Erin Joy's Blog

On April 29, 2011 a possum is found on Mount Baker Highway after being hit by a car. This is only one of the fatal human interactions that causes hundreds of baby animals in and around the city of Bellingham to be orphaned every year.

Each year over 900 orphaned, injured or sick animals like this orphaned possum are brought to the Northwest Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Everson, right outside of Bellingham on Mount Baker Highway. The month of May is the beginning of “baby season,” says Stacy Wise, lead rehabilitator at the non-profit organization. She says, “There are easily 100 animals here each month during this time. It will only get busier in June and July.”

Wise and volunteer Alyssa Bettinger care for a litter of raccoons on May 13, 2011. Wise is the only full-time employee at Northwest Wildlife. The rest of the staff consists of two to three part-time employees during the summer, 20 to 25 volunteers who come and go throughout the year and a few interns who stay from April until September. Even in winter during the slow season Wise says she has a huge job and would love to have someone to share the load with. There isn’t money to hire another full-time employee, she says. The organization is constantly in need of volunteers, donations and people to write grants. “I don’t know how we do it,” she says. “After baby season we are pretty slim on money but somehow we always do it.”

Wise spreads honey on the open wound of a robin that was found after being attacked by a crow. The honey acts as an anti-bacterial and keeps the bird’s scalp moist so it will heal. If an animal is found injured Wise says people should put it in a dark, warm, quiet place away from human interaction with no food and water and call Northwest Wildlife to assess the situation. “If they need to be brought in people need to do their volunteer duty and bring it out to us,” she says. “We just don’t have time [to pick it up] and gas is expensive.”

Wise examines an X-ray of the broken wing of a Caspian Tern. After being treated for about four weeks the terns wing isn’t healing as fast as she thought it would, Wise says. When an animal is first brought to Northwest Wildlife a staff member gives it a physical exam to determine a treatment plan.

A louse as seen through a microscope. A baby coyote was brought in dehydrated and covered in dozens of these insects. After giving him an initial treatment to rid him of lice and hydrate him Wise transferred the coyote and a couple barn owls to another rehabilitation center with more room and resources to care for the animals.

Wise euthanizes a baby rabbit after a dog attacked it on May 4, 2011. After a physical exam Wise determined the rabbits back leg was paralyzed and it wouldn’t be able to survive. The bunny is only a day or two old and they usually don’t survive when they are orphaned at this age, Wise says. “Oh bunny,” she says. “Why do dogs have to be so good at what they do?”

Katherine Dirsmith, who has volunteered at Northwest Wildlife for two years, spends the morning cleaning and changing out the bedding in dozens of cages. “I want to be a vet so it’s a good experience to be here,” she says. Wise says the main goal of the Wildlife Center is to support people who are trying to help wildlife. But another role it plays is giving interns and volunteers skills they can’t obtain anywhere else. That is of huge importance, she says. “On a bigger scale, one of our volunteers played a big part in helping clean up after the Gulf oil spill,” she says. “I think all rehabilitation centers provide skills to people to be able to participate in those types of events.”

Jessie Paolello, an intern at the Rehabilitation Center, feeds baby birds during her “baby bird shift” in which she must feed a room full of birds every 30 minutes. Wise says there are usually three to five interns, some of which live on site, that come a couple months at a time. She says she doesn’t know what she would do without their help because many times there are not enough experienced volunteers to run things on her days off.

This litter of raccoons was brought to Northwest Wildlife when they were two weeks old after being found under a house with a dead adult raccoon. They are fed a mixture of cat food, formula and baby food. They will be released somewhere away from humans in September when they are mature enough to be independent in the wild. Wise says, “We try to keep them as wild as possible.”

A fawn visits the Maplewood Animal Hospital, the Center's sponsoring veterinarian, for the second time during his first week of life. A car hit his mother causing him and his twin to be born and breaking his back leg. The metal rod inserted in his leg began to poke through his skin a couple days after surgery. Wise says, “They’ve had a rough start to life.”

Dr. David Rabkin shortened and reset the rod on May 13, 2011. Wise says she hopes it stays this time because it may be detrimental to bring the fawn for a third trip. She fears the fawns won’t be afraid of humans if exposed to them too much and that they won’t adjust to being wild. “The twins had human contact from the day they were born,” says Wise. “We’ve never had that before.”

On May 21, 2011 Paolello wears a robe and mask while feeding the twins. She says they don’t want the fawns to equate a human face or voice with food so no one is allowed to speak in the deer pen. The fawns are fed a milk replacer every four hours by bottle. Paolello says the injured fawn is prancing around and doing well.

After about a week of being treated for Coccidia, an intestinal parasite, an 11 lb. female bald eagle is released back into the wild near Lumni Shore Drive where three Lumni police officers found her laying on the side of the road. “She has a good appetite so she should be ready to go,” Wise says before the release. Bald eagles usually eat about 6 to 8 percent of their body weight, she says. Northwest Wildlife doesn’t have a lot of space and eagles are a lot of work to care for so Wise is excited the eagle flew away on the first release attempt. She says she would love to see the Wildlife center expand to accommodate more animals but money is always an issue as a non-profit organization. She says, “We barely have enough money to pay me and one or two part time staff in the summer.”