06/06/2026
This was written and posted last year addressing compassion fatigue in wildlife rehabilitation and it's definitely worth repeating ♥️
"This time of year in WNY, wildlife rehabilitators are busy! We see babies of all kinds being orphaned by the death of a parent or "kidnapped" by well-meaning people, migrating birds colliding with windows, cats eating bunnies and dogs attacking opossums. We see birds of prey suffering from secondary ingestion of rat poison, cars hitting mammals and nests of birds falling out of trees. We see damage from mousetraps, lawnmowers and weedwackers. We see intentional acts of harm on animals who are just trying to survive. If it's happened to an animal, we have most likely seen it.
On a daily basis, we tend to animals that are terrified, in pain, lethargic, starving or full of parasites, sometimes all in one animal. We see and take care of wounds that are too heartbreaking to show on social media and too horrible for most to imagine. We spend more time cleaning up animal waste than we care to think about. We save animals that we didn't think stood a chance and we hold the dying ones taking their last breath that we may have had hope for.
We are honored and humbled by and proud of what we do. We are also exhausted. We deal with people who are angry, sad or upset or hopeful that we can save the animal that has suddenly become an emergency in their world. We want to help everyone.
We want to save everything. We also need people to help us help the animals and understand we have to set limits. The emotional and physical toll this caring takes is much bigger than those outside of rehabilitation could ever understand. We shoulder this burden because, understandably, it truly isn't for everyone.
We alter or cancel plans for an animal emergency, feed babies during our work day, use lunch breaks to take an animal to the vet, eat dinner late in the evening once the babies are cared for. We get up during the night to feed orphaned mammals and again early morning to make sure the birds are fed. We stop and check the pouches of deceased opossums on the road and carry emergency supplies in our cars "just in case".
We get questioned and criticized over decisions we've made for an animal based off of a social media glimpse into that situation. A picture or brief story online doesn't go into all of the details of any rescue, ever. Many of us have full time jobs and all of us are doing it on a volunteer basis. There is no paycheck or clock to check out on at the end of the day.
What we do with all of this is burn out if we're not very careful. We experience compassion fatigue from wanting to fix it all, do it all, make it all better. But we can't. No one can. We sacrifice so much and do our best.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a wildlife emergency or need advice on how to handle any situation dealing with wild animals, please call our dispatch line at (716) 345-4239. This line is monitored from 10 am until 7 pm, 365 days a year. You will need to leave a message and someone will get back to you. Thank you for a little extra patience this time of year ❤️"
Thank you to our volunteer, Greg, for sending along this adorable picture of a Screech owl currently in our care. It's a great reminder of why we're here 🦉
