Reach Out Rescue, NFP Alumni

05/27/2026

Please keep your eyes open for any species of animals on the road when you’re driving.

Honoring Sarge

Last night, my heart broke. We lost a true ancient giant of our local waters.

Yesterday, I received a call from the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office about a massive, 28.5-pound Common Snapping Turtle who had been struck by a car. The injuries were severe—a bridge fracture, several carapace fractures, and a shearing injury across the top of his shell. We estimate this big old man was around 70 years old.

In an incredible act of compassion, the officers drove all the way to my workplace to hand him over to my care. The department asked if we could name him Sarge (short for Sergeant), a fittingly strong name for such a resilient survivor. I brought him straight home to stabilize him, starting him immediately on pain medications and IV fluids to combat severe dehydration from the mid-May heat. I promised him I would introduce him to all of you last night, but instead, I chose to step away from my phone to spend every moment focused on keeping him comfortable and fighting for him.

Sadly, Sarge passed away last night.
I am devastated, but I am infinitely grateful to the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office. To see law enforcement go so far out of their way to protect and care for our native wildlife means the world. It takes a community to protect these animals, and their kindness is something I won't forget.

This photo is of me holding Sarge's giant hand, Look at the scale of him. He survived seven decades of changes in this world, only to be taken out by a car.

We are officially entering nesting season. Female turtles are on the move to lay their eggs. Just yesterday, I transferred another gravid female to my wonderful friend Melissa at My Little Turtle Rescue, and right as I was leaving work, I got a call about another female snapping turtle on Lebanon Ave in Pittsfield. She was completely destroyed in a school zone, all of her precious egg squashed, it's a small neighborhood where people simply fly down the road.

It is heartbreaking. The loss we are seeing already this season—and every year prior—is completely preventable.

Please, please be aware of the roads. Turtles are slow-moving. Snapping turtles can look like debris or a large stone from a distance. If you wouldn't intentionally hit a giant rock in the road, why would you hit a giant turtle?

Rest easy, Sarge. You were deeply loved in your final hours, and we will keep fighting to protect the rest of your kind. 🐢💚

05/05/2026

Humans really need to DO BETTER.

Imagine that you were working hard but struggling to feed your children. Imagine that you and your children received an invitation for an incredible banquet… for free. Imagine you accepted the invitation, showed up for the meal… and were shot and killed right in front of your children.

That’s what happened to the mother of Rose (left) and her brother Briar (right). It’s also what happened to the mother of Marie and Archimedes, two other kits in our care. Every single year, we take in orphans whose mothers and fathers accepted invitations for free meals in the form of free-roaming chickens.

If you choose to keep small livestock, it is your responsibility to protect them by keeping them in secure runs and coops. Wild animals have no way to know that the easy prey you’re leaving out isn’t meant for them! Killing wild animals for accepting the free, easy meal is cruel and also does nothing to protect livestock. As long as the chickens are running loose unsupervised, they’ll get killed by cats, dogs, raccoons, hawks, skunks, and traffic, so the death of a mother fox didn’t help anyone.

When Rose and Briar got desperately hungry and went to look for their mother, they wandered into the road, where their only surviving sibling was hit by a car. Kind people who lived nearby saw them with their dead sibling and got them help. They are malnourished and anemic, especially Rose, but we expect them to be okay.

These two babies will be quarantined for a few weeks, vaccinated, and treated for parasites, and will then join their future foster siblings Marie, Archimedes, and Naomi before ultimately going home to the wild.

Thank you for making it all possible! Please see the Linktree in our bio for ways to support these beautiful animals. We are currently most in need of RodentPro donations!

[Description: two small red foxes inside a carrier with a brown and white blanket. They are pale orange in color and the photo is taken in dim lighting.]

04/06/2026

This is so very important! Please read the entire, attached post.
And I just have to add to this post: PLEASE make sure that there is access for the mother to actually leave your property. Once all of the babies have been removed by Mom and she’s been given enough time to collect all of her babies, board up that entrance hole(s) to keep this raccoon family and others from taking residence over and over again.

