We love wildlife rehabilitators...
especially home care rehabbers.....
because many of us here at Chesapeake Wildlife Sanctuary
started our wildlife rehabilitation work as home care rehabbers.
We know about the long hours and the non-stop phone calls. And many of those phone
calls are from angry citizens who've been frantically trying to get help for the wild animal they
found - but no one so far was able to help them.
Then they find YOU - the home care rehabber. You work out of their home and you use a generous amount of YOUR OWN MONEY and MOST OF YOUR FREE TIME helping the wild orphans and the sick and injured wild adults.
Most citizens are grateful that you offer to help, but many think you should come and get the animal from them right now. When you try to explain to them that you are "housebound" because you have other animals to care for they either agree to bring the animal to you or they start a whole scenario of guilt trips on you.
They say things like....
"If you don't come and get this animal I'll just put it back outside to die and it will be your fault because you just don't care." OR
"Alright, if you can't come and get it then just tell me what I need to get and what I need to do so I can take care of it myself."
The most difficult part of this whole situation is that in most cases, these citizens are well-meaning and they just want to get help for the animal. They can't spend more time driving it to the home care rehabber because of their other life commitments to their jobs or their families. The other difficult part is that YOU, the home care rehabber need help transporting the animals to your home because you need to stay home to care for the animals you already have at home.
We want to help you....
- by getting free supplies for you
- by recruiting volunteers & interns for you
- by writing grants and getting you the $$$$$ you need
- helping you learn to take time for yourself - because YOU come first!
- by being your advocate for low cost health insurance and other benefits
- by maintaining a lending library of large items that you can use temporarily - just when you need them - like a large truck to move or pick up things, a boat to put an osprey back into its nest, humane traps, assorted sizes of cages, and much more...
If you are interested in applying for assistance through the Gifts for Rehabbers program please send an email to: cheswild@erols.com and put "Gifts for Rehabbers" in the subject line. We will send you an application form and application guidelines.
