These babies are adorable, but they have gotten some ouchies from a source you may never have thought of!
From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center
We would like to remind homeowners to avoid using fertilizers! If you must use fertilizer, please water it into the soil to prevent causing chemical burns to wildlife.
Every year we receive screech owl fledglings into our care because of chemical burns to their feet. This is a very painful experience for young animals to endure. Without understanding what to do, they remain in place, allowing the burns to keep causing damage, sometimes down to the bone.
Just because something is safe to us doesn’t mean the same for our animal friends. Always be mindful of what chemicals you are using and where they may end up!
I’m also a fan of fish and shellfish and…well…just about all animals, and runoff puts all this stuff in the water too.
I appreciate what chemical fertilizers have done for the world, but now that we’ve improved on those problems, we should work on minimizing their use and improving their safety for all things. Trading one set of problems for another isn’t an acceptable solution.