_Activity at Wild Things changes throughout the year. April- September (especially during May-August) is the super busy animal time. The rest of the year sees fewer animals, but even then, most days are super busy doing other wild things, such as writing &  designing the newsletter(s), making videos of our patients, giving education talks, designing fundraising campaigns , doing accounting, etc.

During the spring and summer it is not uncommon to have to attend to patients almost 24 hours/day. I quickly learned that I cannot humanly do this! Volunteers have been great at keeping the patients happy and healthy. Wild Things uses an online volunteer calendar where volunteers can see what shifts are free and can sign up when they are needed. They can also schedule reoccurring shifts for themselves on the calendar (e.g., "I'm going to volunteer every Tuesday evening this summer").

_2) Outdoor work: e.g., building brush-piles
     and outdoor cages for animals just prior
     to their release, maintaining and
     building paths to the various outdoor
     cages.

3) I also always need help with fundraising
     and public relations stuff. Why not help
     write a grant for Wild Things ;)! Hold a
     Bake Sake or write an article for Wild
     Things Sanctuary!

4) Transport of animals or picking up food
     from donation centers (like WalMart).
    During the busy times of year there is
    always a need to pick up animals in need,
    take animals to the vet or help pick up
    animal food!

5) Photographers & Videographers to help
     record video & audio of some of the
     patients' stories at Wild Things. I'd love
     to get some more videos on YouTube
     and would love to have someone
     volunteer who is good at that kind of
     thing.

6) Newsletter contributions: stories,
     articles, pictures, drawings.

7) Things like help sending mailings (e.g./
    the printed newsletter 2x year) by post or
    by emails. Help answering the phone and
    replying to emails would also be great!

8) Some people help with food- growing
     vegetables or finding food at local food
     pantrys or grocery stores that is free and
     appropriate for the animals here (from
     greens and apples to bananas, baby food,
     peanut butter, etc!). I've even had  
     volunteers make baby food for the
     patients at Wild Things!

etc.... so you can see there are lots of ways to help! :)

_* Volunteers must be able to show initiative and show an
   ability to think for themselves. For example, shake
   out dirty blankets in the trash not on the floor; if the
   laundry basket is full: start a wash; raise the alarm if
   an animal appears “off”; mop the floor if it looks dirty; be
   able to assess whether you have closed a cage
   well enough to keep the patient(s) inside the cage! etc…
   All of these duties should be done without having
   to be asked.

* As a Wild Things volunteer it is important to have a good 
  degree of common sense. For example, every cage needs
  ventilation, all jars need to be locked so squirrels cannot
  break in, counters must be kept clean (a lot of cleaning 
  goes on here as that is the best way to prevent illness), etc.

_I really enjoy teaching others to care for wildlife, however the time it takes to teach one person to care for these animals is time away from helping the animals themselves. Therefore, if you are interested in working directly with the animals I require a long term commitment from every volunteer. This is especially true in the spring and summer months when baby animals are being fed from 6am until midnight (but don’t worry, I don’t require 18 hour days!). During this time of year you are required to work at least 1 shift/week. The scheduling of shifts will change throughout the spring & summer according to the patient’s needs, but may be between 6/7am-11am, 12-4pm, 4-7pm,

Because Wild Things is small volunteers get a lot more hands-on time with animals than at bigger facilities and we all learn from each other. Many student volunteers have found that it is great experience for vet school or other animal-related fields of study.

Because of the time investment required to work directly with Wild Things patients, I ask every interested volunteer to please take time to consider if Wild Things is a place where they really want to put in a lot of time and effort.

_Wild animals can be absolutely adorable. They can also scratch your eyes out, give you fleas and infect you with internal parasites.

Getting scratched or bitten is fairly common when working with wildlife. Even the sweetest baby who used to curl asleep in your hands after getting its bottle, might lash out and scratch your hand when it grows older and sees you as a threat.

Zoonoses refers to diseases that can be passed between animals and humans (this is why it is very important to keep hands washed!). Most wildlife carries and can transmit, at the very least, fleas & ticks if not more. To reduce transmission of zoonoses, all  cages are kept clean and any animals with questionable symptoms are kept separate and certain species are dewormed upon admission to reduce risks of zoonotic transmission.

_One of the hardest things to deal with when working with wildlife is that in many cases, after a certain age, the baby animal who still wants your attention must be ignored and interaction must be discouraged. Our human world does not take kindly to overly socialized wildlife and part of our duty as those who work in wildlife rehabilitation is to make sure the animals we release are wild and will not go up to humans.

To work with wildlife in a rehabilitation setting it takes more than a sweet love of animals. Sometimes it requires tough love. If an overly social fawn that you have helped raise comes running after you for attention after getting its bottle, do you love it enough to chase it away? it's heartbreaking, but to make sure that fawn grows into a healthy deer, you have to do it.