Snug Harbor Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary

06/08/2026

Gerry said he can feed himself now and doesn’t need my help. (Didn’t have the heart to tell him it was upside down) His physical therapy has still been baby steps but we do see little improvements!

06/08/2026

One of my good friends grew up with her dad being a wildlife biologist, so naturally she is all about learning and being inquisitive about all the things over here. Jess and I met by her rehabbing a squirrel and contacting me for help to make sure she was doing all the right things for their squirrel Scrat. She took two of mine to raise with him so it would make his release out here easier being with a group. They were released together and living their best squirrely lives out here.

Jess and her daughter Lauren come over often to hang out which ends up in helping with the animals since that’s my every waking moment, feeding, cleaning and repeat. But my favorite is when we have animals that come in they haven’t had the chance to ever see up close. Yesterday it was an armadillo and a bat.

For safety reasons they don’t handle the RVS, but I absolutely love this picture Aubrey got of them (wearing their Snug Harbor Wildlife shirts lol) watching over me while I fed Ferngully. Lauren is a huge animal lover and watching her eyes light up being around these guys, she tells her friends all about them and you can just see the love and compassion she has for them. She even has been trying to recruit volunteers, has helped at several events. At our last event she took over fully for a few moments calling people over, telling them who Snug Harbor Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary is, what we do and how to get in touch if they ever find an animal. So if we ever get a payroll going she’s going to need to be on it! Lol!

Getting these kids involved and watch them spread the awareness and educate others makes me so insanely happy and proud!!! When kids learn, they talk to friends about it, teach their parents, and then hold others accountable. Whether it’s picking up litter to not harm the animals, turning around to go check an opossum that was hit by a car to see if she had babies, or telling others how important each of these animals are in our ecosystems- they are making a difference!!!

🦇A few fun bat facts:🦇

⭐️A single bat can eat up to ONE THOUSAND mosquito sized insects an HOUR!!!!!

⭐️A nursing mama bat about 4500 in a night. That is incredible and free pest control!

⭐️There are 47 different species of bats here in the United States. 1400 species world wide!!

⭐️During winter hibernation, their metabolism slows down to only needing to take a breath every 10 minutes. This allows them to survive without food for several months! But not all bars hibernate.

⭐️Bats can live up to 20 years in the wild, with records of up to 40 years in captivity!

⭐️Over 300 kinds of fruit depend on bats for pollination!

⭐️Bats are the only flying mammal!

⭐️Bat conservation is much needed- 10 of the 47 species here in North America are listed as endangered and the percentages climb more every year with destroyed woodlands and changes in our world.

⭐️There are about 80 medications that come from plants that are reliant on bats for pollination.

These guys are so much more amazing and important that we realize. We challenge you to share some of these neat facts with at-least 5 friends and do the same with them. Word of mouth when it comes to bringing awareness is the most powerful tool.



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06/07/2026

Somebody asked us how Shrimp is doing the other day. And well here she was….lol she stays on the move so much when out and about that most pictures I get are blurred. She’s still small for her age and her demeanor is not up to par for what I would like for release. With how weak and sick she was when she came in she needed so much extra attention. We may attempt to move her to pre release and see how she does whether this season or next and hope she is like Miss Kahara and stays close by, visiting daily and thriving.

The biggest hurdle I worry about is with her being a smaller build is if she were to get pregnant if it would harm her. She’s probably between 3/4 the size of others her age. As her hormones shift the next few months things may change help her size and demeanor amp up some. As much as I love her to pieces and her story grabbed so many peoples heart strings, I never want to cheat them of the life they should have out in the wild. We of course have the spot in the sanctuary for her if SHE needs it, but 10-14 years in captivity we want to make sure that’s what’s best for her.

Every release can be emotional until you watch them run into the woods or jump in the trees for the first time and see them light up at the world around them. So we shall see what’s in store for her in the recent months ahead! Other than her size and gentle personality she’s incredibly healthy girl- such a blessing from what she came in like fighting for her life, 30 grams, no hair and body stuck in survival mode.

Picture in comments from when she came in, she was fed cows milk for a few weeks before we were contacted about her. Cows milk and kitten milk can be very toxic to wildlife, we have a lot of babies that come in that have been fed these and don’t make it. She beat all the odds and seeing her so big and beautiful now just makes us so proud!

06/06/2026

We are operating at max capacity right now, and still doing our best to not turn away any intakes and calls. We do need help from our community big time!

We are running out of space, man/woman power needs extra caffeine and resources are going as quickly as they come in. We have been very fortunate to have received several grants recently to help with getting enclosures built and help with formula etc. We have placed orders for more formula for several species this week totaling to about $1500. All of our baby raccoons are getting vaccinated with some of our last years stock, we need several more trays to make sure each raccoon gets 2-3 canine distemper shots and same for feline distemper. We have 33 raccoons in our care at the moment!

