Mountain Top Wildlife

Mountain Top Wildlife We provide rehabilitative care for sick, injured, & orphaned wildlife for release back to the wild.

06/13/2026

BACK TO THE WILD! 🐿️🐿️🐿️🐿️

Mountain Top is releasing 4 Townsend’s chipmunks today, who arrived to us as 2-inch kits (babies)!

Many people think Townsend’s chipmunks dwell in trees, like their larger rodent squirrel friends. But chipmunks are actually ground dwellers and make their homes in hollow logs and burrows underneath the ground! Chippies in the Gorge are found at higher elevations—cutie pies scurrying along with us on mountain hikes—and so they need to have a safe, warm place to enter torpor (semi-hibernation) during snowy winter months.

We look for certain natural skills when we rehabilitate chipmunks: foraging and caching food, identifying different food sources, nest and burrow building, gnawing, and fear of humans/predators. Our four chippies excel at all—see the video for some of their time with us.

Although chipmunks might be the cutest thing you’ve ever seen and you just want to squeeze them and smoosh them, just remember that wild animals are safest when they are WILD! Never, ever feed chipmunks. It puts them in danger and brings them closer to humans, our dogs, and the likelihood that they will build nests where we don’t want them (our cars, RVs, etc.)

Raise your hand if you have resting bird face! 😠🙋‍♀️Baby mammals get a lot of cute genes, while so many baby birds look ...
06/11/2026

Raise your hand if you have resting bird face! 😠🙋‍♀️

Baby mammals get a lot of cute genes, while so many baby birds look like your Uncle Larry when politics come up at Thanksgiving dinner.

Jokes aside, this Song sparrow arrived as a nestling and quickly ‘fledged,’ a process when birds leave their nest and begin flying. It will soon move to our outdoor songbird enclosure and prepare for a release to the wild.

Song sparrows are a common species in the Gorge, as you’re likely to find them in more open or mixed habitat (rather than dark, dense forests.)

Song sparrows, like many ‘songbirds,’ do have a series of songs and vocalizations that must be learned at a young age. Juvenile male song sparrows will encroach on other males’ territories to eavesdrop on their songs—and studies show that the adult males tolerate this and will even tutor the young birds! Nature is so cool.

We can’t wait to get our little sparrow out to the wild!

FAWN SPONSORSHIP! YOU CAN HELP! Meet our five Colombian Black-tailed deer fawns under rehabilitation at Mountain Top Wil...
06/08/2026

FAWN SPONSORSHIP! YOU CAN HELP!

Meet our five Colombian Black-tailed deer fawns under rehabilitation at Mountain Top Wildlife.

We need your support to raise these fawns this summer! Your donation of $250 can purchase a summer supply of formula for the fawn of your choice, along with the opportunity to ‘name’ the fawn or dedicate your sponsorship to someone.

Call or text our hotline if you’d like to sponsor a fawn: 541-615-1565.

We’ll keep our community updated about these babies as the summer progresses.
—

Note: Although we’ve given them cutesy profiles here, we are proud of our clinic protocols that help the fawns avoid human habituation so that they can stay wild and return safely to the wild.

06/05/2026

BACK TO THE WILD! 🦉

The female Great-horned owl who came into our care in March has been returned to her home territory!

This owl arrived with a broken clavicle, a detached retina (making her blind in one eye), severe emaciation, and a few toe infections.
🤕😥

We had two difficult tasks ahead of us to save this owl. The first was starting a starvation feeding protocol, which is a very specific balance of managing electrolytes and slowly introducing liquid foods. The second task was removing the owl’s bad eye, which slowly started atrophying. Dr. Dave performed the procedure in our surgical suite.

Within a few weeks after surgery, the owl passed our release exam and testing, and she proved she was ready for life back the wild!

Much to our joy, upon release our owl made a few hoots, her mate appeared, and they flew off together! (Great-horned owls DO mate for life! 🥰)

Thank you to Nicole and Cameron, who reported the owl in their yard, and to WDFW Wildlife Conflict Specialist Megan O’Connor who rescued and transported the owl to Mountain Top.

🦌🦌 Four fawns in four days! 🦌🦌Mountain Top accepted four black-tailed deer fawns for rehabilitation over the past week. ...
05/30/2026

🦌🦌 Four fawns in four days! 🦌🦌

Mountain Top accepted four black-tailed deer fawns for rehabilitation over the past week. Three were orphaned and one was attacked by a dog, requiring surgery for its injuries.

We are receiving calls every day about fawns who are alone in yards, running, or walking around. All of this is can be normal fawn behavior, especially as they gain strength and get older.

Homeowners can invest in an inexpensive trail camera so they can monitor fawns on their property. Mother deer might not return to feed until just after dusk. And they might leave a fawn in the same place for multiple days. The only way to know if mom is returning is to get proof (or lack thereof.)

Fawns are still ‘dropping’—what a fawn birth is referred as—in the Gorge area, so please drive slowly and safely. Let’s keep mamas with their babies!

We are planning fawn sponsorship and naming this year to help cover formula costs. Look for that post in a few days and we’ll provide backstories for each of our fawns.

