Dear Grace,

I’m so excited and thankful to be starting 2025 with you and our dedicated community of wild animal advocates.

Because of your support in 2024, we were able to care for a staggering 6,400 sick, injured, and orphaned wild animals. You also helped us educate people on how to co-exist with our wild neighbours to decrease the number of wild animal/human conflicts. And, through our emergency line, you helped reunite countless wild babies with their parents.

Development is one of the most pressing threats to our wildlife. In Ontario, approximately 100,000 new homes are built every year. The majority of these homes are being built on, what was, farmland, grasslands, and forests. And these new developments bring with them MORE than just homes… they bring gas stations, corner stores, strip malls, our domestic pets, etc. creating further habitat loss and threats to our native wildlife.

In order to meet the increased demand on our services, we have big plans for 2025.

Here are just a few of the projects that we need to complete over the next 12 months to further enhance our abilities to provide the best care possible for our wildlife patients.

New White-tailed deer enclosure.

When we first opened our doors in 2013, the area designated for our White-tailed patients was perfect. But since then, the number of injured and orphaned fawns has doubled. We are currently negotiating for the purchase of additional land that will provide the rehabilitation habitat necessary for this high stress species. We’re budgeting approx. $200,000 for this purchase.

Hydro upgrade.

When we first started our refuge in 2013, we only had 100-amp service. Then, after just 2 years, the number of wild animals needing our help doubled and so did our need for more electricity. So, we upgraded to a 250-amp service. Now 10 years later, our needs have grown... again. Our current service just can't provide the power needed to run our hospital, nursery, and the many outbuildings on the property.

We need to upgrade our service before the spring ‘baby’ season is upon us. Between heating all our buildings, running incubators, oxygen enclosures and medical equipment, our current system just can’t keep up. The current estimated cost for this upgrade is $50,000.

New filtering system for our waterfowl building.

At the back of our property, we have our waterfowl building. This is where our ducks, geese, herons, and cranes can swim, hunt for fish and regain their strength.  

We have four separate pond enclosures, but the plumbing in this building is all interconnected. The pond water needs to be constantly filtered to keep the water clean and contaminant-free. As with our deer enclosure, when we first built the structure, it was fine for the limited number of waterfowl we rehabilitated – but now the number of water birds using this facility has tripled and our filtering system just can’t keep up.  

This is a big challenge as most of the filtering systems out there are for pools and/or hot tubs – not ponds full of birds, and all the waste that these birds create. We’ve been investigating systems that will work to keep our birds healthy, but this custom-built-system will be expensive. We’re anticipating this expenditure will be upwards of $25,000.

These projects, in addition to the day-to-day operations of our refuge, will stretch our resources to the limit -- but together I know we can bring these plans to life.

On behalf of the entire team here at Shades of Hope, I want to thank you again for your generosity, your passion, and your belief in our mission.

Gail

Gail Lenters

Founder & Chief Animal-Lover

Question:

Why did you CHOOSE to work with wildlife?

Answer:

Growing up I had all the pets you could imagine... Guinea pigs, rabbits, fish, dogs, and even iguanas, snakes and one Tarantula.

I always felt I had a special connection with animals even though we don't speak the same language; I can understand them, and I promised myself I would help and protect them. 

Question:

When did you come to SOH & why?

Answer:

I started as an intern back in November 2022. It was actually my best friend, Gaby, who shared the Facebook post about the internship. I applied for the position as I had just graduated from vet school, and I wanted some experience in the wildlife medicine field outside of my home country Mexico. 

Question:

What's been your most challenging case so far?

Answer:

I would have to say hand-raising a nestling Ruby-throated hummingbird. It was extremely challenging to keep up with the "every 15 minutes" feeding schedule (as they have a very high metabolism). Then teaching him how to "speak" hummingbird and how to fly. Plus, hummingbirds are a very demanding species when it comes to nutrients and the amount of food they require a day.

Happy ending to this case, as the 3-gram nestling successfully grew up into a healthy hummingbird and was released. 

Question:

What's your favourite wild animal?

Answer:

Tigers are at the top of the list, but if had to choose a species from Canada, then the red fox without a doubt!

Cinnamon, a juvenile Trumpeter swan, was rushed to us for care after she flew into some power lines and plummeted 25 ft. to the ground below.

To our amazement, Cinnamon had no broken bones, but she did have significant head and spinal trauma. Also, when her blood work came back, she had high levels of lead in her system. We believe the lead exposure may have impaired her ability to safely steer clear of the power lines. Even in low levels, lead poisoning can impair cognitive function and reduce the animal's strength and stamina.

After many weeks in care, our hopes were high that Cinnamon would overcome her medical issues and make a full recovery. But sometimes, despite all our best efforts, we do not win our battles.  Cinnamon passed away quietly, but she had been well cared for and was given a second chance.