06/03/2026
Great info. Often the best thing you can do to help wildlife is to leave them alone!
For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue
Yes, they’re cute, but don’t do this! Baby animals picked up by people think that they’re about to be eaten. In nature, most baby animals are never, ever picked up at all. When they are, it’s only by their own mothers. Even newborns, who may not be able to see what’s going on around them, can instinctively tell that something is very wrong when they’re picked up, and they instinctively believe that they are about to be predator food.
Stressed baby animals don’t always look stressed. Most will become very still and quiet, paralyzed by fear, and might even be mistaken for being comfortable. But this stress is serious for these delicate little ones. It can compromise their immune systems, impair their growth, or even cause their hearts to fail.
Baby animals are also very susceptible to the nastiness on human hands. We might think our hands are clean, but the germs we carry every day can be deadly for newborn baby animals, whose immune systems are still developing. (You wouldn’t want wild animals getting their germs on YOUR brand-new baby, would you?)
Please have respect for wild animals and give them space to raise their young freely and without fear. If you absolutely must pick up a baby animal (such as to bring it to a rehabilitator) please promptly put it somewhere warm, dark, and quiet and try to handle it as little as possible.
