Dear Wildwoods Family and Friends,

I hope you and yours safe and sound as we enter the holiday season. Here at Wildwoods we are thankful for you and for all that you do to make sure that we can continue our work.

As we move into December, we near the end of a challenging year; a year in which our communities have been forced to reckon with continuing racial injustices, a pandemic, economic insecurity, and political upheaval. Each epoch challenges humanity in a very specific way and forces us to imagine who and what we can become. And in those imaginings, we seek to build something better, something stronger, and something that will last beyond our generations. We’ve been here before, and we will be here again. What matters is what we do in this space and time.

At Wildwoods, we have continued to work with orphaned, injured, and sick wildlife, and have increased our efforts to ensure that we keep wildlife wild by advising the community when the best course of action is to leave an animal alone. When an animal is in distress, our staff and volunteers use their skills and patience, guided by respect and love, to do what they can. Since May, we have admitted and cared for more than 1,200 orphaned, injured, and sick wildlife representing 125 species, and have assisted 1,100 callers on specific animal inquires. The Northern saw-whet owl pictured below is one of the animals that passed through our doors this year.

This owlet was found by itself, unable to fly, and was brought to Wildwoods by a concerned individual. Often people mistake adult Northern saw-whet owls for owlets due to their small size – they are only 6-7.5 inches tall, after all –  but this little one is definitely an owlet! After a thorough exam at Wildwoods, the owlet settled in for the night and we arranged for safe and secure transport for the following day to The Raptor Center. There the owlet stayed for several weeks before it was finally returned to the wild where it could live as it was meant to.

Keeping wildlife wild, returning wildlife to the wild, and helping our community understand how our actions impact wildlife is what we do.    Many of the animals that pass through our doors have come to harm due to an unfortunate interaction with a human, and we do what we can to mitigate the damage.  The real way to make change is to recognize our place in the larger ecosystem, and better understand how our daily actions impact the beloved wildlife that shares space with us. We will continue to work towards a day where we can all recognize our symbiotic relationships with this natural world, and be the better for it.

Please continue to join us on our journey of compassion and understanding.  Your donation is crucial to us during this year of transition. Please donate here. If you have already donated to us this fall, thank you for your support!

Kind regards,

Jessica LaBumbard, Executive Director