A facility for rescued wild animals in New Brunswick is bracing for a surge in orphaned critters that need help.
The Atlantic Wildlife Institute, headquartered in Cookville, N.B., sees about 65 per cent of their annual calls as the snow melts and animals start having babies.
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They see about 3,000 to 5,000 referrals every year.
The institute provides wildlife rehabilitation, education, and emergency management services in all four Atlantic provinces. They currently have roughly 125 animals recovering at their main facility, about 60 kilometres southeast of Moncton.
“It's not just physically keeping them alive,” Barry Rothfuss, the Atlantic Wildlife Institute’s executive director, told CTV Atlantic. “What we're trying to do, in many respects, is create environments to keep them natural as best as possible to basically get them back where they belong.”
This season tends to be an expensive one for the organization. Rehabilitating a single bear can cost thousands.
To help with the expected influx of animals, the organization is hosting “baby showers” at nearby farmers markets. They need everything from cages to blankets to stuffed toys.
Rothfuss expects to see all kinds of baby birds, bear cubs, and rodents coming through the facility in the coming weeks.
“We never can really stockpile enough of a certain thing because we don't know what we're going to need to treat it,” said Rothfuss. “Caging can vary from small hamster cages up to large dog kennels.”
With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Cami Kepke
