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Summertime and the livin' ain’t easy for wildlife…
Cape Cod is a beautiful place to live, especially in the summer, but with increased traffic, refuse, and a desire for the perfect green lawn and bug-free garden, it can be less than perfect for the animals that live here too. We are seeing immense human impact and our patient intake is at capacity. We can all make a difference in the choices we make. Even small changes like reserving tree work for late fall, driving slowly to make way for crossing turtles, being mindful of nesting shorebirds while we enjoy our beautiful beaches, and trashing or recycling our fishing tackle responsibly.. All of these simple things can help to avoid displacing our precious wildlife.
As we go into our Cape Cod summer, remember to share your space with wildlife. We are living in what used to be their backyard.
Stephanie Ellis,
Executive Director
| Red-tailed Hawk with splint after vehicle strike. Photo by Kerry Reid | |
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Lucky Owlets Find a Foster
Family in Eastham
Wild Care received a call from Maryanne Figur in Eastham concerned about the nesting screech owls by her home. One of the babies was sticking its head out of the nest box calling, and Maryanne had not seen an adult owl all day… Director Stephanie Ellis carefully checked the box and found a baby and adult female nestled in the box. The young owl was similar in age to two orphaned Eastern Screech Owls that have been our care for several weeks from Carver and Brewster. Both of our orphans lost their homes and families due to tree felling.
We brought our two screech owlets to this nest and Jennifer Taylor, our Animal Care Coordinator, placed them into the box. They are a perfect match! Screech owls can't count and will feed young that are not their own. They typically lay 1-4 eggs that hatch asynchronously - meaning that the owlets in a nest are all several days apart in age. We could not have asked for a better outcome!
WATCH the owlets in their new home
LEARN more about Eastern Screech Owls
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Wild Care's Director Shares Some Good Advice to Help
Nesting Osprey
Osprey return to Cape Cod right around St. Patrick’s Day every year and start building their nests and readying them for raising chicks. They prefer to make their homes on high platforms and can sometimes choose a place that is less than ideal like a rooftop or chimney. The time to stop them from choosing a nesting spot that is dangerous is BEFORE they invest too much time building. Once a nest is complete and has eggs or chicks it is illegal to remove it without permission from the USDA. Acting early can make a much better outcome for all. If you are a seasonal resident, please check on your home in early spring, and be proactive, you can help these beautiful birds continue to thrive here on the Cape!
Wild Care’s Executive Director shares some good advice in the video above created by
Lower Cape TV.
LEARN more about Osprey
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Osprey Foster Nest Found by The Osprey Project for Clutch
of Eggs Incubated
at Wild Care
Wild Care received a clutch of Osprey eggs from the USDA from a home in Sandwich. Our staff incubated the eggs for several weeks and then the search was on to find a wild foster nest to place the eggs, or soon to be chicks into. Lucky for us Kevin Friel of the The Osprey Project Falmouth was aware of a nest that had been removed by Eversource and deterred several times upon being deemed a safety hazard. This pair had just finished nest construction in a new spot, and based on behavior, Kevin knew that the female just laid an egg. Being so late in the season, there is only an 80% chance that those young will survive according to Kevin. Therefore, this was the PERFECT nest to place our clutch of viable Osprey eggs into. We contacted Eversource Energy, and they sent a skilled lineman out to place the eggs into this nest in Falmouth. Within just a few minutes, the female Osprey returned and hunkered down on her 4 eggs!
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BABIES! BABIES! BABIES!
Here are a few of the recent babies in our nursery...
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Five Years in the Making, Wild Care Cuts
the Ribbon on New Building
Wild Care hosted a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for our Expansion Project. It’s been five years in the making, and we are excited to say It’s finally happening! This new animal intake, education and cleaning center will help us work more efficiently, and allow us to repurpose our existing space giving us more room for animal care. Finish details are ongoing and we anticipate the space being fully operational in late August.
The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony included a tour of the new building, refreshments, a visit from our educational turtles and owl, words from Director Stephanie Ellis, and an official ribbon cutting by our staff. Guests included staff, volunteers, Wild Care’s Board, major donors of the project, and town members.
