AAAA it’s cold. 🥶 January is the coldest month of the year here in Chattanooga, and it’s a rough time for many wild animals.
Climate change is, perhaps surprisingly to many, causing more wild animals to freeze to death. Animals all over the world, including here in Tennessee, are giving birth out-of-season, changing their migration times and routes, and developing lighter fur coats as they adapt to a warming world. Mange has also become more common, and habitat destruction has left many animals without hollow trees and other natural shelters. When we experience cold snaps, our native wild animals are even less prepared to deal with them than their ancestors were fifty years ago.
If you happen to find a wild animal that is clearly critically cold, please help! If you can do so without jeopardizing your own safety, put the animal into a box or carrier and provide it with an external heat source, such as a seat warmer, heating pad, or hot water bottle. Do NOT get the animal wet or use a heat source that is uncomfortably hot to the touch.
No matter how hungry the animal may seem to be, please do NOT feed the animal. Cold animals cannot digest food and may have other medical emergencies, like dehydration or seizures, that need to be addressed before it is safe to feed them. Please contact a wildlife rehabilitator for further assistance.
For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue 