Animal 911

by Ben Bettterly, Wildlife Educator

Every Thursday, the North Lakeland Discovery Center hosts an EE program for 11-14 year olds called “Eco-Adventures. Eco-Adventures is an offsite program, where we explore local communities and natural area as part of a weekly theme.

Last week’s theme focused on Northwood’s wildlife; and so for Eco-Adventures we visited two wildlife rehabilitation centers in the area: Northwood’s Wildlife Center in Minocqua, and Wildlife Instincts in Rhinelander.   During our visit, we learned about ins-and-outs of wildlife rehabilitation, and found out what it takes to become a wildlife rehabilitator.

 The goal of any wildlife rehabilitation center is to help sick, injured, and/or abandoned (often young) animals, so that they can be released back into the wild as soon as possible.  It’s important to remember that animal rehab centers are not zoos, where animals are put on display for our entertainment. Instead human contact should be minimized as much as possible in order to avoid conflicts between humans and the “patients” when they are finally released back into the wild.  For this reason, animal rehabilitation centers are often limited, if not closed to the general public.

 Most animal rehabilitation centers rely purely on citizen donations for their funding; and animal rehabilitation doesn’t come cheap. For example, although we didn’t get to see them, Wildlife Instincts currently takes care of 10 abandoned bear cubs.  Each bear cub cost approximately $3,000 dollars by the time they are released.  This cost includes the price of food, and any medical or cleaning supplies that might be needed; and this can add up fast! That’s nearly $30,000 for bear cubs alone, and this doesn’t include the costs to take care of all the other animals that might need help such as foxes, otters, porcupines, raccoons, baby birds, etc.

 If you would like to support the Northwood’s Wildlife Center or Wildlife Instincts, donations are graciously accepted in the form of money or supplies (such as fruit, dog food, paper towels, etc.); however, I’d recommend calling first to find out what supplies are most in need.