In the name of LOVE.....

STOP – in the name of love and engage your brain!

We are aware you (the private citizens) care. We, being the professional licensed and trained wildlife rehabilitators. We are aware you enjoy the wild animals around you as much as we do. We love it when you show your support through donating time, talent or treasure. The truth is we could not do what we voluntarily do unless you supported our efforts. We also are moved deeply when you acknowledge the hard work we accomplish. For those who want to get involved with hands on animal care, please do contact today and begin the training process. For us to keep Idaho WILD, we need your help.

In the last few weeks, your three North Idaho licensed wildlife rehabilitators (American Heritage Wildlife Foundation, Mystic Farm, and Palouse Wildlife Rescue & Rehab) have admitted cases which we have worked tirelessly to save and lost. We have given pain medications, proper nutritional support, performed medical procedures, shouted to the great creator to give us the wisdom to know how to help, sought additional professional counsel, lost sleep and grieved terribly over each precious soul of our wild native neighbors.

The common thread between each of these cases: the rescuer thought they knew best. They thought they could trust the information they read on the internet. They thought it was credible information. They thought the same foods they ate were acceptable for this different species. They thought they were helping. The end result was the rescuers admitted defeat and the animal suffered needlessly and suffered a painful death. 

Imagine, you are walking along and then a person stops, picks you up, takes you to their house, forces food down your throat which makes you feel sick and never lets you leave. Each day this person repeats this cycle of holding you down, forcing you to consume foods which make you feel worse and worse and seems oblivious to your suffering. This is exactly what happens when a good intentioned private citizen does when they keep a wild animal and try to raise it.

There is no maliciousness intended, it is not a brutal or merciless act being performed. It is simply ignorance because the captor does not know what the signs of pain and suffering are, there is no realization they are killing you.

The founder of Mystic Farm Wildlife Rescue who cares for the White Tailed Deer fawns had a patient recently accepted by well intended private citizens who kept the orphaned fawn and provided the wrong nutritional requirements. They contacted this professional organization after problems started to present. This animal was not able to have the trauma reversed. It suffered and died needlessly.

The founder of American Heritage Wildlife Foundation who has the permits and training and capacity to provide care for nearly 270 of Idaho’s 280^+/_  species has had five cases in less than two weeks of private citizens finding wild animals and then attempting to rehabilitate them on their own.

One pair of American Robins had been in care with their captor for almost two weeks. Both were malnourished. The feathers were weak and breaking off. The skin was pale and bones were very weak. They could not fly despite being of an appropriate age. They were caked with feces. Sores were present on their legs because they were too weak to stand. One was suffering from pneumonia. Both had external parasites because of the filthy conditions they were kept in. Both were suspected to have internal parasites.

A call was received about one young Raccoon after the person saw the adult hit on the highway and stopped to discover a youngster curled up beside its dead mother. This person decided it would make a wonderful pet and kept the animal.  After more than one week of ‘care’ this good Samaritan consulted AHWF for advice. Our volunteers advised this person the proper thing to do is bring in for rehabilitation and did not pass along information on what to feed, how much to feed, what type of setting the animal should be in, what medications are necessary, what nutritional supplements are needed etc. This wild animal has not been admitted for rehabilitative care and we have not heard from the caller again.

One Robin hatchling was admitted after being ‘cared for by a neighbor’ for three days. The bird was given to this person because they told the neighborhood they ‘just raised a batch of Robins’ who fell from the nest. What was not told to the neighborhood was these birds suffered from metabolic bone disease and upon flying away were unable to recognize natural foods and starved to death. The little patient upon admission was only days old and weight was 9.6 grams in weight (less than a quarter). It was suffering from double pneumonia.

One Female Striped Skunk was found dead on the highway. One driver stopped and discovered one youngster at her side. They immediately called and made arrangements to get the animal admitted for care. Sadly too many days had passed between the time the mother was killed and being found, she died despite providing supportive care. Another sibling however was picked up by a would be rescuer, but instead of contacting the professionals these folks decided they would feed this wild animal the food choices they felt were best. When they realized the error of their ways, they contacted our volunteers and this patient was admitted. He died in agonizing pain because of the incorrect foods he was forced to eat. Our newest volunteer’s very first wild animal experience was this little male. This new volunteer had to daily try and provide comfort and ease the suffering. They interacted with this animal in order to render attempts at life saving measures. In the end not only did the wild animal die but this experience will forever be etched on that volunteer’s heart.  

