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Eaton Rapids animal lovers to the rescue after oil spill
News Articles | Eaton Rapids Community News | MARY JO WHITE | August 30, 2010
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Several Eaton Rapids animal lovers have volunteered to help the parade of tarry wildlife that has been flowing into the rescue site in Marshall over the weeks since the Kalamazoo River was contaminated by the Enbridge oil spill.
Canada geese, herons, mallard ducks, snakes, green frogs, muskrats, turtles – all kinds of turtles from the small map to large snappers – they’ve seen it all.
In fact, the site was handling between 40 and 50 new animals a day at its peak soon after the spill.
Louise Sagaert, a special ed teacher and consultant at Eaton Rapids High School, has been extremely busy even though school is out for the summer. Until recently she has been in Marshall almost every day, leaving the running of her own Wildside Wildlife Rehab Center in Eaton Rapids to her mom, Barbara. Sagaert did everything from tube feeding ducks and geese who can’t eat normally because of dehydration to vacuuming and other household chores.
She also became an expert at cleaning the animals in the room dubbed “Turtle Central” and fixing meals for the three resident muskrats waiting to be released into the wild.
Muskrats, it seems, like a tasty meal of lettuce, fruit, and dry cat and rodent food with an extra dash of three smelt.
Hamlin Township fire department captain Darlene Smith, aka the “Goose Wizard,” is another volunteer whose background, including haz-mat training, has proven invaluable in Marshall. Smith, who has run Lansing Area Search and Rescue for the last 21 years, is used to rescuing domestic and wild animals from walls and drains and trees. She also searches for missing people.
“If you can dream it up, we’ve done it,” Smith said.
Usually she tries to assist those who call for help to solve their problems themselves (she averages about 1,000 calls a year) before she makes a run in her emergency truck.
In Marshall, though, she and other volunteers, along with some paid staff, must do it all.
On Aug. 18 Smith, clad in a white Tyvex suit to avoid contamination, was putting feed into the indoor bird pens. Each pen is shrouded in sheets and has a cushioned floor to avoid bumblefoot, a condition in which webbed feet become infected from walking on hard surfaces like concrete.
Tagged with: enbridge, oil spill, kalamazoo river, animals, eaton rapids
