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Niagara Wildlife Haven Needs to Relocate!
You might wonder if there is a need for a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Niagara and we're here to let you know that there is a desperate need! In the past three years distressed wildlife calls have more than doubled. We do our best to provide assistance and take these animals into care, however, physical space, our location, and funding, severely limit our ability to help.
Many of you know that we remained at this location because we made a choice to stay and provide care and assistance to my parents. They have passed on and we now face a crossroad. To continue being a wildlife rehabilitation facility we must relocate. Niagara’s wildlife needs a place of its own - in Niagara - where the animals will receive experienced and skilled professional rehabilitation and care. We have the knowledge, we have the skill, and we certainly have the experience. We just need ‘the place’.
Although we meet the standards set by the Ministry of Natural Resources for what we currently do here, and we pass all facility inspections, there simply isn’t enough room here for us to work with all the different species that we get in. To remain here will severely limit what we keep and treat because we cannot expand. Animals we could easily help, we are now faced with having to transfer elsewhere. That is much easier said than done! With the exception of two facilities that specialize only in birds of prey, there is no other facility in Niagara authorized (licensed) for all species. We are ’it’ - as the expression goes. Other centres are too far outside Niagara and are in the same position - they fill to the brim with wildlife from their own areas. They cannot take ours at the expense of having to needlessly euthanize those from their own areas.
The second drawback to transfers outside Niagara is that all wild animals, by law, must be released within 1 km of where they were found. It’s stressful to send wildlife to another part of the province and transport it back for release when full grown. Unknowingly transporting wildlife disease to other areas in Ontario also makes transfer very risky.
What we need is rural property anywhere in Niagara with a minimum of 2 acres (more is better) with a residence not bounded by any urban development, in a wooded area. We need to live onsite to be able to provide round the clock care. A barn or outbuildings that can be converted for rehabilitation use - for example, a wildlife hospital and medical clinic are also needed.
Developing an educational centre onsite where wildlife who cannot be released due to their injuries, can be housed for life and where children can come to learn respect for wildlife and wildlife habitats through public education programs is a part of our plan also. We would also like to incorporate a classroom for teaching others how to become wildlife rehabilitators. You can help us make that vision become a reality!
We are taking the steps now to apply for charitable status and registering as a nonprofit corporation - eventually setting up a foundation ensuring the ‘Haven’ remains in Niagara after we are gone. That is the legacy I want Niagara’s wildlife to have.
It would be ideal if Niagara Wildlife Haven could acquire such land and property through the generosity of compassionate donors. If you know of anyone willing to do so please have them contact us. The time has come to bring awareness to politicians and the public of the acute lack of services for injured and orphaned wildlife in Niagara and to embark on a major fundraising campaign to raise the needed funds for this project.
Our target goal is to raise $500,000.
Were we to acquire a donation of property and land, funding is still necessary for renovations, medical equipment and supplies, the construction of secure and environmentally enriched outdoor caging, ponds for waterbird rehab and recovery, flight training pens for raptors, secure and sheltered tracts of land for the rehabilitation of fawns, foxes, and other species that require privacy and minimal human contact in rehab for their recovery and to ensure they retain their wild nature. Buildings that will house orphaned and injured animals during the rehabilitation and recovery period will need water, heat, and hydro.
It may seem like a never-ending list but we firmly believe that one step at a time—we can get there. In the meantime, the work we do here at this location needs continued and ongoing funding.
Most finders when they deliver an injured or orphaned wild animal to us, feel they've done their part and will walk away assuming that all will be well. They have done their part in bringing it here but for the Haven, the work just begins!
We rely totally on compassionate and generous donations from the public. We don't charge a fee for taking in wildlife, and we certainly are not funded by any government agency or municipality. Wild animals don't have health insurance so there's no way to be reimbursed for the expenses we incur in helping them. My work and efforts are a donation, free of charge, to the Haven. Donations are the only way we can ensure that we can keep these doors open and are able to help the wildlife.
The reality is that there is so much more to wildlife rehabilitation than just feeding a wild animal whatever is in the fridge, or whatever one finds on the 'Internet'. One orphaned fawn can cost in excess of $200 in doe replacement formula. An orphaned raccoon can cost $250 to rehabilitate from beginning to release. 'Bread soaked in milk' will kill - not feed - a baby bird. (When was the last time you saw a mother Robin shopping in the grocery store for bread and milk for her offspring?) The old, raw egg - corn syrup - Carnation Milk mixtures from great-grandma's day, is also a killer formula for wildlife. Providing the proper care and food for wild animals is a costly thing to do.
Animals become orphaned when humans cut down a tree or run their nest over with a lawnmower or a weed-eater. Birds of prey attracted to roadside ditches by rodents that are there feasting on the garbage people throw out their car windows collide with cars and trucks and shatter their wings and legs. Turtles are run over, their shells smashed. Some people deliberately run over opossums, thinking of them as giant rats (they're not, they are North America's only marsupials). Wild mothers are killed when they go out to forage for food and have to cross a new subdivision road that now cuts their habitat in half.
We so often hear that we should just step back and let nature take it's course. We agree. Nature should take it's course, but the statistical facts are that 98% of injured or orphaned wild animals are admitted not because nature has harmed them - but because they have been impacted or harmed by humans or human related activities and ever increasing encroachment into formerly wild habitats. In these cases we step in and provide assistance for these animals. They are a part of our history, and our heritage and we need to ensure that we help to preserve their lives so they will be here for future generations. We can learn to peacefully coexist with wildlife.
Another reason for the increase in calls is growing awareness of the work we do here. We are the only facility authorized to rehabilitate all species in Niagara. We really need the public to support our efforts. The cost of running this facility, is extremely high and support through donations is crucial. The more awareness there is in the community about the work we do, the more help we can get for wildlife in Niagara that need us.
This year we face our biggest challenge ever. We need to work hard to relocate and find a location to establish a regional wildlife rehabilitation centre. Currently we are suffering from a lack of skilled volunteers who are willing to devote the necessary time to both wildlife care and administrative work. It takes a special person to do this work, and simply saying that you love animals is not enough. Wild animals shy away from people, and don't wish to be coddled and loved. We are their enemy. Individuals who work directly with wildlife must do so ethically and respect that they are and must retain their wild nature. If you are that type of person and want to make a difference - please contact us.
Please see our ‘Wish List’ for other ways you can help. Food and formula are always in short supply and we appreciate donations of these and other items. We are currently experiencing a major food shortage and are in need of dry, high quality brand name cat and dog food (not diet foods) and some tinned cans with meat as their primary ingredient. Donations of Esbilac™ and KMR™ or other powdered kitten and puppy milk replacers would also be greatly appreciated.
To those of you who helped last year and this year - our deepest gratitude. We simply could not have done it without you! We truly value your support. Each life we saved and subsequently returned to the wild—was because you cared. Thank you on behalf of all wild things!
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Every single tree and patch of ground it roots in; every stream, pond or lake is 'home' to a wild animal.
When you look in the eyes of these displaced, sick and orphaned animals you understand and you see that they are the helpless victims of habitat loss.
What is our personal responsibility?
To mitigate the damage we have done.
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©2006-2007 Niagara Wildlife Haven All rights reserved. Design and content are copyrighted to Niagara Wildlife Haven. Questions/comments about this website? Email: web@niagarawildlifehaven.org
Updated: 25 Dec 2008 02:49 PM |