One young American Crow was admitted. We estimated this bird to about 6 weeks of age. Upon examination we could surmise this short life was filled with nothing but discomfort and pain. Because the lead wild animal care specialist has more than 30 years of professional experience with wild animals the story line unfolds like this: Hatch from egg. Remain in nest with siblings. Start exploring using wings and legs but loose balance. Fall to ground. Picked up by human #1. Taken home and forced to eat the wrong foods. These items do not offer enough nutritional support for healthy bones, skin, feathers, or muscles. The human realizes that they messed up because the bird cannot stand and the legs are permanently fused at the joint due to perpetual laying down. The feet are twisted to the side because of old trauma or incorrect bone development. Callouses form on the anatomical areas where there should never contact with the ground due to the deformities of the body. The anatomical body part which should never be in contact with the ground was bruised and sore because of this as well. Feathers are in poor condition because of the nutritional deficiencies and no social interaction to learn the behaviors necessary to ensure feather health.  There were external parasites crawling on this bird. A weakened body is prone to have external parasites which leach out the life slowly one bite at a time. So the human, instead of admitting their error and contacting an animal hospital to end the suffering simply takes the bird into the woods and puts it on the ground to fend for itself and be free.  

Another human finds this bird days later and realizes it is in need of care or it will starve to death painfully. They take it home and try to render aid by again giving foods which are also not nutritionally sound or appropriate. After a few days, human #2 realizes the bird needs more than a few so called free meals and takes it to a veterinary clinic who has doctors who do not know about birds so they contact AHWF. Our trained volunteers coordinate a transfer and then examine the bird only to realize this bird will never have a chance at being wild and it has only ever known suffering.  Human #1 created a huge emotional wake because of their ego and ignorance. Human #1 is responsible for causing suffering to that young bird who most likely could have simply been renested and the parents would have continued care. Human #1 is responsible for causing human #2 loss of time and expense trying to fix the problem. Human #1 is responsible for the loss of revenue the veterinary hospital could have earned by treating a dog or cat instead of spending time with an animal they were not able to treat. Human #1 is responsible for a community supported nonprofit expend financial resources to retrieve the bird. Human #1 is responsible for having several trained volunteers become emotionally attached to this wild native animal in distress. Human #1 is responsible for the sorrow caused to the lead wildlife care specialist when the only humane decision was euthanasia.    

The founder of Palouse Wildlife Rescue and Rehab receives countless calls daily about assorted wild animals. One such call is detailed below.

A caller asked if the founder would be willing to accept a tree squirrel with a broken spine. The caller had the animal for two days. Because the emergency veterinary clinic would not release the animal back into her custody after the examination, she did not bring it in for any type of care. This citizen wanted the animal to live despite being paralyzed. After being told to please bring the animal in so the suffering would end, the caller hung up.  

Do not misunderstand this proclamation. We are grateful for the kind humans who want to help. We are cut from the same cloth. Please do understand that it is IMPOSSIBLE to raise a wild animal fully, this means physically, mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally simply by reading one perhaps less than credible article on the internet or believing old wives tales. Just because you tossed the bird in the air or took the mammal out into the woods and let loose your grip does not constitute a ‘successful release’.

We love you for your kindness and wanting to help. We want you to help but please do not stop caring once you put your hands on the animal. There is no shame in admitting you don’t know what to do. There is no shame admitting you need help. There is great reward when you become part of the team who saved a wild animal who was able to be released into the wild territory of North Idaho. 

Wildlife Rehabbers are committed to this calling. It is not a career. It is not a hobby. They are deeply empathetic to the wild animals and when those animals suffer the toll is immense. Wildlife rehabilitators accept the financial strain and the physical demands. They willingly agree to the mental challenges. They put on a brave face for the general public. They smile as complete strangers tell of stories of family members who improperly raised wild animals and then let them be free, all the while knowing that animal suffered needlessly. They patiently listen to the stories from complete strangers of assorted horrific animal encounters such as my cat once got a bird and it …. or my dog attacked a fawn and it …. because they know that this complete stranger is not wanting to offend. This complete stranger is simply trying to find that common ground and demonstrate their compassion for wild animals by telling perhaps their only experience with our wild native neighbors. There is a very very very heavy emotional price to pay for those who accept the responsibility of properly raising a wild animal so it may return to its wild habitat. This price is paid willingly, but when the patients are admitted because of mistakes and errors made from ego and ignorance, their sorrow is tempered with rage.

The roughly 5,000 professional wildlife rehabilitators across the nation all have two things in common. We all love the wild animals more than ourselves and we are unfathomably shaken to our cores when we see the contradiction of humane human who cared enough to stop their hectic lives for one second and rescue a wild animal but then not care enough to spend a few minutes researching the correct next step.  If you truly love where you live and care about the wild animals who are our native neighbors, get involved with these licensed facilities. We need your support.

Please stop in the name of love, before you break all of our hearts.