Wildlife shelter sets new boundaries to protect its staff and animals

A porcupine at the Procyon Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre in Beeton, Ont. (Photo Courtesy: Procyon Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre)

A local shelter has set new boundaries to prevent the spread of a whole host of diseases.

The Procyon Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre announced it would not accept animals from more than 50 kilometres away from its facility in Beeton.

"A few weeks ago, we as a board decided to limit the radius we can take in animals," said Sarah Marrs-Bruce, a volunteer and an animal care assistant.

"We did this because of a few things. We need to make sure we have enough staff and we are finding that there are some diseases that are showing up that require additional quarantines. If we continue with the large radius, we won't be able to service our direct community."

Marrs-Bruce said with the new Avian influenza virus, monkeypox, chronic wasting disease and rabbit hemorrhagic disease, not only do they have to quarantine animals for longer periods, they have to limit the staff who can care for those animals for fear of spreading the disease.

The new 50 km radius is necessary because, according to Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, once the animal is healthy, it must be returned to within 15 kms of where it was discovered.

"And it stresses the animals in some cases who have been "raised" together – we can't release (them) near each other if they come from away," Marrs-Bruce said.

Now, with an eye to infectious diseases, animals from a distance can't be housed together either, so the wildlife shelter gets back into staffing and contamination concerns, she said.

By way of example, Marrs-Bruce said earlier this year they had a few instances of fox kits with avian flu, which had migrated north with water fowl and other birds.

"The foxes that came in were having seizures. We thought it was rodent poison. We sent it for testing. And it came back with HPAI (avian influenza) - it had jumped species. So there was fear of mutation, so those animals had to be quarantined – which also restricts the staff that can care for them," she said.

All but one fox survived.

"We haven't seen or heard of humans picking HPAI up, (but) we don't want to chance creating or exposing anyone in the wrong way to create mutations," she said.