MOULTRIE —
Long before spring officially arrived, the Georgia Wildlife Rescue Association (GWRA) was preparing for it. An unusually mild winter and the forecast of an early spring indicated that Georgia’s wildlife rehabilitators, or rehabbers, would have a prolonged “busy season.”
Spring and early summer are traditionally the busiest and most costly time for rehabbers, notes Colquitt County’s Chet Powell, who founded GWRA in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. Powell is a former state park ranger.
Adult animals of all species are roaming and looking for mates in early spring. The result is that more animals are struck by vehicles and rehabbers get bombarded with animals, often with multiple injuries that usually require weeks or months of treatment.
And just when it couldn’t get any worse … it does, said Powell. The baby rush, as one rehabber calls it, comes like a tidal wave as newborn and young animals arrive. Some are legitimate rescues, but many are not.
“We need to remember that newborn animals belong in the woods and should be left there whenever possible,” said Powell, GWRA’s executive director. “But humans want to rescue every newborn animal that they come in contact with.”
Most wildlife rehabilitators operate with their own limited funds to cover food, housing, transportation and veterinary care.
“With the economy the way it’s been for the last several years, we’ve lost a huge percentage of rehabilitators because they just can’t afford to do it anymore,” Powell said.
He added, “So not only do we have a shortage of qualified and experienced rehabbers, but we have to place more injured animals with the fewer remaining wildlife rehabbers, which increases their workload and also drains what little money they have left.”
See Friday's edition for more details.
Local News
Related Photos
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A litter of orphaned raccoons peer from their protective cage during their rehab period after being injured. Submitted photo
May 17, 2012
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