Every year in the early spring, the founder sends out internship applications to nearby universities and colleges. She is looking for the best candidate to fill the position of wildlife intern for the busy spring & summer months. She also gets on the phone and makes calls to a network of supporters. She is asking for help.
Without a crystal ball there is no way of knowing what quantities or what types of wild animals will be needing the services of American Heritage Wildlife Foundation. There is also never a guarantee that the funding will come in to allow this small nonprofit to continue the vital mission of keeping the Inland Northwest WILD.
What is certain is that an average of 50 cases will need daily care. At least 250 phone calls will be responded to by dedicated and trained volunteers. Somewhere between 2,500 and 3.000 volunteer hours will be recorded.
You read that correctly. Last month we recorded 520 hours of volunteer labor. Can you help too?
To date we have assisted two groups of raccoon, two batches of pine squirrels, one fox squirrel , one young brewers blackbird, one downy woodpecker, one young killdeer, several robins of varying ages, Violet & Green Swallows and one Tree Swallow (requiring feeding every 15 minutes for 16 hours each day—usually for two weeks), several different Deer Mice babies, one Little Brown Bat pup, Mallard ducks, Canada Geese, one Mountain Chickadee, Nestling Northern Flickers, and one adult Flicker, one Starling, Quail hatchlings, two young Ravens, a few American Crows, a young Alligator Lizard, a Northern Painted Turtle, and these two hatchlings —days old (perhaps gold crowned kinglets?) just in a few hours ago. We will do our best to provide proper care but there is no substitute for the natural mother.
Fortunately we did have a great summer intern this year to help provide care for the injured and orphaned wild animals in need.
Meet the candidate chosen to be the 2016 Wildlife Care Intern. Sarah Lendzioszek will be graduating in December with a degree in Conservation Biology and Ecology from Montana State University. She has hopes of working with animals further in the future and is thankful for this learning opportunity. She has had the experience of interning in Yellowstone last summer doing wolf behavior research with a top wolf researcher. Additionally she has experience of vocalization studies through an independent study at the University with several species such as coyotes, wolves, and feral cats. As is the case with so many ’animal people’ she also has various other experiences conducting research and working with animals.
The founder recently asked her to describe in a few words what it meant to be working in the field wildlife rehabilitation. Her initial response was a large sigh— “oh wow...in only a few words? I would say rewarding and hard work, also a steep learning curve”.
She will complete her term with us in August. We wish her the best as she completes one more semester to graduate early and with honors.
Because one or two cannot do it all we send out this plea...
A willing spirit cannot embody physical requirements. There is limit to the amount of stress and strain one body can take. After all there are only 24 hours in one day.
One person can only perform one task at a time. One mouth can be fed, one dish washed, one phone call responded to, one diet prepared, one enclosure cleaned, one animal medicated, one animal examined, one item purchased, one journal article read, one lecture given, one event planned, one thank you letter written, one meeting agenda planned, one project worked on...get the point? To operate AHWF at a successful level we need more than one. We need you.
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