Spring’s arrival is hard to miss here at Wildlife Rescue. The phones buzz wildly with news of mothers and babies and the often-preventable tragedies that tear their tender lives apart. The rooms of the clinic fill with hundreds of minute opossums, squirrels, and raccoons, many of whose tiny eyes have yet to open. The lives of these young charges rest on their own determination for life and the patience and tender care offered by our staff and volunteers.

Yes, the renewal trumpeted by our celebrated bluebonnets and Mexican redbuds is replicated in the animal kingdom, too. It is nature’s way – and this is her generous season.

 Sadly, humans are not always equally generous. One clear example of this was the thoughtless resident who should have known better when he laid out his trap earlier this month seeking to terminate what life he could. When the door snapped shut on the mother gray fox he should have known the meaning of her rounded middle. Although these incredible creatures do devour their share of rabbits, rats, and mice, a fox this pregnant can be hard to miss.

 The trapper turned the animal into a local animal control facility to have the mother killed. He obviously didn’t consider the pups or the abandoned male left behind (foxes are monogamous, mating for life). However, something inside the officer who received the fox rebelled on seeing that swollen, sheltering middle. Our phone rang. And within a few days, the foxes were born here at our sanctuary in Kendalia.

This time of year, traffic accidents, trapping, and poisons devastate not only the lives you see. Often, there is a litter or nest just paces away where resounding suffering is sure to follow. How else would we explain the hundreds of opossums already crowding our clinic? But devastating errors are sometimes made at the other end of the spectrum, as well.

Well-meaning, but uninformed residents, often “rescue” young animals who are perfectly capable of making it on their own. They may find a fawn seemingly abandoned in a field, or a fledgling bird fluttering about on the ground. Each of these cases is completely normal. It often takes fledging birds a couple days to come to terms with the challenge of taking to the air. Fawns require so much from their mothers that the does must forage night and day to produce food for their newborns. Wildlife mothers are devoted to their young and you can bet they are close by watching every time you tread near their youngster.

Remember, a baby’s best chance of survival is being reunited with the mother, though there are times that a helping hand is needed.

Sometimes it is simply a matter of putting a still-pink nestling back in her nest. It is not true that momma birds will reject their young if they have been handled, so don’t worry about this popular fallacy. Also, if an animal is obviously wounded and in danger from fire ants or some predator (your cat or dog included), it will need your assistance. Wearing thick gloves, place the animal in a box and keep him warm. Call Wildlife Rescue for assistance as soon as possible.

In the case of the gray fox mother, we set her out in an open enclosure with her litter, hoping that given enough time and privacy she would relocate her young and continue to give them the nurturing they so desperately need. Obviously traumatized, she instead ran off not to return. It is now the responsibility of our staff to do what they can to make this matter right – a tragedy that never should have been.

We know that life does not always triumph. We understand death as part of nature, too. Sadly, too many people don’t ever ask themselves what their responsibility is to the wild lives we share this earth with. It would stun them to be told that the Golden Rule applies to all of our relatives – not just the human variety.

 This baby season is a perfect time to ask yourself how you will choose to live amongst the wildlife who are your neighbors and who deserve your respect. As the dominant species on the planet, the way humans live affects all life everywhere. The celebration of spring this year need not be marred by the callous acts of a few.

 Upon deep reflection, you may decide quite suddenly that your purpose is to live with an open hand and an open heart to the life surging around you. Or the realization may settle in more slowly, as the colors and songs of the season weave their way among us. However it comes, the sense of connection it brings is guaranteed to put a thrill in your heart to last a lifetime.

Lynn Cuny is the founder and director of Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Kendalia, Texas. She is the author of two books, “Through Animal Eyes” and “Through Animals Eyes, Again.” Her monthly column “Wild Lives” examines animal issues and the intricacies of human-wildlife relationships.