Native wildlife.?

Question

I live in Minnesota. I plan on buying this land when im older (dont say anything like, well that land may not be there when your older. I got it coverd so please just answer the question) It has plenty of room with lots of different seprated acres.

I plan on having a rescure home for dogs, cats, horses, and wildlife. I already know i plan on rescuing wolf pups. I have the perfact spot alreadys, there are lots of trees and plenty of room for them to roam. More like what they are use to. Plus it doesnt get to hot here.

I live in Minnesota, what other wild life animasl are native there?

Answer 1

Rehabilitating Wildlife is a very difficult task to take on and should not be done while taking care of domestic animals.

You need a permit to rehabilitate wildlife, and wolves are extremely difficult and rare to get. Better to let the professionals at the Wolf Center handle the wolves.

Wildlife in minnesota that need rehabilitation include: raccoons, squirrels, bunnies, deer, ducks, geese, songbirds, shorebirds, bats, coyotes, foxes, bears (rarely and only certian rehabilitators WAY out in the middle of nowhere can rehabilitate them), woodchucks, muscrats, game birds, turtles, snakes, opossum, pigeons, crows, raptors.

I think that's about it for animals that we rehabilitate here in MN, of course there are always more, but not commonly seen. If you were to set up as an independant rehabilitator, you would really need to pick a specialty species or few species that you can care for. There is NO money in rehabilitation, you must pay for all of your expenses out of pocket and there is no income. Different species require different amounts of committment and varied skills and complex caging.

If you plan to rehabilitate at all, I recommend volunteering at Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release (inside the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley) or at the Wildlife Rehab Center (roseville). Then get your own permit and start caring for bunnies and squirrels.

From there you can expand to take care of other species, but the sooner you start volunteering the more you will know to be able to fully care for any species.

Answer 2

Dogs, cats, and horses are not native to minnesota.  'Saving' them will very likely kill much of the native wildlife.  If you must have dogs keep them contained, don't let them 'roam'.  The same goes double for cats.  Domesticated cats are a huge threat to songbirds and other possibly endangered wildlife.

Answer 3

If you can't get a book on Minnesota wildlife, try the Peterson series of field guides. They have range maps in almost all the guides. The one big exception is the bird guide but you can find range maps in the Golden Press book Birds of North America.

Don't spread yourself too thin. You can't save everything and the dogs and cats could interfere with your saving the wildlife. Start small and grow slowly and carefully.

You might be interested in going to the Science and Math forum on craigslist.org and asking for advice from RadonHuffer. He owns a huge tract in Michigan and has gotten himself a great education by keeping his eyes open. You can mention my handle, if you like.

Answer 4

The usual animals, bears, raccoons, beavers, squirrels, rabbits, deer, foxes, etc.

Answer 5

Many areas require special licenses to rehabilitate and/or keep wildlife, and I'd strongly recommend you take courses on the subject if you want to try. It can be surprisingly easy to kill them, especially young. For example, you might think baby birds would need water, but actually it can give them pneumonia. (Yeah, learned that one the hard way.)

As others have pointed out, it will also be extremely important to keep the domestic animals away from the wild ones. Cats and dogs are both very destructive to native wildlife populations, and wolves can be equally destructive in the opposite direction. A big dog would probably be okay, but wolves in Yellowstone routinely kill foxes and coyotes who stray into their territory. Additionally, domestic dogs carry diseases that can kill wolf pups, and some wild species can spread rabies or other diseases to domestic animals. (And people!) So be careful and do your research very, very thoroughly.

Meanwhile, consider volunteering at a nature center, zoo, veterinary clinic, raptor center, etc. to learn more.