Busy wildlife centre needs volunteers

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Part five of Wild Summer, The Intelligencer’s series on Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre. Scroll to the bottom for links to the other parts.

NAPANEE — For animals on eastern Ontario roads, death comes on four wheels – but so does salvation.

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Busy wildlife centre needs volunteers Back to video

For almost 5,000 injured and sick wildlife per year, a chance at recovery begins with a ride to Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre.

“We always need volunteers, especially drivers,” said the centre’s assistant director, Leah Birmingham. She’s a registered veterinary technologist and licensed wildlife custodian.

Sandy Pines isn’t a sanctuary: it’s a place where wildlife are assessed, treated, rehabilitated, and released to the wild. They come from roughly Toronto to Ottawa, but mainly the area between Cobourg, Brockville and Highway 7.

Those which can’t be rehabilitated to the point of surviving in the wild – about half of those which come here – are euthanized humanely. The rest are released as soon as they’re ready.

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This summer the centre’s been operating with fewer funds, staff and volunteers, all due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With pandemic restrictions now reduced, Sandy Pines staff are again looking for helpers.

Belleville’s Norma Broadbear found a new cause after a friend found two squirrel pups orphaned by a vehicle. Broadbear drove them to Sandy Pines.

That was 18 years ago and the start of a new routine.

When the calls come, Broadbear gets rolling with Kerry, her shih tzu-cocker spaniel mix, on the passenger seat. The wildlife stays undisturbed in crates or boxes in the back seat, Broadbear said.

“I’ve had eagles and hawks and bats and tiny mice,” she said.

She’s also released turtle hatchlings from a dying turtle she once found.

“You learn all kinds of stuff” about animals by volunteering, she said.

The “the stinkiest trip I ever had” involved a great horned owl which reeked of skunk, probably a recent meal.

“I had all my windows down and my sunroof open,” Broadbear said. “It was wild.”

Drivers use their own vehicles and pay their own costs, but can receive year-end tax receipts for their mileage. For some, there’s a “substantial” amount on the receipt, Birmingham said.

They are not obligated to respond to every request to drive and no experience or much training needed.

Those who work in the centre, though, receive training as needed.

“Most of them do start by helping to clean because there’s a ton of cleaning that needs to be done,” Birmingham said.

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No cuddling allowed

As staff get to know the volunteers, they may assign them tasks involving the animals, usually pairing them to a person’s interests.

But not everyone’s suited to the work, which isn’t always what people expect.

“I think people have a sort of romantic notion, when they get into this, that they’ll be cuddling furry baby animals,” said Birmingham.

“We don’t cuddle them.

“If you cuddle them, it’s for yourself, and not for them.”

It’s forbidden. There is still plenty of hands-on work, but it occurs only when the animals need feeding, medical care, cleaning, etc.

It can be upsetting, too. Wildlife trauma is common here. The animals are wounded, sick, or starving.

There are many shattered turtles, emaciated birds, and bloodied mammals. Some have been abused by humans or kept for so long they can’t be rehabilitated.

“I’ve had to kind of harden my heart a little bit,” said employee Sarah Hayday, a veteran wildlife worker.

When animals died, she said, “I used to cry every time.

“You can’t work that way – it’s too devastating.

“You have to make peace with it.”

She said animals at the centre get every available chance at survival.

“You always know that everyone gave their all.”

Variety of duties

Kingston’s Jenn Gebkenjans started volunteering about three years ago; her stepdaughter, Taylor Franco, also helps.

“I thought it’d be a great opportunity to do something I’m passionate about,” Gebkenjans said. “It’s very rewarding.

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“Maybe five per cent of the time I’m here I’m actually interacting with the animals. But that five per cent is what you remember.”

Her duties vary: cleaning, preparing animal food, feeding, capturing sick animals and releasing healthy ones.

In her job as a federal prison guard, Gebkenjans said, “It’s a hard work environment.”

She then laughed about the difference between her work and volunteer lives.

“I come in here and feed bunnies! It’s such a chill day.”

There is a wide range of ways to help.

With Sandy Pines’ major annual fundraisers cancelled or postponed, staff welcome people who’d like to raise funds. If you’re handy, they’re also looking for people to help maintain the properties and buildings; two new barn-style aviaries are needed.

A volunteer property manager would be of huge help, said Birmingham. Duties could include changing septic filters, weekly changing of furnace filters, and tending the water softener.

Room for more

Sandy Pines recruits about 12 interns each summer. This year there are five. The rest have stayed home because of coronavirus risks and restrictions. So have some regular volunteers, many of them seniors,

And once students return to school, centre director Sue Meech said, “We’re going to be short.”

The work is hard and hours are long, but volunteers and staff alike say they’re here because they care.

“All of us know that sense of helplessness you feel when you’re faced with an injured animal and you don’t know how to help,” said turtle team volunteer Susan Irving of Kingston.

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She described the team’s devotion comes from a mix of obligation to helping and the satisfaction it brings.

“Nature is under threat increasingly and human action is central to that. So it’s our only way of giving back, isn’t it?”

Ways to help

READ MORE of The Intelligencer’s Wild Summer series on Sandy Pines:

Part one: More animals, fewer dollars – a day in the life

Part two: Don’t give up on an injured turtle

Part three: Babies and orphans

Part four: Taking flight