20 brainspacemagazine.com @BrainspaceMag /BrainspaceMagazine

biology

It’s April 22, and Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge is gearing

up for their busy spring season. They treat, care for and release

injured and orphaned wild animals. Gail Lenters, the refuge’s

founder, meets me in the intake room – the only part that’s

open to the public. “I’ve been cleaning out a pond,” she says.

“Sorry if I smell bad.” And off we go on our tour.

ORPHANED BABIES

We start in the baby building, where “Jen, our professional

squirrel feeder” is hand-feeding three baby squirrels while

two summer students in training watch. While Shades of

Hope only has four year-round staff, through the summer

it takes an additional 12 interns and about 50 volunteers to

keep the place running.

“We have 30 or 40 babies in here now,” says Gail. “In about

a month that will be up to 300!” Why is spring so busy, I ask?

Spring is baby season, she explains, and also clean-up time

for humans. People accidentally destroy nests when they

cut down trees or clear brush. Pets chase young animals and

birds. Construction destroys many wildlife homes too.

Gail shows me the feeding cards they keep for each baby

animal – much like the chart patients get at a hospital – and

the wallboard that tracks all the feeding schedules. “Be sure to

write down the details of each feeding,” Jen tells the students.

“Then check the animal’s schedule, and hang the card on the

hook at the next time they are due.”

The room is full of shelves and cages, grouped by species. I

see squirrel, rat, and vole cages, and then along the back walls

the birds. Rabbits are kept in a separate, quieter room because

“they are stressy.” Gail shows me their four incubators,

Hope

An inside peek at a shelter that

gives injured wildlife

BY HOLLY BENNETT

Use Zappar. Scan for a video glimpse of the shelter.

.

.

.