We hope everyone is safe after the storm last night. 💨⚡️⛈️ 💙Please carefully walk your yards, properties, and neighborho...
05/29/2026

We hope everyone is safe after the storm last night. 💨⚡️⛈️ 💙

Please carefully walk your yards, properties, and neighborhoods to ensure local wildlife made it through the wind and thunderstorm safely. Look for damaged nests, baby birds on the ground, cavity dwellers in downed trees, or birds with injured wings.

Please call or text our hotline with concerns. We will be working to renest baby birds and will admit all wildlife needing medical attention.

Mountain Top is receiving fawn calls daily and will be intaking our first fawn of the season today. Here are your annual...
05/22/2026

Mountain Top is receiving fawn calls daily and will be intaking our first fawn of the season today.

Here are your annual reminders for fawn care:

🚫: Do not move or take fawns!
Fawns are left alone during the day for safety. They are not coordinated enough to run quickly from predators, so their best safety mechanism is to lay still and quiet. Mother deer leave their fawns in safe places all day. Some moms return midday to feed, while others only return at dusk or after the sun has set.

🦌: True orphans often need help!
Early in the season, young fawns near dead mothers do need to be rescued. But please let us guide you in this process. Do not remove the fawns from their mom unless they are in danger (like on the highway or busy road.)

🦮: Mind your furry friends!
The next few weeks are a great time to leash up your dog. Big dogs can easily hold newborn fawns by the neck. Running with them or even giving gentle shakes can be fatal.

🩸🦴🪰: Lots of blood, bones, or maggots are SOS calls!
If a fawn has a wound that exposes bone or organs, has a broken limb, or has flies landing on open wounds, you need to call our hotline and give us an SOS voicemail! Small scrapes or superficial wounds, along with minor limps are not usually concerning.

Mountain Top is the only fawn rehabilitator in this region of Washington, and we have a limited number of fawns we can accept each season. We try to keep the spaces available for the patients who need it most. Thank you all for your care. We know fawn season is a precious time of the year! We are privileged to work with the community and save these babies.

Want one easy way to help wildlife? Learn your local and state wildlife laws, and keep ‘spot it, report it’ in mind. Mou...
05/15/2026

Want one easy way to help wildlife? Learn your local and state wildlife laws, and keep ‘spot it, report it’ in mind.

Mountain Top accepted a California Gull for rehabilitation last month after rescuers pulled it from the Columbia River while paddle boarding. The gull arrived in good body condition… except for a wicked humeral fracture, continual loss of blood, and deep bruising up its entire wing. A radiograph confirmed: the gull had been shot with a BB gun.

ALL native migratory birds are protected under the US Fish and Wildlife Services Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which prohibits injuring, killing, capturing, selling, trading, and transporting birds for illegal purposes. (This protection is also why it is illegal to move birds’ nests with only very few exceptions.)

On the local front, Washington state’s fish and wildlife agency has a law enforcement hotline that allows callers to report illegal activity for any native wildlife species: 360-902-2936, option 1.

If you care about the animals, don’t hesitate to SPEAK UP if you see something illegal or inappropriate happening in the wild. The animals around us are protected! But we have to act as the protectors.

We’re keeping busy in May at Mountain Top! Our current patients this week include:- 4 Red-tailed Hawk nestlings, growing...
05/13/2026

We’re keeping busy in May at Mountain Top!

Our current patients this week include:

- 4 Red-tailed Hawk nestlings, growing more feathers every day and (honestly) looking like little rough-and-tumble dinosaur chickens. One hawk already weighs more than 2 lbs!

- 7 juvenile California Ground Squirrels, rowdy and playful. They’ll be ready for a return to the wild soon!

- An adult Great-horned Owl, recovered from emaciation, an eye eviseration, and a clavicle fracture but still dealing with some toe wounds. If healing continues, she’ll graduate into a conditioning flight next week for release preparation.

- A Virginia Opossum baby, orphaned when his entire family was killed by a vehicle collision. He’s beginning the weaning process and starting to gain muscle with gentle climbing.

- A Eurasian Collared Dove, suffering from head and ocular trauma after a bite from a dog.

Your support helps us provide the best care possible for these patients: antibiotics and pain medications, species-specific formulas and vitamins, plenty of food for growing babies, and all the supplies needed to keep their enclosures (and our work spaces) clean and safe.

We are privileged to give these wild animals another chance at life. Thank you for caring as much as we do. 💙

05/07/2026

May we all have a friend who can point us in the right direction if we steer off course… 😅

Please enjoy this video of our 7 orphaned California ground squirrels (including lost little ‘green’) as they are deposited back into their rehabilitation tunnel system after one of their exams and weight check-ins. Wait for the nose twitch at the end!! 🥰

We mark the squirrels with non-toxic nail polish so we can ensure individualized care for each squirrel and monitor weight gain. We will remove the polish before the squirrels are released to the wild. (Please do not try this on any wild animals you encounter, such as turtles. It is illegal to do so and many products are hazardous to the animal. This should go without saying, but.. we’ve seen some things.)

The squirrel babies are packing on pounds and gearing up to move to their outdoor conditioning enclosure!

We’re so grateful to our Mountain Top community. Your support helps us keep the wild babies wild and gives them a second chance at their natural lives!

Address

White Salmon, WA

Telephone

+15416151565

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Mountain Top Wildlife posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category