Rehabilitating Rare Wildlife Patients
By Hope Bidegainberry on May 10, 2018
Two baby long-tailed weasels are currently being treated at the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA’s (PHS/SPCA) Wildlife Care Center. The weasels were found abandoned on a hiking trail in Half Moon Bay and brought to PHS/SPCA by the Good Samaritans who found them.
“These nocturnal animals are rarely even seen by humans, so we could hardly believe our eyes when these tiny baby long-tailed weasels were brought to our Wildlife Care Center,” said PHS/SPCA’s Communications Manager Buffy Martin Tarbox. “Even though they are native to the Bay Area, we have only ever admitted one other weasel in our center since we opened our Wildlife Care Center.”
The weasels were brought into PHS/SPCA on April 23 and are estimated to now be about 4 ½ weeks old. One is male and the other is female and both are in good health and thriving.
Long-tailed weasels are ferocious predators and hunt squirrels, gophers, rats, cottontails, and even insects. They are nocturnal and solitary hunters and rarely seen by humans.
“The weasels are doing very well and we expect to release them back into the wild when they reach about eight weeks old,” according to Tarbox. “It’s an honor to rehabilitate these elusive native animals.”
PHS/SPCA’s Wildlife Care Center successfully rehabilitates 1,200 to 1,400 animals each year and is funded entirely by donations.