Rescuers Struggle to Save Orphaned Wildlife Because of Pandemic

During Spring and early summer it’s pretty common to find orphaned baby birds, squirrels, and rabbits. Thankfully, there are rescuers who are professionals and know exactly what to do to help these animals. However, Spring has arrived just as a pandemic is sweeping the world. This means people need to maintain their distance from each other and are not to go outside unless it’s for essential duties. This makes it difficult for rescuers to do their job well and rescue as many orphaned baby animals as possible.

St. Louis Public Radio reports that Wild Bird Rehabilitation cares for more than 2,000 songbirds each year during this time and eventually releases them back to the wild. However, normally there are dozens of volunteers to help care for the birds. Due to the pandemic, they’ve had to cut down to their core group of five staff members. “Volunteers are still helping from afar, answering phones and caring for some baby birds in their homes,” but native bird species must remain at the facility.

Missouri Wildlife Rescue Center is dealing with the same issues. Volunteers usually make up 95 percent of their workforce and now that they are trying to save animals in midst of the pandemic. Volunteers cannot work as they used to, in any organizations, because they’d be endangering their own health and others.

It’s important to keep in mind that many times people think they’ve found orphaned wildlife, but really the nest or babies might have just been left alone in a safe spot for a few hours at a time by their mothers. Please read the Humane Society’s guide to understanding if a wild animal actually does need your help. There are signs to look out for and this is not a good time to overwhelm animal rescues and organizations with misinformation.

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