WildCare Volunteers

At WildCare just outside of Noble Oklahoma, volunteers work with injured animals.  These are wild to begin with, and the goal is to see them released back into the wilds.  Petting them is forbidden.  No love is shown during feeding.  That doesn't mean feeding is brusque; real tenderness and concern for each animal or bird is readily apparent.

On a typical day at WildCare volunteers will feed everything from skunks to opossums.  WildCare is state and federally licensed as a rehabilitator of everything on the federal list.  But the special area of expertise here is birds, everything from chickadees to raptors such as owls, hawks, kites, and eagles.  (Please click on any picture on this page to see a full-sized version of the photo, then use your BACK key to resume reading.)

 Like most other wildlife refuges, volunteers at WildCare are not only accepted but essential to the operation.  It can take as long as 15 minutes to bottle-feed just one raccoon or squirrel, so if you have two or three dozen at a time?  You can bet there is always room for one more volunteer.   They are taught and repeatedly cautioned that these are wild animals, "And they will bite!  Further, cute and cuddly the babies may be, but the danger of communicable disease,  and injuries are always present."

 There are at least 200 birds and animals in a very small nursery right now, said Rondi M. Large, Director of WildCare.   "Yes, it is crowded and yes, it is hard to keep up.  If we had more help, we could add more room to the nursery as well as finishing up more pens outside."

 Most animals in the nursery must be fed every two hours, that means that meals have to be prepared, babies fed, and records kept every day.  Some improvements (like bottle racks that feed four raccoons at a time, speed up the work.   However, blue jays, cardinals and robin babies must eat every 30 minutes until dark, while baby mammals will eat right up till two in the morning.  Is it any wonder WildCare uses 60,000 mealworms a week?  (These are shipped in from Louisiana)  Annually, they spend about $3,000 on bugs alone.  Volunteers see to it that each mouth gets fed, each  enclosure gets cleaned every day, and sometimes twice a day.  For up to 150 songbirds, each nest gets cleaned hourly.

Even those animals requiring surgery are stabilized in the nursery first.  They must overcome the shock of having humans working on them before surgery, whenever possible.  To make animals feel more at home, an equivalent of natural habitat is provided, such as pouches for opossums to sleep in.

  Once the animals are able to leave the inner sanctum, they go into ever larger pens so that they become accustomed to having more and more freedom again.  When owls feel hemmed in a warning sign of aggression will be flashed at visitors, this is a clicking together of the beaks.  But you don't want to give an injured bird too much room before able to use it.

 Some of the bird enclosures are a combination of indoor/outdoor enclosures.  These are for those birds who are almost ready to be released.  "We figure that if a raptor can swoop down and kill a rat inside a 16 foot enclosed flight pen, then he is ready to be released," explained Rondi.

 WildCare had already accepted 1,000 birds and animals in 1999 before the tornado.  Now the total is much higher.  Besides tornado damage, where do all the animals come from? 

"From people who care!" says Rondi.

She mentions there was one airplane pilot who hit a Red Tailed Hawk.  He spiraled around the hawk until it hit the ground in a clump of bushes.  He then landed the plane and came back on foot to pick up the hawk and bring it in.  Many people feel the same compassion for animals they have found which were accidentally injured, or babies left alone from storms.

 People who find sick or injured wild animals or birds should contact their veterinarian or the nearest zoo for the address of the nearest rehabilitator.  Remember that special care should be used in approaching or picking up any wild or injured animal.

 You should always turn all wild animals that you find over to a licensed rehabilitator since wild birds and animals are protected by laws,and require special diets on top of that.  All birds, excluding the house sparrow, pigeons and starlings, are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which makes it a federal crime to keep one of these birds.

 "Think of it as if you were the one in Intensive Care at the hospital with tubes in your body," Rondi explained.  "And a troop of Grizzly Bears come through wondering what is going on...poking you, prodding you, removing the tubes from your body to ask what they are there for.  It's the same way these little guys feel.  Our outside pens are made so that the animals can hide.  It makes them feel safer and that helps them recover faster."

 When animals hide even at meal times it tells WildCare volunteers they are doing a good job.  When young fawns lose their spots and won't come up for their bottles, waiting for feeders to leave, when owls and kites hide in the brush and prefer to hunt on their own, it is a sure sign these animals are getting ready to live in the wild world they came from.

 Potential Volunteers should be aware the workload at facilities like WildCare is always subject to change.  Besides tornadoes, other emergencies crop up by the minute and you never know what is going to be brought in next.  During any typical day, the center receives 20 to 25 animals.  The patients vary from a box turtle with a broken shell to baby bobcat or a bat with a broken wing.  (The next morning, the staff discovered the bat had given birth during the night to 2 babies.  Mother bat quickly developed a great fondness for mealworms.)

The best way to volunteer for a facility like WildCare is to write or call, expressing a desire to work there.  PH-405-872-9338  The more experience you have had, the better reason you can give for wanting to work as a volunteer, the surer you are of getting the position.

    What kind of work would you be doing?  It is all hard work even if you love it.  You will get more than your fair share of mucking out.  Then there's the laundry, the kitchen, and preparing food.  For example, at WildCare you might be dispensing dripping gruel.

 Volunteers come in all sizes, and interests. Some prefer to serve in libraries or hospital aisles, and some get satisfaction teaching the aged new skills.  Volunteers who serve breakfast to the injured animals are a special breed with special blessings no other volunteers enjoy.  There is a great sense of satisfaction in serving breakfast to these creatures, suffering through no fault of their own.

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produced by Lin Stone
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