Baby Season Is Busy Season For Wildwoods Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

DULUTH, Minn. — Wildwoods, a wildlife rehabilitation center in Duluth has been very busy as it is baby season for them.

This is because around late spring, early summer is when the non-profit rescues many types of baby animals from fawns, fledglings, turtles, and squirrels. They usually get around 130 different species of animals every year.

A lot of the animals have been orphaned due to human activity. That can be from a tree getting cut down, digging in the garden, or a deer getting hit by a car.

Wildwoods takes those babies in and cares for them to go back into the wild.

“Everything that we do is species specific to the animal and that includes the diet, the housing, and like the amount of time that they’re here. You know whether or not the animal can be alone or if it needs to be raised with you know friends of the same species,” said Jessica LaBumbard, executive director of Wildwoods.

Wildwoods asks the public to call them before doing anything if they think they have found an orphaned animal.

“So, just because a baby animal is alone, doesn’t mean that it’s in distress. So, that’s why we want people to call us because we can walk through different scenarios and determine if the animal you know does need support or doesn’t. We really want to make sure that animals stay with their mothers whenever possible, because that is absolutely the best chance that they have for survival,” said LaBumbard.

Wildwoods currently can care for about 100 animals at a time. They are planning on expanding by building more outdoor enclosures and a pollinator garden.