At just two weeks old, this tiny raccoon kit was separated from his family after his mother and siblings were removed from an attic by a nuisance removal company and reunited outside of the attic space. This kit was unknowingly away from the rest of its siblings and was left behind. Once the kit started crying it was recovered and brought to our center for care due to the likelihood that it was dehydrated.

Trapping and relocating raccoon families is inhumane, often illegal, and largely ineffective, acting as a death sentence for the animals. It frequently orphans babies, causes high mortality rates in adults from stress or fighting, and fails to stop new raccoons from moving in.

Why You Should Avoid Trapping and Relocating Raccoons:
🦝Orphaning Young: Raccoons breed between January and June, often using attics/chimneys. Trapping a mother removes her from her babies, leaving the young to starve slowly in your home.
🦝Low Survival Rates: Over 70% of relocated adult animals die from stress, starvation, dehydration, or conflict with other raccoons in the new territory.
🦝Fatal Injuries: Animals often panic in traps, causing severe injuries to themselves, including broken teeth and broken claws.
🦝Illegal Activity: In many places, relocating wild animals is illegal, and releasing them on someone else’s property is unlawful.
🦝It Doesn't Fix the Problem: Removing one raccoon creates a vacuum, prompting new animals to occupy the now-vacant territory.

Instead of trapping, use deterrents to make the den site uncomfortable so the mother relocates her babies naturally:
🦝Light: Place a bright, strobe-like, or LED light in the dark attic or crawlspace.
🦝Sound: Place a radio tuned to a talk radio station in the area.
🦝Scent: Place rags soaked in cider vinegar or peppermint oil near the nesting site.

03/24/2026

Please leave the bees food alone! We need bees.

In spring, we often pull out dandelions without even thinking…
But did you know? These tiny yellow flowers are one of the first and most important food sources for bees 🐝💛
When most flowers haven’t bloomed yet, dandelions help keep bees alive, giving them the energy they need—and helping our entire ecosystem thrive.
A small action—leaving a single flower untouched…
But the impact is huge 🌍
So let’s be a little more mindful—
Let nature grow, let bees feed,
Because when bees survive, nature survives 💚

03/14/2026

Share this.

WIDELY.

We know you’re tired of hearing it, but it bears repeating: don’t try to raise wild animals yourself unless you’re a permitted, trained rehabilitator with the time, space, and access to veterinary care necessary to do it properly. One of many reasons for this: exploding wi***es.

Yes, unfortunately, you read that right. It’s a common problem seen in wild animals, especially baby squirrels, that people try to raise themselves.

Most members of the general public don’t have the time to feed and comfort baby animals as frequently as their mothers would. And, when baby squirrels get lonely or hungry, they start rooting around for whatever vaguely nipple-like item they can find, even when that nipple-like item is a we**ie— either their own or a sibling’s.

Of course— outside of weird fever nightmares, disturbing Dadaist art, and someone’s freaky niche fiction— ge****ls don’t make milk, so the baby squirrel won’t be satisfied by the suckling. They’ll continue, oblivious to the fact that they’re hurting themselves.

This suckling will, in many cases, lead to complete rupture of the unfortunate baby animal’s urethra, which is every bit as horrifying as it sounds. A baby animal with a fully ruptured we**ie will not only be in horrible pain, but will develop life-threatening infections if not treated promptly, and be at high risk for long-term complications even if promptly treated. We’ve had baby animals make it into care with complete urethral ruptures that were bleeding profusely and were full of maggots. 😱

Now that we’ve given you some mental images that will haunt your nightmares, please help make sure this doesn’t happen to any more baby animals. If you’ve found a baby animal and you’re certain it’s orphaned, please bring the baby to a qualified rehabilitator who can ensure that it gets proper care. No animal should have to suffer these kinds of injuries because someone wanted to turn them into a DIY project in their spare time.

03/14/2026

PLEASE SHARE.

