Jiha Humayun lifts the corner of a green towel covering a small cage and two round, black eyes peer out from the darkness beneath.
It’s a six-week old raccoon who’s been abandoned by his mother and ended up in the 26-year-old’s care at the Toronto Humane Society.
Humayun supervises the wildlife rehabilitation department at the shelter.
Standing in the baby wildlife room, she explains over the chattering and squeaks of tiny squirrels and raccoons that although it’s hard not to adore the little critters, it’s her job not to get attached.
“You have to make sure you don’t socialize with them; you’ve got to keep them covered, which is very hard but to domesticate them is to ruin their lives,” she says.
She’s been working at the shelter for six years; starting in admissions she worked her way to supervisor and is now considered the resident wildlife expert.
She loves her job and more often then not, spends most of her day at her Queen and River street workplace.
The shelter takes in all kinds of wildlife including a large number of raccoons and squirrels, a variety of birds such as pigeons with leg fractures, ducks with broken wings, seagulls, Canada Geese and swans.
Baby squirrels stay for 10 to 14 weeks, raccoons for 12 to 20 weeks and the birds stay for as long as is necessary for a team of veterinarians and technicians to fix whatever is broken.
When animals are dropped off at the wildlife rehabilitation centre, intake workers make careful notes on where they were found so they can be returned to their original habitat when they’re ready to be released.
While at the shelter they’re kept in darkened, covered cages and Humayun and her colleagues make sure to have as little interaction with them as possible to avoid imprinting.
“Imprinted means they get used to people and they’re not scared of them anymore, and we want them to be scared of people,” she explains.
The baby animals are slowly weaned off of formula and given solid foods like seeds and nuts. Upon return to their natural habitats, the shelter employees bring food to the site for a few days, intermittently, until the animals can fend for themselves.
The success rate for reintegration into their natural habitat is high, Humayun says.
“Usually they just run off; they don’t even look back,” she says with a laugh.
The wildlife rehabilitation centre takes in lost, abandoned or injured animals found in the wild but Humayun says it’s important for the general public to know when to rescue an animal and when to leave it alone.
“We advise them to leave them out there and give the mom a chance to get the baby, because 98 per cent of the time they’ll move them,” she says.
“The best thing is for the babies just to be with mom.”
For baby animals that appear to have been lost or abandoned, the shelter recommends leaving them exactly where they are for 24 hours. If the mother has not returned by this time they may need help but it’s important to call the shelter first. For more information on the Toronto Humane Society and its wildlife rehabilitation centre, visit torontohumanesociety.com.
