American Coot Rescue – California Wildlife Encounters

An American Coot was inside a concrete parking garage at the Shriners Children Hospital in Sacramento. This is an extremely odd location for a coot. The design of their feet limits their mobility on hard surfaces. But this case gets even more interesting. The person who notified me about the coot stated that she found the coot a few days prior and took the coot home to care for it. She provided it with oat hay and fresh halibut to eat. These birds eat mostly aquatic plants and not fish. Lesson here is that it is always best to contact a licenced wildlife rehab facility first when finding an injured or orphaned wild animal. Using ArmOR Hand Animal Handling Gloves, I was able to take custody of the coot and transported the bird to Gold Country Wildlife Rescue.

-Ben Nuckolls, California Wildlife Encounters