02/02/2025
We apologize for needing to post this again.
If you find yourself needing to call a wildlife rehabilitator, please remember a few things.
• The first is that most rehabilitators are not paid, by your tax dollars or otherwise. Unlike animal control or the sheriff’s department, that is run by the government and therefore paid, the majority of wildlife rehabilitators are volunteers. In fact, we pay the government for our permits and the privilege to clean up p**p and be yelled at by strangers on the phone. Some larger facilities are the exception to this rule, but for the most part we are not paid.
• We do not have the luxury of working a “normal work week”, so we are typically pretty tired. Wildlife emergencies don’t follow any normal schedule, nor do baby tummies, they do need to eat pretty much around the clock. Even so, we do have to sleep at times, so we will need to shut off our phones to do this. This is not done just to inconvenience you; it is done so that we can have the energy to take care of those animals in our charge.
• Calling in the middle of the night and leaving tons of hateful voicemails won’t change the fact that the phone are off. Our current phone system deletes those messages anyway. But, to be real honest, I don't remember the last time that the outcome of a call would have changed had the person been able to reach us the night before instead of first thing in the morning.
• If we have to explain state or federal law to you, based on the questions you are asking, please don’t blame us for these laws being in place. Trust me, nobody asks my opinion when they are writing wildlife laws.
• Even though the government permits us to help wildlife in need, we do not own all the wild animals out there. This means, if one causes damage to your property, it is not our responsibility to either fix this or pay to have it fixed. This is the responsibility of the property owner. We are happy to give suggestions on how to get wildlife to leave your area, but that does not automatically make us responsible for all behavior done by wildlife.
• It also means that it is not our responsibility to get the animals to us. Just like a vet, we care for animals that are here, already at our facility. In order to have time to do this, we have no choice but to depend on those that find the animals to transport them to us for care. If we went out and picked up every animal in need, we’d never have time to care for the animals here.
• While the government ALLOWS us to care for these animals, we also are not REQUIRED to take them in. If you call and are rude, don’t be shocked when the person that is giving so much of their own time, funds and energy decides not to help you.
• We are not super heroes (no matter how much we’d like to be). I keep trying to explain, my super cape was lost at the cleaners, my utility belt is on the fritz and my arm bands tarnished and fell off. Seriously, if you can’t get up to that window that is 20 feet off the ground, neither can we.
• We are not law enforcement; we cannot force people to hand over animals to us. That has to go through an officer.
• Our first responsibility is to those already in our care. If you call with an animal that possibly has a deadly illness, you are not going to talk us into risking the lives of those in our care with your threats.
• Most rehabilitators do what we do because we care about animals and because we want to help reverse some of the damage that our species has done to other species’ habitats. Yelling at us, calling us names, threatening us (and yes, this happens more often than most would realize) etc. really doesn’t help you, us or the animals.
I doubt you would find many people that have given up their lives for their jobs. Jobs that they are not paid to do. I doubt there are many reading this right now that have had exactly 6 days truly off in over 18 years and yet still get up and do it every single day!
Please, try to be a little understanding when you call!
Credit original content Claws Inc
