\ By Nancy Cowing Umphres

It was 2:30 p.m. on a Friday and I had decided to go by our local animal shelter to see if they had a report of a lost female blue heeler. The dog had showed up in our neighborhood that morning. There were trucks in front but no one answered my knock. The door was locked, so I wandered around to the back thinking someone might be cleaning the cages. To my surprise, in the first cage I came across sat a very unhappy-looking baby javelina. She was probably only six to eight weeks old and was not getting the care she needed. A javelina of this age needs a minimum of three milk feedings a day. She would still be nursing her mother in the wild.
I was unable to find anyone at the shelter so I drove over to the building where I had spotted some county workers and questioned them. They informed me that someone might be back around 4:00. I asked them if anyone came to feed the animals on the weekends. They said they thought someone came in the afternoons.
As I drove back to town I tried the animal shelter phone number and reached a secretary obviously answering from another office. She informed me that the animal control officers had left for the weekend. I asked why a baby javelina had been left at the shelter and she informed me that it had been trapped and that it would probably die or be put to sleep. My hackles began to rise as I informed the woman that the javelina should have been brought to the Zapata Wildlife Rescue, not left to die a slow death from neglect. She said she would contact her supervisor and get back to me.
I had just about reached home when I received a call from the same woman informing me that the animal control officers could meet me in 15 minutes back at the shelter. I rushed back to the center, grabbed my gloves, a towel, and a pet taxi, and headed back to the shelter.
The officers had already arrived and did not look very happy about the whole situation. Their only concern seemed to be how I knew that there was a javelina in their pen. I was told they had only had it a day or two and were feeding it corn. I started to explain that this was not sufficient for a javelina of such a young age but realized I was wasting my breath and time. I crawled into the cage and caught the poor terrorized animal and rushed her back to the center.
I set the baby up in the hospital cage and gave her an examination. Someone had cut off all four of her needle-like tusks, her only means of defense. After she sucked up a bowl of goat milk and settled down for a nap, I headed back to town to do some grocery shopping.
One thing about a small town is that word travels fast, and I soon found out all the facts on the javelina situation. I just happened to run into the man who had called the shelter and demanded they try and trap the animals. He is a retired individual who I have known for many years. He and his wife had come to many of our programs and presentations. He told me that the baby had been trapped a week ago and that the animal control officers had told him that they would release it on a ranch. He also related how the herd had tried for hours to rescue the baby once it was in the cage.
His reason for wanting the animals trapped? He put out some bird seed and didn't want other animals to eat it and, oh yes, a neighbor had a small watermelon they had left in a planter and he wanted that melon. I supressed my growing rage and calmly explained that the baby didn't have a chance on its own at such a young age and that it had spent a week of neglect due to the trapping. He continued to make weak excuses and I continued to try and calmly inform. Probably yet another waste of time and energy.
I don't know which is the most upsetting: the stupidity of people who retire to the countryside and have zero tolerance for the natural world around them, or the inhumane treatment by supposed professionals. The thought of that family of javelinas desperately trying to rescue their little one continues to haunt me.
Ivy, the baby javelina, is now safe with her foster father Rambo. She should be with her own mother and herd, but this will have to do for now. The decline of the javelina population continues in our area due mainly to inhumane encroachment and ignorance.

(The Zapata Wildlife Rescue Center can be contacted by mail at 6812 STOP 68A, Zapata, TX 78076-2913, by phone at (956) 765-8526, or e-mail at dreams@zapata.border.net. Those interested in visiting should call ahead for directions.)