A rescued lynx\u00a0named Lumi\u00a0has been recovering in the care of the Wildlife\u00a0Haven\u00a0Rehabilitation\u00a0Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lumi the\u00a0lynx\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lumi first arrived at\u00a0Wildlife\u00a0Haven\u00a0last August after being found injured following a dog attack that killed her mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soon after Lumi\u2019s arrival, the team discovered a severe eye injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we named her \u2014 we knew she could not survive in the wild,\u201d\u00a0says executive director at Wildlife Haven, Zoe Nakata.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lumi\u2019s condition became more serious when she later developed seizures, prompting round-the-clock\u00a0care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0got the best folks caring for these animals. My staff was sleeping at the\u00a0centre\u00a0because she was on seizure watch 24 hours a day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the team was able to stabilize Lumi\u2019s condition and adjust\u00a0her medications, making her seizure-free for more than two months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0big\u00a0question still remained: why did she develop seizures?\u00a0<\/p>\n
To\u00a0determine\u00a0the cause, Lumi\u00a0was transported\u00a0to the Ontario Veterinary College of Medicine for an MRI, a procedure\u00a0not available\u00a0in Manitoba\u00a0for large wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out that the same injury to her eye caused likely something called \u2018trauma-induced epilepsy,\u201d\u00a0she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nakata explains the head trauma and eye injury trigger\u00a0epilepsy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is to keep her comfortable, seizure-free\u00a0and spunky. We\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want her to be sedated her whole life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nakata says she hopes Lumi will eventually move to Assiniboine Park Zoo, where she can serve as an ambassador animal, helping educate the public about\u00a0lynx\u00a0and\u00a0wildlife\u00a0conservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Winter at\u00a0the\u00a0facility\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond Lumi\u2019s story, Nakata says winter brings fewer animals to the rehabilitation\u00a0centre, but often cases\u00a0requiring\u00a0complex care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the season, they have cared for a number of snowy owls, otters and\u00a0one\u00a0pelican.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just released one (owl) this weekend and we have another one that\u2019s almost healed from a broken wing,\u201d explains Nakata.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nakata explains that 93 to 96 per\u00a0cent of Wildlife Haven cases can be traced back to\u00a0human\u00a0activity, from vehicle collisions to unsecured dogs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She says Wildlife Haven\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0here to interfere with\u00a0nature but\u00a0will step in when\u00a0humans cause the injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe it\u2019s our responsibility to\u00a0try\u00a0to\u00a0remediate where we can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0so grateful that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0able to put a bit of balance back into our ecosystem and protect our biodiversity,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supporting Wildlife Haven\u00a0<\/p>\n
To help support animals like Lumi, Wildlife Haven is hosting its sixth annual Art for Wildlife Auction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The online fundraiser begins Friday, Feb. 13, and features original artwork from local artists inspired by the\u00a0centre\u2019s\u00a0animal patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More information about the auction can be found on their website.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With files from Corny Rempel\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rescued lynx\u00a0named Lumi\u00a0has been recovering in the care of the Wildlife\u00a0Haven\u00a0Rehabilitation\u00a0Centre.\u00a0 Lumi the\u00a0lynx\u00a0 Lumi first arrived at\u00a0Wildlife\u00a0Haven\u00a0last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-467176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}