Continued from Part 1
From Raven Ridge Wildlife Center
05 April
Happy Easter and we have a truly remarkable story to share today.
Sometimes, circumstances unfold for a reason, and what initially seems heartbreaking can lead to something positive. Our first baby of 2026 arrived weak and underweight after being discovered at the bottom of a cold cement stairway in downtown Columbia. This Great Horned Owl was alone in an area lacking trees or safe spots for a young owl too small to be out of the nest, without a parent to protect or feed it.
Just two days before, we had received an adult female Great Horned Owl rescued from an electrical fence. She showed clear signs of nesting behavior but was unable to fly or even stand. We always strive to do what is right for our patients, ensuring their surroundings and rehabilitation environments closely resemble their natural habitats.
Hatchling and nestling owls tend to imprint easily, so placing them with a foster adult or others of their age and size is crucial. Knowing the female Great Horned Owl was still in nesting mode and the baby owl had lost its mother, our team decided to take a chance and pair the two. This was a risk we were willing to take to allow her to continue her mothering role, ensuring the baby owl would not imprint on humans and could learn from its own species. It turned out to be a win-win for both.
The relationship has developed beautifully, and we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for either owl. The adult female has taken on the role of caregiver, demonstrating strong protective instincts. We plan to release both the adult female and the baby owl together in the general area where she was rescued. Having the baby owl released with her will provide the necessary support from an adult that raised it, in case of any need for assistance.
One of the greatest rewards our team experiences is ensuring that our patients receive top-quality care and natural comfort during their rehabilitation.
Great picture, and don’t be sorry one bit, this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for and I greatly appreciate it!
I’d wager nobody can fault you for donating to your own outfit, and at the end of the day it’s a win if animals in need are getting help! These really are services that should receive more (read: any) public funding, but… that’s a whole other conversation I suppose.
Sorry to keep asking questions - do you have any advice for vetting local centers for prospective donors? Are there any good ways to make sure the centers are being run in a responsible way, and that the wildlife in their care are being treated well and handled ethically?
There is a surprising amount of things we could discuss with funding as you say. There are a number of different types of folks that look down at what we do for various reasons, even putting politics aside. I don’t talk about it much here since I try to stay on the lighter side of topics and on the positives of our animal friends and their helpers and not people being rude. We got enough other communities handling that. 😁
Comparing rehabs can be a bit apples:oranges since we can very greatly in scope. We handle most any wild animal smaller than deer and bears, but no waterfowl right now due to bird flu. Other centers will do, say, only rabbits or only bats, are two localish ones to me I can think of.
The great thing is that it’s (often) pretty easy to find out who is legit. From what I can guess, you’re also in the US like I am, so I know a little about how the laws work here. Wild animals are basically wards of the state. This is why you or I can’t have wild animals as pets. Well, the legal reason. You wouldn’t want one even if it was legal, but again, that’s another story. Rehabilitation is really regulated by the state (and sometimes feds), so you can look up this stuff as it’s all public record.
Here’s a list hosted by Shavers Creek, a licensed animal ed facility associated with Penn State’s veterinary program, that used to be a rehab but isn’t anymore, hence why I’m assuming this particular list is a few years old. It lists every licensed rehabber in the state and what types of animals they have been licensed to work with. Your state should have this available, though each state’s fish/game/wildlife website will vary in quality and how frequently that’s updated, but search for “my_state licensed wildlife rehabilitators” and you should get a list fairly easily.
I did a 50 States of Owls my first year here, and this was one of the ways I found where people could take or visit owls in need. I will say, you may or may not be disappointed by how few resources some states have available. Some can have just one or two for the entire state.
But if they’re on the list, they’ve gone through tons of training and examinations governed by the state, and their facilities will be both visited and inspected regularly by the state game people. They bring us animals in need all the time and come to our events to run booths. If we don’t follow the rules, it’s super easy to take out animals and shut us down.
Give that a shot to find something you think works for you, and if you need further help, let me know. Just try to verify anyone you find on a list is still active. This is a very tough business to be in since it’s such an extreme commitment, and animals don’t pay for care. 😉 People can get into this and burnout or run out of cash quickly, and states aren’t always the fastest at updating info.
Facebook is generally the best place to get info on their activity, since it’s free, easy, and has wide reach. I know a lot of you here don’t use that, but I have to so I can find all these stories, so if you need me to look someone up, again, just ask!
I didn’t get the time I wanted to reply to this earlier, but it’s a great help! I am in the US, and I guess in my head I thought it might be like charities, which often are opaque or are good at hiding their misuse of donations (perhaps that’s too cynical a take, lol). It sounds like as long as a center is active and licensed, it’s a pretty safe bet to donate to them which is great because it takes a great deal of decision paralysis away from me.
I indeed don’t have Facebook (or anything but Lemmy really) but I checked out that list and it looks like most of the centers around me have full volunteer rosters, which is of course great but I was also hoping to see about also helping out - guess I’ll just have to be patient!
Thanks again, this has been very useful for me and hopefully anyone else who comes across this looking for ways to help out!
I’m always glad to be able to help out! A lot of places have public events and open houses so you can meet the people and animals if you want to check anyone out. I attended 2 open houses and an event at the library out on by the clinic I’m with before I got involved with them, so I knew they’ve been around a long time and had a great reputation. People in the community really love us.
Most places are done with taking volunteers for the season. Check back around January since most places will start being fully staffing in March and April for baby season, but they need to have everyone signed up, background checked if you’re open to the public, and just to know they’ll have enough people before taking in animals.
Always feel free to ask any questions, and I’ll try to help you get things figured out. I love entertaining you guys of course, but if I can get some of you actively involved, donating, volunteering, or making your homes better for wildlife, that’s my real goal because that’s what saves these animals.