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Volume 14, No. 46
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE COMPLIMENTARY
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, September 1, 2022
Wildlife Rescue Rehabilitation Center Gets Calls 24/7
Master Falconer Charley Koop with a recent rescue
Carrie Thompson
Master Falconer Charley Koop and his wife Doris, a retired nurse specializing with the handicapped, did what many dream of doing in their retirement years: merging their two passions and continuing a life of great service. In 2005 together they established a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Little Eagle Farm, in Pittsfield, NY. INSIDE ► Helios Care receives $1,200 donation, page A2. ► A FEW THOUGHTS ON IMPORTANT THINGS: Our columnists and letter writers this week look at algae blooms, noise pollution with Cooperstown Firehouse siren, West Nile Virus, Livestock production and more, pages A4,5. ► Mayor Drnek gets covid, realizes the importance of teamwork,page A8. ► bassettt receives $82 million grant, page A8. ► GRAND AND GLORIOUS MOVES TO NEAhwA, page A8. ► COOPERSTOWN ARTISAN FESTIVAL BACK ON, Summer Dreams Insert Follow Breaking News On
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It began with a visit to his local vet Dr. Lisa Johnson’s office. While there, Charley heard the screams from a kestrel, recognizing it as such immediately. He asked Dr. Johnson if it was indeed a kestrel? She said “Yes! how do you know that?” “I used to raise them.” Leading to the obvious next question ─ “want to raise another?” He did, going on to get state licensing and meet the facility regulation requirements.
The rest as they say is wildlife aid and rescue history. “We are there to help in any way we can,” says Charley when asked how he and Doris approach the myriad of calls and situations they find themselves in. “We get calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If we can handle the situation we do or point people in the right direction to get help.” Over the last 17 years, the pair have taken in all kinds of raptors, including hawks, owls, falcons as well as fawns, bunnies, and bobcats! But no canines/no rabies. “We never know what the call will be, but we are ready and prepared for whatever and keep a catch pole by the front door. We have the capacity, land handling and feeding equipment to manage a diverse wildlife group. We care for them until they are rehabilitated well enough for reintroduction by keeping them in as natural a state as possible. So…no public viewing or visits are allowed.” Operating “The Dr. Doolittle Farm” as an all-volunteer organization, Charley and Doris have personally absorbed the costs of operating the facility totally out of pocket. When the state this past year mandated a new higher fencing requirement — taking their existing 4' no climb horse fence to a 8' solid fence — it created additional financial hardship on the couple and specifically kept them from taking in new fawns. Fawns, by state regulation, must be released by September 15, arriving in predictable seasonal need in May which gave the Koops very little time to adapt the property to the new fencing regulations. While told over the years he and Doris
were doing an “outstanding job” and providing exceptional community service, these new mandates certainly made the job harder to perform. In the past year, the Koops have made the journey nine times to Cornell Hospital, and rising fuel prices made this single component a $65 expense. Spread those costs out and multiply their time value and one gets a clear sense of the commitment the Koops have made to their recent life work. A real-time example, Charley got a call last night for a great horned owl sitting in someone’s driveway in Norwich. Once secured at the facility, Charley noted the bird was greatly emaciated and had an injured wing. Through years of experience, he speculated the bird had flown into a high tensile fence while night hunting. He explains that while owls have superb and even mythical eyesight, they actually track by motion, sound and feeling. They don’t perceive things at close range and in focus. He further explains that raptors do not take in their fluids by drinking water but by absorbing the bodily fluids from their prey. If they cannot hunt, they quickly dehydrate. Most people attempting to help a distressed bird administer droppers of water directly into the mouth, however birds have a hole in their tongue directly imputing to their lungs so this method accidently can cause the birds to drown. Charley explains they only use a spray mister and the bird absorbs the fluid they need thru the skin and beak indirectly and at the right amount. Continued on page 3
Weekly Medical News Editors note: The following is a compendium of medical news items and releases we found interesting over the last 10 days. Please let us know your thoughts on this feature at info@ allotsego.com .
General Information The CDC announced that it will make major changes to how it operates following what it admits was a failed response to COVID-19, monkeypox, and polio. Director Rochelle Walensky stated “my goal is a new public health oriented culture that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communications, and timeliness.” According to the National Center of Health Statistics, average life expectancy fell 1.8 years in the U.S. in 2020, the first year of the COVID pandemic, and because of “unintentional injuries” such as failure to seek timely care for other illnesses and increased drug overdoses. Vaccines are recommended. The ideal time to receive the vaccine is September or October, right before the flu season begins. The CDC says the vaccine can be given the same time
as the COVID vaccine, though there is no mention of whether it can be given with other vaccines. Note: some physicians feel that while reportedly safe, there should be some spacing between vaccines if for no other reason than to know that if there is a reaction which vaccine is causing it. In parts of the world where it is difficult to get to a vaccination site, giving them together makes sense.
COVID-19 According to the AMA, more than 40% of people hospitalized with the Omicron subvariant were vaccinated and boostered. “COVID incubation periods have fallen overtime,” according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The new strains are deadlier and cause symptoms sooner. Neither ivermectin or fluvoxamine had any impact of reducing severity, hospitalization, or deaths according to the New England Journal of Medicine. According to a Brookings Institute report between two and four million Americans aren’t working due to symptoms of long COVID
costing the economy approximately $170 in wages and causing 15% of the labor shortage. It says about 16 million people between 18 and 65 have long COVID.
Monkeypox There are no recorded deaths from monkeypox in the U.S. in over 17,000 reported cases. Worldwide there have been 47,000 cases and 15 deaths. That’s less than one death per 3,000 cases. In comparing mortality rates, measles is reported as approximately 1-2 per 1,000 and chickenpox is about 1 in 5,000 for adults, less in infants and children Monkeypox has some similar symptoms to chickenpox, shingles, herpes, syphilis, measles, and hand-foot-mouth disease, as well as smallpox, and could be misdiagnosed as these. Conversely the other illnesses can be misdiagnosed as monkeypox especially at times when it is prevalent. Monkeypox cases are falling in the United States according to the CDC which is “cautiously optimistic that the U.S. is slowing the spread of monkeypox.”
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD