Volunteers help Wildlife Rescue Society to take care of animals in need
Dedicated volunteers in southwest Saskatchewan make a difference when injured and orphaned wildlife need help.
They are volunteering with the Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan (WRSOS), a registered non-profit organization that works to ensure the well-being of wildlife in the province.
It cares for and rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife and provides the Wildlife 911 hotline service in the province. It also provides educational information and advice to the public about wildlife issues with the goal to ensure that humans and wildlife can live together.
Jolene Empey and Samantha Giroux, who are WRSOS volunteers in Swift Current, made a presentation about the organization at the Swift Current Branch Library, April 23. They also spoke afterwards to the Prairie Post about the role of volunteers and what to do when you encounter wildlife that might be injured or orphaned.
“We have volunteers all across the province,” Girioux said. “Here in the Swift Current area we have six or seven volunteers. There’s about four in Swift Current and then there’s a couple in the smaller communities. So we pretty much cover the whole southwest corner between the few of us and then typically we transport all of our wildlife to the facility in Regina.”
Volunteers play an important role in the WRSOS and they carry out a variety of task, including rescuing animals, transporting them to rehabilitation facilities in Regina or Saskatoon for care before their release back into the wild, assisting with events, raising awareness, providing education, and answering hotline calls.
Anyone interested in volunteering with the WRSOS can contact the organization and complete a volunteer application form.
“Then after you are approved, there’s a bit of an orientation,” she said. “We usually do them twice a year and then after the orientation you’re a volunteer. There’s ongoing training. We’re pretty much always learning new things, trying to better our skills and our understanding of wildlife and how they react to us handling them.”
Empey has been a transport volunteer and she has made several trips to transport various animals. She will usually take them as far as Moose Jaw, where another volunteer will take the animals and continue the journey to the rehabilitation facility in Regina.
“I’ve transported bats, and I took quite a few hawks up to Moose Jaw last year,” she said.
Giroux has been involved with the WRSOS as a rescue volunteer and she has assisted a variety of wildlife. Some species might be encountered more frequently during rescues, such as great horned owl and ferruginous hawks, but a variety of animals might need help.
She was involved with the rescue of a great horned owl that got caught up in barbed wire on a farm. A more unusual situation was when she received a coyote puppy from a kayaker.
“I think he was found in Alberta,” she said. “The person was kayaking for a week and found this little coyote puppy. He actually transported him along his journey and then met up with me here in Swift Current. We safely got that coyote off to a rehabilitator and he was later released with another coyote puppy. It was really remarkable. … The man was fishing along his canoe trip and was just feeding the pup the fish that he caught.”
She noted that calls about songbird fledglings out of their nest are among the most common calls received by WRSOS.
“People see them on the ground, which is actually very normal for them,” she said. “They go through about a week period where they can’t fly yet, but they’re still being cared for by their parents. We’ve had raccoons, crows, coyotes, deer.”
She mentioned a rescue a few years ago by WRSOS volunteers that even involved a baby moose kept as a pet in the Estevan area.
“Somebody was keeping it in their house and we stepped in and cared for it,” she said. “It was actually later released as well.”
The number of calls about wildlife will depend on the time of year and the area. There are not as many calls from rural communities compared to larger urban areas such as Regina.
“We as an organization received over 4,500 calls last year, which was I believe our record year as the greatest number of calls we ever received,” Giroux said. “Here it’s not too many. Most rural communities kind of deal with things themselves, but we do still receive a fair number of calls. I go on quite a few.”
They have some key suggestions for any member of the public who encounters wildlife and is unsure if an animal needs any assistance.
“If they look and seem OK, leave them alone,” Empey emphasized. “Don’t hang around, don’t interrupt them. If you’re really concerned about them, give us a call or give a conservation officer a call and ask for advice on what to do if they seem like they’re in distress.”
Young animals are often left alone by their parents for various reasons, for example to keep them in a safe spot or while the adults are looking for food. However, the parents will return to take care of their young. Human interference can actually have a negative impact on the survival chances of those young animals.
“Baby birds for example,” she said. “When people see them and think they should take them into the house or whatever when really the parent is hanging around and they’re still feeding them and they’re still caring for them. You’re making things worse for them, because a lot of times when people take them into their home, they end up dying.”
Giroux added that in particular situations where it is clear an animal is injured or in distress, then it is important to call the WRSOS hotline as soon as possible.
“Several times people have waited a few days to see if the problem just kind of fixes itself,” she said. “If the animal is in distress, it likely needs assistance and waiting a few days could actually be life or death for the animal. So calling right away is very important. … Our hotline volunteers are very knowledgeable. There’s a ton of education that they can offer. So even if you’re just not sure, like baby birds for example, just give us a call and we can definitely explain the situation and how best to handle it.”
She added that it is important to limit any interaction with an injured animal and to leave it to trained rescue volunteers to deal with a situation.
“A big thing is keeping your pets away from wildlife, especially off-leash dogs, and keeping children away,” she said. “If the animal is in distress and you’re letting your animals or your children interact with them, it’s actually going to stress them out far greater. Try not to talk to the animal. I know a lot of people will try to use really calm almost baby voices. Most wildlife doesn’t want to interact with us. So minimizing contact and minimizing the amount of noise around them would be the best thing.”
For more information about the activities of the WRSOS, visit the organization’s website at www.wrsos.org or in case of an urgent wildlife concern, call the Wildlife 911 hotline at 306-242-7177.