Thank you to everyone that helped make this possible! Thank you to Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters, and Cottage Street Bakery for donating coffee and goodies for the ribbon cutting event.
WATCH the ribbon cutting and learn more about this incredible project.
Video by Lower Cape TV
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Jennifer Taylor talks about opossums | Nickerson, an Eastern Screech Owl | Intern IBeth feeds a baby squirrel | |
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Wild Care Hosts a Wildlife
Baby Shower for Baby Animals
We had so much fun meeting everyone at the Wildlife Baby Shower! The weather was perfect, and guests got to meet turtles, an owl, Mallory the duck, see a baby squirrel feeding, and a meet a sweet opossum. Thank you to every one that came out and spent some time with us. Your generosity is amazing, and we hope it gave everyone a look into what we do here at Wild Care. We received a mountain of much needed supplies, and $1,193.00 in donations. We are so fortunate to be part of such a caring community!
Congratulations to our lucky gift basket winner Roz Goldstein! Thank you to Ocean State Job Lot, Cape Cod Beer, Earth House, Land Ho! Restaurant, and Baskin’s Ace Hardware for your donations towards the basket. Thank you to Shaw's for providing our snacks and drinks, Cottage Street Bakery for the delicious muffins, and Good Times Cape Cod Ice Cream - Yum!
Special thanks to Undercover Tent and Party in Dennis for providing our beautiful tent and chairs, The Farm for the lovely flowers for our guests and volunteers, Agway for the beautiful flowers in our window boxes, Carol Wright for the perfect stone planter filled with Whirling Butterfly flowers, Jody Rice-Hines for showing Mallory the Mallard Duck, And to all our volunteers, WOW, we couldn’t have done it without you!
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Find Out How Going Solar Can Save Wildlife
Wild Care is so proud to say that we’ve gone green! Installation and purchase of our new solar energy system will save an estimated $5,000 every year, giving us more money to save wildlife! Now you can too! If you are thinking of going solar, give My Generation Energy a call, use Wild Care as a referral when you purchase a solar energy system, and they will donate $250!
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We need your help
to meet our second TernSOLAR
Challenge Goal!
We are soooooo close! Can you help us reach our second fundraising goal? In order to receive funding from the TernSOLAR Challenge Grant we need to meet two goals. We are more than halfway there! We need to raise an additional $8,857 to meet the challenge. The potential energy savings will help us have more money to save wildlife.
Donations of any amount really add up! Please donate today
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Visit a Beautiful Garden
to Benefit Wild Care
That Attracts Birds and Butterflies, and be Inspired.
Mark your calendar and come celebrate the beautiful blossoms of The Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival on Saturday, July 6th with a tour of the enchanted South Yarmouth garden of Master Gardener Pamela Phipps. Her beautiful garden is a haven for birds, bees and butterflies. Come and be inspired! This tour benefits Wild Care.
GET details about Pamela's Garden Tour to benefit Wild Care
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Wild Care Recognized by First Parish Brewster Social
Justice Ministries
First Parish Brewster Unitarian Universalist Church has a long and deep tradition of turning love into justice.Their various social justice ministries provide many ways for the congregation to get involved in moving towards a more compassionate community. Every Sunday they share their offertory with a non-profit that shares a common value. Wild Care is extremely grateful for receiving this honor along with a generous donation in the amount of $522.
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Will You Sponsor
the Care and Release
of This Stunning
Red-tailed Hawk?
This Red-tailed Hawk was found in a yard in South Yarmouth and was rescued by Bethany Jakubson (of Amazing Animal Ambassadors). We believe the hawk was hit by a car. It suffered a fracture to its left wing. Our staff applied a splint, bandage and pain management. This hawk is currently in our large aviary taking its first flights post injury. It is healing well and we are hopeful for a release in the next few weeks!
If you would like to sponsor the care and release of this beauty, please contact Stephanie.
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Check out our Amazon and Chewy WISH LISTS and donate much
needed supplies to help the animals being cared for at Wild Care.
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