Now that the state has only four centers accepting injured or orphaned wildlife, Director of the Acadiana Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Letitia Labbie said they’ve seen a drastic increase among birds of prey and the arrival is steady.
“They get hit by vehicles, they get gunshots, different things happen to them. Orphaned sometimes when trees are cut down, so I end up taking over as their caretaker until I can get them back into the wild,” said Labbie.
She said her average patient load increased by 200 this year at their Youngsville facility and they need donations to help offset costs. Labbie said they are regulated by State Wildlife so they must have specialized cages and more birds mean more food.
“So, some nights I go through about 50 mice a night, and four or five hundred insects that can average up to about two to three thousand dollars a month recently,” said Labbie. And that’s just owls, food expenses are close to $65,000 annually.
Assisting with the preservation of birds, Labbie said is important for the environment and it’s also extremely helpful with eradicating pests. For example, one owl depending on the species can consume up to five mice nightly.
“And then you can imagine if they have a full family of babies, some owls have up to five babies so you’re feeding, the mom and dad are killing up to five mice a night for each baby plus themselves,” said Labbie.
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