Outside of routine operations, we have several projects needing volunteers and sponsorships. We have a few prefab catio enclosures and kennels needing assembly, a few enclosures we need built from scratch, and a covered deck to add to our rehab building to hold more roll out caging for when we get into the building.

Our plans for a facility are already coming along faster than we thought and looking like our 5 year plan maybe fast forwarded to a 1-2 year plan! This not only is amazing for us, the animals but the Chapin community too. We have conservation programs in the works and plan to extend programs to local schools in our community for shadow opportunities for those who plan to go into vet medicine.

We want the whole process from start to finish with a facility to be a community project and involvement. Getting our youth involved, showcasing local companies who want to help us on our journey and so much more.

Many people don’t realize how we currently operate unless you have been to drop off an animal. About 75-80% of my home in particular is dedicated to animal care. We have grown so insanely fast due to word of mouth and need help to get these guys into our volunteer building and more outdoor enclosures set up to have more volunteer opportunities and get our educational/conservation goals underway!

How can you help?

Word of mouth, donations, sponsorships from companies, trades people- do you have left over flooring from jobs, want to sponsor the concrete pour for the facility, or any other part of the construction process no matter how big or small, sponsor the or donate towards deck project materials, sponsor a squirrel enclosure etc.

We can send packets of sponsorship information with any financial records and plans for these projects, we plan to post our financial reports to our website soon- full transparency is so important to us so you know where your donations go.

We are so insanely appreciative of everyone’s help that has gotten us to this point and support we continuously receive to help these animals! We can’t do what we do with out yall!!

💌 Our email address is 💌
[email protected]

We can gladly set up any in person meetings and in person walk through of how we are operating now, and where all of these plans will be taking place.

Any donations can be made via our website

www.SnugHarborWildlifeSC.com/donate

Our Cashapp/Venmo: SnugHarborWildlifeSC

Or our PayPal

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=2nfzf8rldrrmj&fbclid=iwy2xjawhio9blehrua2flbqixmaabhy7gi4t5ufycvaok7fxxrbzojpv0fzbubuhh7g9iit23pcsn1uchrtgrta_aem_ddtozq2jofblkgfylloqmw

Remember all donations are tax deductible since we are a 501(c)3 so if you ever need a receipt just let us know and we will get you one sent over for your records!

We hope everyone’s having a great weekend, back to feeding all these hungry little mouths!

💜,

The Snug Harbor Wildlife Family

06/05/2026

😍 What score would you give this face on the boop-ability scale? 😍

06/05/2026

Calling all plane owners!!! We will now be taking applications for air transport volunteers! How amazing

We received a call today out of Kingston about a young orphaned raccoon.

According to the homeowner, Brian, a couple of days ago their dog chased off the mama raccoon and a sibling. Since then, this little one had been hanging around the property on its own. Today, the homeowner was able to safely contain the baby and reached out for help.

We quickly connected him with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who had space available, but it was a bit of a drive away. Bryan asked if there was anyone closer, and when we told him unfortunately there wasn’t, he casually said, “No problem. I have an airplane so I’m going to fly it to her.”

We’ll be honest… we thought it was sarcasm.

It was not.

So this little raccoon just secured one of the most unexpected transport upgrades in wildlife rescue history.

A huge thank you to everyone who stepped in quickly to make sure this baby gets exactly where it needs to go. Safe travels, little one. Not many raccoons can say they’ve flown their way into rehab.

And a huge thank you to the pilot… still processing that part, but respect. 🫡
Not all heroes wear capes. Some have wings. ✈️

06/05/2026

This is Freddy, most people who would come across a raccoon walking in circles like this would immediately think rabies.

But this is what head trauma can look like, and what walking in circles is usually an indicator of in most species.

Freddy was found about a month ago in the road here in Chapin. He is about 7-8 weeks old and the size of a 4 week old baby. As he’s been growing we are fairly confident he is blind or has limited vision.

Hes been through all the quarantine steps and is able to be paired with others but it honestly scares him. Part of his head trauma he bites on just about anything including his own hands when he knows a bottle is coming his way.

Freddy is one of 4 animals we will be making vet appointments for next week to talk about plans, quality of life and next steps for. He’s been dewormed and treated with antibiotics to rule out any infection or parasites with his neurological issues/symptoms. We hope in his case that he will grow out of some of these quirks and be able to run, play and feed himself.

The biggest hurdle with non releasable animals is not just making sure we have the space, the people to dedicate the 6-10 years they can live in captivity and those things but separating our feelings to make the best decisions for them. Sometimes that is letting them cross the rainbow bridge. That absolutely makes my stomach flip to even type out because it is 110% the hardest thing to do, especially when they are just little babies.

Some are probably thinking why on earth would you do that?

