Duck, Duck, Goose &
...Raccoon, Coyote, Otter, And More...
The beginning of our spring baby season has been like no other in our nearly 40-year history. Like every business, we have had to adjust to the new “normal” and for us this means no volunteers onsite and lots of precautions to keep our staff, patients, and the public safe. We have changed our business hours and people must make an appointment to drop off patients. Even though people are required to stay at home, the number of patients arriving each day has not changed.
The first group of orphaned ducklings are here. Their mother was hit by a car and killed, but they will get a second chance in our waterfowl nursery. The lone gosling (pictured below) is about the same size, so for now he has a group of ducklings as his “siblings.”
We have had an alarming number of cottontails and squirrels that have been cat caught or found by dogs. Some animals have been injured during landscape projects, and birds are beginning to fledge. We are mitigating reuniting and re-nesting animals when possible. The one benefit of people being home is that it means that they have more time to help reunite babies with their parents. Those people are our wildlife warriors and their dedication to re-nesting and reuniting animals make our job so much easier!
Our first baby raccoons have arrived, and both were true orphans. They were both very tiny and only about a week old. One was discovered at the base of a tree and the homeowner tried for 24 hours to get mom to take him back. He did an amazing job keeping the baby raccoon warm, and patiently waiting for mom, but sadly, even though she was in the area, he was rejected.
You can see other stories and updates on our patients on our website. Read more about the orphaned Barn owlet, coyote, and river otter pup. Tomorrow we will be getting two new coyote pups from the vet hospital at WSU. Our lone coyote will be happy to get a couple of new buddies!
How You Can Help
There are many ways that you can help support our efforts. For those of you that already donate monthly either by mailing us a check or through automatic monthly payments – thank you! We see you and you are our everyday heroes! Every contribution helps us buy food, formula, supplies, pay our utilities, make facility improvements, and cover the overall operating costs of caring for nearly 3,000 patients annually.
During this “stay at home” order, we cannot have volunteers at our facility. Our licensed staff are working long days to care for the patients at our hospital. There are other ways you can help support our work:
- Shopping online? If you shop Amazon, sign up for AmazonSmiles – we earn cash rewards when you shop
- Purchase items from our Amazon Wish List
- Become a monthly donor – visit our website to set up a recurring donation
- Are you on FaceBook? Organize a FaceBook Fundraiser to support our work. You can ask for donations from your friends and family to celebration your birthday, or just because you love raccoons and want to raise funds to help us care for them!
- Make a contribution to us through Give Big Washington (see details below)
- Do you shop at Fred Meyer? Connect your FM Rewards card to the Community Rewards program. Our Organization Number is JA939
- Purchase merchandise on our website! Check out the cute stuffed animals, adorable greeting cards, tote bags and more...
Give Big Washington
We are excited to be part of the Give Big Washington fundraising drive. The official drive is May 5th and 6th, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the giving platform went live early. Given the uncertainty of the ability to host fundraising events for the foreseeable future, we hope to raise $15,000 to help us with our operating expenses this summer. Thank you to those of you that have already made contributions.