Frozen mice, mealworms, flamingo food: The high cost of wildlife rehab in Pennsylvania

Imagine being a healthcare expert and having to raise money in order to care for your patients.

That's what happens at wildlife rehabilitation centers across Pennsylvania. However, there's legislation being considered that may help offset expenses.

The Game and Fisheries Committee has advanced a bill that would provide grants to wildlife rehabilitators in Pennsylvania, a move that is welcomed by those who care for injured animals.

The committee approved an amended House Bill 1522 Monday to the full House of Representatives.

Paul Scott, the Game and Fisheries committee’s executive director, said the bill would create a grant program that would be administered by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The proposal aims at funding the program at $300,000 a year.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Tarah Probst, a Democrat who represents Monroe and Pike counties. “Pennsylvania is home to a wide variety of wildlife, and unlike their domesticated counterparts, wild animals do not have access to traditional veterinary care. Wildlife rehabilitators are essential in treating and temporarily caring for injured, diseased, and displaced wildlife. These individuals also provide essential education in order to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts and promote stewardship of wildlife,” she said in a news release.

Committee Chair Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik, of Allegheny County, provided an amendment to the bill that would have the money come from funds not subject to the Pittman-Robertson Act. That act provides funds to the Game Commission from taxes collected on the sale of some sporting goods, guns and ammunition and has limited uses.

Kulik’s amendment also removes language in the bill that funding be attached to the number of animals a center treats each year.

The amended bill goes to the full House for consideration.

Wildlife rehabilitators are known for taking in injured animals and birds that are found by the Game Commission personnel and the public. The Pennsylvania Association of Wildlife Rehabilitators’ website, pawr.com, identifies 27 registered centers in 23 counties.

Raven Ridge Wildlife Center

“That’s fantastic,” Tracie A. Young, founder and rehabilitator of Raven Ridge Wildlife Center, in Lancaster County, said in a telephone interview about potential grant possibilities.

“We had quite a unique year for sure,” she said, noting the variety of animals treated this year.

That list includes a migratory flamingo that was blown off course in September and then spotted in a Franklin County waterway with another flamingo. The Game Commission realized one bird had been injured by a snapping turtle and delivered it to Raven Ridge. Unfortunately, after about 11 days of care, the bird died from its injuries.

“The surgery for the leg cost us $1,000. We had to have flamingo food shipped in from out of state,” Young said about the unexpected expenses.

Raven Ridge covers about 17 counties for birds of prey. “We’re one of about 13 centers in the state licensed to rabies vector species. We are inundated,” Young said.

“Birds of prey are one the most expensive, costly animals to rehab,” she said. Food alone costs thousands each season, as they eat everything from frozen mice to hamburger and chicken. Sometimes hunters who don’t use lead bullets donate venison.

“The Game Commission brings a lot of birds of prey. A lot of them are suffering from lead poisioning. That is a very long rehabilitation,” she said.

The center puts on fundraisers and receives donations. Young said the fundraisers can be time consuming when workers need to be caring for their patients.

The centers also have to pay for permits, several types of insurance for the facility and volunteers, utilities for incubators and hot plates.

They also care for small animals likes foxes, skunks, raccoons, groundhogs and bats. “We go through so many mealworms,” she said, the worms serving as a good food source for several species.

Young said the demand for care continues to grow. Raven Ridge expects to treat more than 1,500 animals this year. “With just skunks alone, we’re almost at 100,” she said.

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All the animals are released into the wild.

“I really hope they pass that bill. That’s a lot of our problem is getting funding to this. All of the prices are rising for everything,” Young said.

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Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

“Our mission is to care for injured, sick or orphaned wildlife, but we have no funding from the state or federal government,” Carol Holmgren said in a telephone interview. Holmgren is executive director and head wildlife rehabilitator at the nonprofit Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Saegertown, Crawford County.

“We appropriately have oversight from those organizations, which I think is valuable to make sure wildlife rehabilitators are doing a good job.”

The rehabilitation centers provide a chance for animals in need. “We’re providing an important, trained service that helps both the wildlife that we treat and gives the public a safe, ethical and moral way to compassionately respond to injured wildlife,” Holmgren said.

Rehabilitation centers are also among the first to notice if there are disease outbreaks in birds and mammals. “We provide really important services, but don’t have any funding from any state or federal organizations. Then it becomes challenging. We have expenses,” she said.

“The demand for wildlife rehabilitation is only increasing."

In 2016, Tamarack treated about 400 patients. Starting in 2020, the center has been receiving more than 1,000 patients each year. Most of the patients at Tamarack are raptors including red-tailed hawks and bald eagles. “As the eagle population has recovered, we are treating more eagles every year and this has been a record-breaking year for the number of eagles in treatment at one time,” Holmgren said.

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The facility normally treats about 50 to 60 red-tailed hawks and 11 to 16 bald eagles a year. “At one point this summer, I had seven (eagles) in treatment at one time,” she said.

Most of the injuries stem from young birds falling from the nest during the fledging period, lead poisoning and shootings.

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“The cost of the first month of a treating an eagle can easily run us $3,000, assuming it doesn’t need surgery,” she said about specialized housing, X-rays, bloodwork and wound care.

Tamarack also cares for the likes of squirrels, rabbits, mink and opossums.

“Everything we need comes from donations,” Holmgren said. “What we do is only possible because of all the people who support us and contribute."

The work to save wildlife is important to Holmgren. “The majority of the animals are injured or sick because of some interaction that had to deal with humans that didn’t go so well,” she said. That includes collisions with cars, eating something toxic or being hurt by house cats.

“We work with a lot of fantastic officers and our goal is to help wildlife. Definitely if we could get some funding, it would help us do that,” Holmgren said.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors, X @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: PA wildlife rehab centers busier than ever. State funding could help.