“We can help”
May 21, 2020
Kaitlin Sullivan
P4W fellow Sara Penhallegon, Director of Center Valley Animal Rescue in Quilcene, Wash., holding a young barn owl

Long-distance leadership from The Raptor Center helps wildlife rehabilitation centers remain connected and sound amidst a global pandemic.

Wildlife rehabilitation centers serve as safe houses for an estimated half-million animals per year in the United States alone. These lifesaving organizations run on shoestring budgets that are further strained by COVID-19. Getting animals the care they need in the midst of a pandemic can be difficult to navigate, especially when many rehabilitation centers are almost completely run by volunteers.

Through the Partners for Wildlife (P4W) program, The Raptor Center (TRC) is lending support to more than 40 wildlife rehabilitation centers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska. In 2018, TRC won funding to take on the three-year initiative. In addition to sharing expertise and providing opportunities for improvements in animal welfare, one of the main goals of the program has been to create a sense of community. The team is determined to continue its assistance in these disruptive times and is dedicating its resources to fill information gaps that have been amplified by the pandemic.

Navigating splintered influence

“There isn’t one overarching organization that has regulatory authority over all wildlife in the country,” says Julia Ponder, DVM, MPH, executive director of The Raptor Center. “It’s a very complex web of regulatory agencies that each have a piece of the pie.”

That fragmentation has created confusion about how rehabilitators should now approach their work. While some of these states have directly addressed wildlife rehabilitation in their pandemic guidelines, centers in many states are left without guidance on issues such as which staff members should be considered essential. That’s where TRC can help.

Wildlife rehabilitators are well-acquainted with isolation.

“One unique aspect of the wildlife rehabilitation sector is that people are usually quite isolated already. Often, rehabilitators live in rural areas, and a lot of them don’t have internet connections, especially the independent centers,” says Molly O’Bryan, MPH, program director for P4W. Social distancing has suspended many volunteer programs, meaning even fewer people are around.

“Also, because there are very few rehabilitators, it’s common that they are so busy that they don’t have the time to build a network,” adds Ponder.

Gail Buhl, partnership coordinator for P4W, has been carrying out remote visits to provide guidance, troubleshoot problems, and offer moral support to other wildlife rehabilitation centers.

Learning that lasts

“We are coaching rehabilitators on how to provide biosecurity when they do turn over personal protective equipment (PPE) to human medicine professionals,” says Ponder.

The people who dedicate their time and livelihoods to wildlife rehabilitation are compassionate and driven, but not everyone has had biosafety training. This gap leaves some rehabilitators unclear about the need for PPE when doing chores such as cleaning cages, not just when working directly with animals. Ponder and her colleagues are utilizing the present circumstances to address the importance of using appropriate PPE, such as masks and gloves, while working with animals under normal circumstances.

Funding is another hurdle amplified by COVID-19. Ponder says that most wildlife rehabilitation centers are supported through philanthropic donations and money from their own pockets. In the absence of fundraising events, many have been forced to scale back their work. Part of the P4W funding was originally earmarked for small grants aimed at improving infrastructure at rehabilitation centers. Now, those grants can be used to keep these crucial care centers open.

“We don’t have the bandwidth to make them all whole in the absence of philanthropic funding,” says Ponder, “but we can help.”