THE REAL REASON WILDLIFE REHABBERS ASK YOU NOT TO FEED THAT BABY…

It’s not because we want to hog all the fun for ourselves, I promise. It’s because wild orphans typically aren’t healthy enough to digest food when they are found. Many are hypothermic. The body can’t even handle water when its temperature is too low. All energy is going to crucial body functions in that state. If the body has to divert energy to digesting, it will likely be fatal.

Many are very dehydrated. Animals can’t digest properly when they are dehydrated. The body pulls water into the intestines to aid with digestion. If there isn’t any water to pull from, this could cause a domino affect of problems.

All wild baby animals require a specific diet and that diet generally isn’t available in local stores. Feeding the wrong formula could cause an upset stomach or worse. All baby animals need specific amounts of formula calculated by their body weight. The percentage differs depending on the species. Not every animal can drink from a bottle. The correct instrument must be used to prevent aspiration and over feeding.

Bring me a thin, dehydrated, hypothermic animal and I can probably save it. Feed that same animal before you bring it to me…there’s likely nothing I can do to bring it back.

So please, don’t feed any wild orphans that you have found this baby season. Keeping them warm is a huge help until you find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

Please spread the word to prevent unnecessary suffering this baby season. Thank you 🙏

02/19/2026

Nella is beauty and brains, perfect mix of chill and enthusiastic - Couch to 5k? she's in, Sunday scaries couch rot? snuggled and ready. She is around 4 years old and you know what that means? no potty training! She is great with handling/grooming needs. Really the single dog household perfect package.

Check out more on Nella
https://www.adoptapet.com/pet/45311241-elmhurst-illinois-american-pit-bull-terrier-american-staffordshire-terrier-mix

Apply to start her forever with you 👉👉https://www.playersforpits.com/adoption-survey

01/24/2026

Sharing from “Everything Gardening”. page. ⬇️
https://www.facebook.com/share/1GHKBvrPmC/?mibextid=wwXIfr

🐰 Wild rabbits survive winter by eating dry grasses, twigs, and bark. Their digestive system is built for this kind of food. Fresh vegetables are not.

❄️ In winter, a rabbit’s gut is tuned for low-moisture, high-fiber forage. The bacteria that power digestion adapt to breaking down tough, woody plants. This slow, steady process keeps their system moving when food is scarce.

🚫🥬🥕🍏 Fresh produce disrupts that balance. Moist foods ferment quickly in a rabbit’s gut, especially when introduced suddenly. 😷

🤢 Gas builds up, and rabbits cannot burp or vomit to relieve the pressure. Digestion slows, then stops—a condition known as GI stasis.

☠️ GI stasis is extremely painful and often fatal. In the wild, there is no treatment. Once a rabbit stops eating, survival usually lasts only a few days.

💭 Not every rabbit fed vegetables will die, but the risk is real and unpredictable, particularly in winter when their digestion is already under strain. Wild rabbits don’t recognize grocery produce as dangerous. They eat opportunistically, with no way to judge the consequences.

‼️ If you want to help rabbits through winter, don’t feed them. Support their habitat instead.

🪾🌿Leave brush piles. Allow grass to grow along fence lines. Keep unmowed edges and natural cover intact. These provide both shelter and the exact forage their bodies are designed to handle.

😔 You thought you were sharing your salad.
Instead, you gave them a stomachache they may not survive. 🤢🚫🍓🍏🍚🥬🚫

01/24/2026

Please be kind to our only marsupial and her future joeys. They are imperative to our ecosystem.

12/26/2025

Please don’t forget about these amazing critters.
They plant our trees!
It takes just a few dollars and a couple of minutes to toss some food out for them. If you are feeling extra kind,they would love fresh water. Heated water bowls aren’t too costly.
Then again, saving a life is priceless.

Squirrels Don’t Hibernate 🐿️ Winter is a hard season for us, and every handful of food helps us push through the deep cold. Our constant gathering isn’t greed — it’s survival. Offering a few safe, nutritious snacks can mean the difference between struggle and another spring we get to see.