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Wellesley Island is home to a diverse animal population; creatures that call this place home all year around, and migratory species that pass though like tourists every year. If you live here all year long then wildlife becomes an integral part of your existence.
But wildlife can end up in a bad situation, becoming injured, orphaned, or displaced.
Care of such imperiled wildlife is the mission of Wellesley Island Wildlife Rehabilitation.
Young fox

Our wildlife rehab practice began when Sue-Ryn and Steve went to hear a wildlife rehabilitator speak at Macsherry Library, in Alex Bay--they are both trustees of that library. Afterward zookeeper and evil friend Sue Sabik and the woman who gave the talk, Jackie C, both tried to convince Sue-Ryn that she could do wildlife rehab. Dangerously supportive husband Steve assured her that he would help her if that was what she wanted to do.
Snuggles

So Sue-Ryn took the test and got her New York State Rehab license and the adventure began. Since then she has gone on to train with Jean Soprano of Kindred Kingdoms down in Pennellville, and gotten her Federal Rehab License. This allows her to keep and treat the critters she and her husband most want to work with: songbirds.

But a bit of everything passes through Wellesley Island Wildlife. The spring ol' Blue Eyes

season of 2010 has brought four batches of starlings, chipping sparrows, a young orphaned crow, a young great horned owl rescued from crows, wild bunnies, opossums, squirrels, two different young goslings, and a fox with a broken leg. Other seasons have had us dealing with woodpeckers, orioles, robins, geese, swans, ospreys, a baby coyote, turtles, flying squirrels, red and gray squirrels, a waxwing, flickers, and various and sundry other critters.

Osprey release

The goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to rehabilitate injured and orphaned animals and return them to the wild. Baby birds and mammals are fed and housed, trained to self-feed, and then released in a place where they have the best chance of surviving and thriving. We have had former patients return the next year, check in, and then move on off to their lives. The animals are not like those in a zoo, here human interaction is kept at a low level so that the animals do not imprint too deeply on those caring for them. Not all animals can be released into the wild; some instead go on to live at educational facilities, or in species-specific sanctuaries.

The State does not in any way help support this work. Donations, yard sales, and various other fund-raising efforts help keep us functioning. Donated medical supplies and veterinary services are crucial to rehab. To deal with what comes in here are just a few of the things we have to keep in stock: three different kinds of animal milk replacer; mealworms, fishworms, dried insects, specific kinds of cat food for baby bird formula; various vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements; wild game chow; rodent block; raw burger and frozen mice; various fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains; pedialite, antiseptics, topical antibiotics, bandages, and pharmaceuticals; dozens upon dozens of different sized feeding bowls and trays, waterers, feeding syringes and brushes; tubs, aquariums and indoor cages of different sizes; heating pads and warming lamps; piles of towels and sheets and cleaning cloths; bigger outdoor cages--we have three flight cages, and more small cages for outdoor housing or time outside in the daylight. Animal carriers in every shape and size.
What we mostly do is get food into one end of our patients and clean up the poop that comes out the other end. A lot of poop, some of it ending up on us. Rehab generates more dirty dishes and dirty laundry than our regular lives. We even need a second fridge to keep different bird and mammal formulas, along with extra fruit and meat.
Wildlife rehab demands a considerable commitment in money and time. All the foods, meds, caging materials, electric for heat and light, and endless loads of dishes and laundry. Picking up and transferring animals takes a lot of gas, even with our little 25 MPG Escape.
Feeding begins first thing in the morning and goes on late into the evening. Nestling birds have to be fed once an hour at first, then ease back to somewhat longer intervals. Small mammals have to be nursed, and in some cases stimulated so they can pee and poop, a task that the mother would normally perform. Caging is always being built, modified, lugged around, and of course cleaned.
Wildlife rehab is demanding, and can be heartbreaking because not everything survives, but most of all it is tremendously rewarding.