Freckles

The Valerie H. Schindler Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at the NC Zoo treats about 1000 native creatures in need annually. It is totally funded by the private sector through the NC Zoo Society and it is entirely run by volunteers, who get aid and assistance from volunteer practitioners at the Hanes Veterinary Medical Complex at the Zoo.

Volunteer Carol Kaszmarek has shared some articles written for the Schindler Center volunteers, called "Volunteer Views", with me. They tell of some of the more interesting challenges to the Center volunteers, who do not name their patients, since those patients are wild animals destined to be returned to the wild, near where they were found (usually by caring folks who know the Schindler Center is a good place to bring orphaned and injured wildlife).

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Carol does think of this one patient as "Freckles". You will learn why.

Freckles is a large black rat snake. Freckles "decided to set up housekeeping in one of the zoo exhibit areas," Carol reports.

Since the area was the cougar habitat, things did not go well for Freckles. After the zoo keepers lured the big cats away from their "plaything" and rescued the rat snake, "the vet counted 50 puncture wounds on the snake's body. Amazingly, as x-ray showed, there were no injuries to the major internal organs."

Volunteers worked long to spare Freckles from serious infection. Freckles was placed on oral antibiotics and "rehab volunteers flushed out each wound with a disinfectant several times a day."

As he healed, "his beautiful black skin had scar tissue form which looked like clusters of freckles."

Shedding was the next problem. A snake should shed its skin as a single piece. As they grow, they must shed. A snake can strangle if a piece of skin encircling the body does not shed. Freckles' skin was coming off in bits and pieces. Human help, with tweezers, was required.

Freckles second shed was better..."coming off in several large pieces".

They just wanted a "one-piece" shed before they released Freckles. The snake, however, almost messed that up.

"Recently, when answering the phone, I was surprised to see the head of a black rat snake pop up next to the computer screen," Carol explains. Freckles had made a foolish escape and had become tangled in the computer's wires.

Freckles finally had a successful, complete shed and has been released on the NC Zoo's 1450-acre site.

"So if you see a black snake with what looks like a group of freckles...And if he is heading toward the cougar exhibit...please turn him around. Some animals, just like some people, never learn," Carol observes.