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Howling with Joy

Coyote Pup Rescue

June 23, 2016

Joy-2673On Tuesday, June 21, our newest rescue arrived at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The tiny, 9-week-old coyote pup has already captured the hearts of the dozens of cat people that work at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.

Although we are mainly a big cat refuge, on occasion, we do take in non-feline animals. We currently house 7 bears, 1 coati, 1 rhesus macaque monkey, 1 blue/gold macaw, 1 duck, and now 1 coyote. We are animal people and every so often a plea for help touches our hearts so much that we cannot turn away.

Joy was given to us by animal rehabilitator, John, who found Joy, sick, malnourished, and rejected by her mother. His initial hope was to return her to the wild, but the longer he had her the more he knew it would not be possible. After spending time at the vet, getting fluids and antibiotics, she finally was healthy enough to find a new home.

Due to her initial health issues and the fact that Joy is a melanistic coyote, meaning her fur is mostly black, she would never be accepted into a pack. A short, lonely life for a coyote. John didn’t have the area to keep a full grown coyote forever, so he reached out to us and we just couldn’t say no.

Initially, John raised Joy with minimal human interaction, since his original goal was to return her to the wild, so she is very nervous around humans at the point in time. We are keeping the tiny girl at Rescue Ridge until she has settled in a bit and grown.Joy the Melanistic Coyote

We will need to either build Joy a habitat or ‘fix’ one of our existing habitats for her before moving her out of Rescue Ridge. Coyotes are diggers so we will need to bury fencing in the ground so that she cannot dig her way out of a habitat. Currently, our only habitat that is this way is occupied by Flip, the coati.

We have time before we need to relocate her, she is currently too small to move into a big habitat. She is happy relaxing in her Rescue Ridge night house, with a thick shade cloth to keep her cool in the shade. Only a few people actually work and visit Rescue Ridge so her human introduction will be slow, helping with a less stressful transition.

Our supporters have also shown their love of Joy. Within 24 hours she already has a sponsor and several adopters. This little girl is quickly capturing everyone’s hearts and we are so very glad that she has joined the Turpentine Creek family.

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