What is something in the past year that makes you happy or proud? Maybe you learned something new, finally got that thing you wanted for ages, managed to make a hard decision with a good outcome. etc etc.
No pressure to share if you don’t want to. Hope you all have a good new years eve :)
Finally got off my butt and started volunteering at my local wildlife rehab clinic. It’s been a tough year for me mentally, so having something regular where I’m surrounded by kind people doing something positive itself was great, and then getting to work with a ton of unique wildlife was the icing on the cake.
I even got to release a few squirrel patients at my house, and a beautiful young Screech Owl on my wife’s birthday.
I’ve learned a bunch about all kinds of animals and found out about some animals I didn’t even know we had in our state. I also attended a conference and got to meet people from other clinics across the country and see some of the special projects they’re working on.
I owe it to the community here for pushing me to get more hands on with this, and I hope to continue to give back with some great stories, facts, and photos. It’s been a truly amazing experience that I wish to continue.
My utmost respect. I fostered a pigeon this year and it was the most stressful thing I’ve done.
Birds feel so fragile (even the big ones) but can require some intense care. Their very non-mammalian anatomy can even make feeding them tricky, and the babies need to eat every hour.
I have so. Much respect for the sacrifices of the actual licensed rehabbers. It’s a literal 24/7 job and so many areas are underserved it’s a massive workload. We did I think 4000+ animals this year with just 2 rehabbers and us volunteers.