We see people in the rescue world that keep animals that have such low quality of life. Ones that sit in cages all day with no enrichment or change in day to day life. Just because we CAN keep them doesn’t mean we should. A life where they are just existing and making no progress it’s just not fair to them. Just people keeping these guys as pets, you have to step back and make the best decision for their needs (by letting them be rehabbed with other babies of their species and released) vs keeping them because they are cute, or sweet, being attached etc., because that changes so quickly.

In many states it’s actually illegal to keep any wildlife that cannot be released back to the wild because of so many people turning them into pets or not knowing the boundaries with their quality of life. It’s actually been a topic with SCDNR and law makers here in recent years.

We will not be in a huge rush to come to any decision in his case because just like us after a severe head injury it can take several months to allow your body to heal.

We wanted to share his story not to be a Debbie downer but to show what head trauma can look like and bring awareness that being out during the day, circling, stumbling and other neurological symptoms does not always mean rabies.

Little Freddy gets full body massages daily and work with little exercises to improve motor function. Retraining his brain even while still healing that hey we can do this! He’s an absolute pickle and so strong to be so little, so we will do whatever we can to help him improve. We know y’all will be his cheerleaders too the whole way!!



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06/04/2026

Little Moonpie update! He definitely has dwarfism as part of being a piebald fawn. And we love him all the more for it! Tera and Kyle have been over the MOON for Moonpie joining their herd. He will learn so much from the other fawn these next few months and will help other fawns for many years to come as they come into their care. We will be getting a vet to come out to check him for any other defects, checking to make sure his heart and lungs sound great, that there’s no other issues that we need to prepare for or treat as he grows.

Piebald deer and leucitic animals can pass down the defective genes, so we will have to make sure ole Moonpie doesn’t make any Debbie cakes down the road.

Taking in sanctuary animals is a massive commitment for any rescue, especially not having a facility. Our fawn rehabbers Tera and Kyle are horse owners who already had the space when they got into rehabilitating fawn years ago. They do an immaculate job caring for these beautiful deer and know that Moonpie could not have ended up at a better place.

One thing I don’t think people realize when we take in animals that have been injured to the point of not being able to be released, have different disabilities or become to domesticated is what that commitment looks like for us.

Opossums lifespans are about the same in the wild as in captivity, their lives are so insanely short. Usually only 1-2 years in the wild and 1-2 years for males and 2-4 years for females in captivity.

Squirrels are a massive long time commitment living 10-14 years in some cases in captivity. In the wild usually 1-3 years. So that’s commuting to raising another child as far as longevity.

Raccoons are pretty similar 1-4 years in the wild on average, 6-9 years in captivity. And you better be ready because they are like a full time toddler with teenager hormones and Karen like attitudes. Social media lies to you when it comes to making them look like great pets- squirrels too!

Deer are the ultimate commitment with some having lived to 14-20 years old in captivity. A piebalds lifespan is usually a good but lower but it depends on the extent of secondary issues.

Rehab costs for opossums you look at about $100-200 per opossum start to finish

Squirrels $100-175 maybe each

Raccoons $800-1000 each by the time you vaccinate and over winter

Deer are usually about $500-1000 each

Those amounts are based off of a few months to a year rehab process depending on the species. Taking those and adding into extra vet care and accomodations x those 8-20 year lifespans. Some are only a $2500 lifetime commitment (and the years dedicated) and the others can be up to $20,000 and 20 years!

Breaking down these numbers to show not just what we will be needing for little Moonpies journey with us but mainly to show THIS is why we urge people to get the animals to us when you first find them.

When they come in healthy, or as soon as possible when injured their chances of being released back out are so much greater. So that we can save the spots for animals like Moonpie that are born needing our sanctuary space.

We are thankful to live in a state where we are able to provide sanctuary to these animals. That’s also something we are fighting to keep here in SC with our wildlife rehabilitation laws possibly shifting in the future.

Enough blabbing though! Just enjoy this sweet boys face, cannot wait to see more updates to share with yall as he grows. I can already tell he is going to have a hilarious personality. I already smile every time I see his pictures and videos from our rehabbers sending updates.

If you would like to sponsor Moonpie we will have him added to our website hopefully next week!! We have a few other sanctuary friends we need to upload as well!

💜🦌 For other donations you can always send them over via 🦌💜

Cashapp/Venmo: SnugHarborWildlifeSC

Or our PayPal

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=2nfzf8rldrrmj&fbclid=iwy2xjawhio9blehrua2flbqixmaabhy7gi4t5ufycvaok7fxxrbzojpv0fzbubuhh7g9iit23pcsn1uchrtgrta_aem_ddtozq2jofblkgfylloqmw

We hope everyone’s having a great week!!! Share something exciting about your week or weekend! Pet pictures or anything to share a smile!

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