Cathie Gregg: Wildlife Rehabilitation: Young wild animals found alone may not be lost

Spring and early summer in New Hampshire means the arrival of newborn and newly-hatched wildlife. But each year, the lives of many wild animals are upset by people who only mean to help. These people take animals from the wild in a mistaken attempt to help them. In fact, these would-be-rescuers are leaving the parent animals to search in vain for their offspring and are harming the young animals' chances of having a successful life in the wild, if they even live to be released. Young wild animals which survive improper human rearing to not have the skills necessary to fend for themselves in the wild. Seeing a young wild animal alone DOES NOT mean that it is abandoned, injured or needs assistance. In most cases, it is normal for parent animals to leave their offspring unattended for extended periods of time. And most times, the parents are actually nearby, watching their young but are reluctant to return while people are present.