. I am very thankful to Glenn Horner for bringing Amaretto to us for treatment.
Thus started a focused week filled with hydration, nutrition, pain-relieving anti-inflamatories, antibiotics, vaccines, and Afoxolaner to kill the mange-causing mites. Help from special partners like Dr. Justin & Cassie Verner of Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, and Jackie Wilcox of Lucky's Place, were crucial to success.
A vet tech at Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital cut all the dead infected skin from Amaretto's anesthetized little body, and a careful detailed physical exam was performed at the same time by Dr. Justin & Cassie Verner, along with comprehensive x-rays.
All of this TLC made a huge difference, enabling Amaretto to make a miraculous and rapid recovery!
Tonight he happily sprang into freedom again, healed from mange, vaccinated against Rabies and Distemper, and with a satisfied belly full of chicken.
Moments like these are pure magic and joy! This is what wildlife rehabilitation is all about - saving lives.
The Animal Institute is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit animal protection organization. If you would like to support our charitable lifesaving work in this community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
( Please see the comments below for more videos and photos. )
Amaretto the Fox arrived at the Animal Institute just after noon on Monday, January 23, 2023. She was near death from extreme sarcoptic mange, barely able to move or see, and had all but given up on life from the constant torture her body was enduring.
During my lunch break from my remote 'day job' at Lockheed Martin, I administered NexGard chews to kill the mites besieging her body, as well as an antibiotic (SMZ) and a pain-relieving anti-inflammatory (Meloxicam) to start healing the devastation. Amaretto was also boosted with hydration and Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets Critical Nutrition.
I want to thank Dr. Justin & Cassie Verner of Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, and Jackie Wilcox of Lucky's Place, for their guidance and critical care supplies. All are amazing mentors and dear friends.
This video shows Amaretto's late evening feeding on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, just after medicines were administered, as she delicately eats from my hand. We have built a little trust, and when I scratch her under her chin, she purrs audibly.
We are encouraged by Amaretto's rapid progress, and hope to release her into the wild in a week or two. By the tume she is released, she will be vaccinated against Distemper and Rabies. Once released, it will take time for her scraggly coat to grow back to its original beautiful state.
The Animal Institute is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit animal protection organization. If you would like to support our charitable lifesaving work in this community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
It is a miracle that Hope is alive. The smallest act, like eating a scrumptious dinner, is a blessing to be treasured.
Hope is a child - a little girl with a dirty nose - who crushed overwhelming odds against her to beat a devastating disease called Distemper that is notorious for its nearly 100% mortality rate.
A week ago she came to the Animal Institute, close to death. Through our partnership with Dr. Justin & Cassie Verner at the Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, Hope has been receiving a novel Distemper treatment protocol designed to bring her back from the brink. And it worked!
Hope still has a long recovery in front of her to get to 'release', but that's ok because every day for the rest of her life is a gift.
The Animal Institute is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit animal protection organization. If you would like to support our charitable lifesaving work in this community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
Imagine your child struggling for life against a painful disease with a nearly-100% mortality rate. That is exactly what is happening to this little girl raccoon - just a child. Her name is Hope.
Canine Distemper is a horrible disease that devastates the victim en route to an agonizing death. I have lost count of how many times I have witnessed raccoons die from this terrible vicious disease - nearly always mistaken for Rabies, which is far less common in raccoons.
Yet hope remains - tenuous hope. A very few survive. So the Animal Institute's Wildlife Clinic, in partnership with the Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, is giving Hope every chance that veterinary medicine has to offer - hoping that she will be one to beat the odds.
If and when she begins seizures, Hope will have crossed the point of no return, and we will be forced to humanely euthanize her, in order to spare this child the worst screaming agonies of death.
Until Death comes, there is "hope with help" at the Animal Institute's Wildlife Clinic - "hope with help" for sweet little Hope.
As an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit animal protection organization, the Animal Institute is "hope with help", and we will always fight against the suffering and darkness, even though we know we will lose some of the battles.
Please stand vigil with us for Hope.
If you would like to support the charitable lifesaving work that the Animal Institute does in our community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
Four days ago, Blue (the raccoon) was nearly dead from extreme dehydration and alcohol poisoning. It took five hours of triage at the Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic to inject enough water and lactated ringers into Blue’s body so that she could survive that first night of treatment. She made it and has been improving ever since. Yesterday, Blue received Distemper and Rabies vaccinations at the Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, so that she may live out a long healthy happy life, without being a danger to humans, pets, or other animals. Blue was released at 7:05pm this evening in the same safe undisclosed location where her friend Houdini was released this weekend.
Thank you to Kathy Purtill for being Blue's "finder champion", and to Cassie Verner and Jackie Wilcox for their invaluable guidance and support.
If you would like to support the charitable lifesaving work that the Animal Institute does in our community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
This is what we ❤️ LOVE ❤️ to see from our patients at the Animal Institute's Wildlife Clinic! 🥰😍😘🦝
It means that she is doing better, and wants out of rehabber jail now. She has no idea that we just saved her life, so affection and gratitude are not to be expected.
As dear friend, mentor, and licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator Christy Reeves has noted,
"People don’t understand that we are thrilled when our patients are snarky and vicious!"
Raccoons are thoroughly misunderstood creatures. They are extremely smart problem solvers, with intelligence in the same range as canines amd non-human primates.
Raccoons are not aggressive creatures, but will resort to defensive violence when they feel cornered, threatened, and eacape is not possible.
In this video, this raccoon named Blue sees me as a giant predator who has cornered her in a cage from which escape is impossible. Blue's reaction is entirely rational and reasonable. She is literally fighting for her life, because she expects me to kill her momentarily.
Notice that Blue spontaneously urinates after the strike, which is a clear indicator of the fear she is experiencing.
Rather than inaccurately seeing Blue as aggressive, the insightful observer would feel great sympathy for the suffering caused by her misplaced terror.
We are thrilled to note that Blue will be released back into the wild in short order, and has received distemper and rabies vaccinations from our wildlife veterinarian partners at Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital. These vaccinations help ensure that Blue may live out a happy healthy life, and is not a danger to humans, pets, or other animals.
If you would like to support the charitable lifesaving work that the Animal Institute does in our community, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
https://animalinstitute.org/donate
Thank you!
Chris Benson
Licensed RVS Wildlife Rehabilitator
Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic
Houdini (the raccoon) was released this evening at 6:45pm ET at a safe undisclosed location!
Houdini had been hit by a vehicle on Kennesaw Due West Road in Cobb County, Georgia on Wednesday, December 28th. After two weeks of treatment at the Animal Institute’s Wildlife Clinic, Houdini received a clean bill of health earlier this week from Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital. X-rays verified there were no fractures, and the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory did their jobs well. While Houdini was under anesthesia for the x-rays and physical examination, Dr. Verner vaccinated him against rabies and distemper. ❤️
