Wildlife Rehabilitation

Eagle Release with Beverly Grage

Wildlife Rehabilitation is one of the most underappreciated and solely funded volunteer positions. These individuals go through rigorous obstacles and training in order to provide injured, sick, and/or orphaned wildlife a second chance at life. In addition to hours of dedication, they must go through hoops to even obtain the permits ranging from state permits for mammals to federal permits for birds. Not everyone can rehabilitate as not everyone knows how to properly prepare an animal to live in the wild.

Most wildlife rehabilitators have no funding, but rely solely on donations. For many, the majority of costs from food to veterinarian visits to housing come out-of-pocket. For this #givingtuesday , why not consider a wildlife rehabilitator?

One wildlife rehabilitator I ask you to consider donating to is Beverly Grage. She has helped everything from opossums to eagles, a privilege few are allowed. Raptors are one of her specialties with high rerelease rates, but unfortunately, they are also one of the most expensive. With the majority of raptors having their primary food as mice, cost to feed can easily exceed $1000 a month with less than 30 raptors. Often, it's more than 30 being cared for. With a rate of more than a raptor a day during baby season, the cost can be astounding. But for a second chance at life, wildlife rehabilitators like Beverly think it's worth it and so do her donors. Remember, even $1 can make a difference!

You can learn more, and possibly donating to Beverly Grage, from her site. You can learn of other Texas rehabilitators by visiting the TPWD website. You can usually learn about wildlife rehabilitators in other states by visiting that state's parks and wildlife website.

On the following post I plan to clear up a few misconceptions such as how imprinting is not domestication, why wild animals will never make a good pet (not to mention it is illegal), and how wildlife sanctuaries are providing a chance when rehabilitation fails.