Articles & Resources

"I Found a Baby Animal, What Should I Do?"
By Melanie Pearson, Director of Animal Care

Spring is here and with it an onslaught of calls to local nature centers and wildlife rehabilitators with the same message: "I found a baby (insert animal here). What do I do?" Most baby animals that you see will be fine if left alone and undisturbed. Baby deer (fawns), for instance, are often left in a secure location for many hours while their mother searches for food. The fawns will instinctively stay very still to help them remain undetected by predators. The mother will return to the fawn when it is safe. It is generally best to leave baby wildlife alone. If you are certain the animal has been injured or orphaned, you will need to seek the assistance of a wildlife rehabilitator. The New Canaan Nature Center is not permitted to accept injured wildlife but we can direct you to someone who is.

You may also call one of the following animal rehabilitators directly:
Wildlife in Crisis: (203) 544-9913
Wildlife Orphanage: (888) 727-6774 (leave a message)

Click here to download a chart that will help you to determine what to do when you come upon a baby animal this spring.

The New Canaan Nature Center is home to more than 30 different species of domestic and wild animals which we use for our education programs. Unfortunately, we also find a number of animals that people release onto our property, sometimes illegally, but always to the detriment of the animal and to our native wildlife.

We get many calls from people who wish to remove nuisance wildlife from their property. In some cases, such as raccoons, it is illegal to trap them yourself. In other cases, such as groundhogs, it is legal to trap them humanely, but you must have the permission of the property owner before you can release them. In the case of the property surrounding the New Canaan Nature Center, you must have the town's permission to release any wildlife here. If you have questions regarding trapping nuisance wildlife, you can contact the DEP at 860-675-8130.

As far as domestic animals go, it is never a good idea to release them into the wild. We recently discovered two young iguanas on our property that had been released by someone who could no longer care for them. Iguanas are a South American animal and would most certainly not survive the cooler temperatures we have here in Connecticut for very long. The two iguanas we found were extremely skinny because they could not find the proper food for themselves and were covered in parasites. Rabbits are another animal commonly released into the wild, especially around Easter when many people get them as pets not realizing the amount of care they require. Domestic rabbits can often survive the climate in the northeast but have trouble finding food and more often than not fall prey to predators such as hawks and foxes.

In some cases, an animal is able to survive on its own, but at the expense of native wildlife populations. Red eared sliders are very common turtles in the pet trade, but tend to live longer, get bigger, and require more care than most people are expecting. They are frequently released into local ponds and can survive quite well, but are not native to this area. They grow larger than many of our native turtle species, such as painted turtles, and compete with them for habitat and food. This competition often affects the number of native turtles we have in the wild. In some cases, exotic wildlife can completely eliminate native species, causing them to become endangered and potentially extinct.

In short, releasing native or exotic species is rarely a good idea unless you have the authority and permission to do so. In the case of native wildlife, it's usually best to contact the proper authorities and have the animals removed by professionals. In the case of exotic pet species, it is never appropriate to release them into the wild. If you need assistance placing a pet you can no longer care for, you can contact the nature center at (203) 966-9577 and we can direct you to a rescue group that can help you out.