SIgn Up Here Directly and Cut Out the Middle Man (who probably isn’t your friend)

An excellent way to stay connected to our work is very simple. Just sign up right here on our website to get an email notification when we post new content! It’s easy, it’s free, and it doesn’t require having a relationship with a bloated mega-hoarder who probably doesn’t have your best interests at heart!

Just look in the right hand column of this very page and voila! Vous l’avez trouvé

Another you can do while you’re here that would make a huge difference for this year’s busy baby season:

Share

Reinventing our Outreach, Education and Fundraising without Toxic Billionaires [VIDEO]

After 16 years of building our digital community of support, it’s time for us to reimagine and recreate a less toxic environment that reaches more people to secure the success of our mission!

Bird Ally X co-founder and Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/bax director, (me) talks about the successes of the past, the challenges of our present moment, and our commitment to the future.

Your support is critical. Without you, we are nearly paralyzed. Please help us meet this years;a challenges – wild baby season is well under way!

Thank you for everything, especially your love for the Wild, and of course, our Wild Neighbors.

Share

Ringtail saved from Washer gets Delicate Cycle in Rehab!

Special to our website, Humboldt WIldlife Care Center’s Assistant Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Lucinda Adamson, tells the story of a pretty usual patient.

Working at a wildlife rehabilitation facility, you never know what to expect when answering the phone. Often it’s someone who has found a sick or injured animal and they are hoping they’ve found the correct place to bring the animal. They have! Sometimes it’s someone who is having a conflict with a wild animal in or around their house. We can help with that too! And then there’s the myriad of other calls that are impossible to predict. In late March, one of those unusual calls came in when someone called asking for help with an interesting situation…there was a Ringtail stuck in a washing machine. 

A Ringtail in a washing machine? We repeated to make sure we had heard that correctly. Ringtails are not the most common animal to encounter. Although not rare, the small nocturnal carnivores are solitary and elusive, not often seen. We have treated only 6 Ringtails at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center since 2012.


Gathering more information from the caller, we learned that they were an employee at the recycling center in McKinleyville. The Ringtail had been discovered while they were processing an old washing machine that had recently been dropped off. This changed the scenario quite a bit. If the Ringtail had been found trapped where they lived, then leaving the machine open and providing a ramp for the animal to climb out on their own is usually the first advice we give. This is a common scenario with large holes in the ground, foundational window wells, dumpsters, etc. But this individual was potentially far removed from their home, and not knowing how long they had been trapped, we needed to evaluate their health before anything else could happen. 


Safely capturing the small, fast, agile animal without getting bit and without the Ringtail getting loose and lost amongst all the large trucks and piles of debris at the recycling center could be a very challenging task. We sent an experienced rescue team out right away armed with nets, sheets, leather gloves, and excited well wishes. While no one ever wants to see any animal in distress, it’s still an undeniably rare experience and perk of the job to be able to see and help unique animals like a Ringtail when they are in need. 


When staff arrived at the recycling center, we found the employee who had called standing guard over the washing machine in question. Fortunately, he had been keeping watch to make sure no one else accidentally moved the machine and ensuring the Ringtail didn’t get lost or become further injured. Wearing our leather gloves and with the net held at the ready in case the animal made a break for it, we cautiously opened the lid while simultaneously covering the opening with the sheet so we could safely evaluate the situation. 

Coming eye to eye with the Ringtail, we first noted that they were, thankfully, fairly alert. Great for their overall health but it could make catching them more difficult. They must have been quite scared as the sounds of heavy machinery moving large piles of metal in the large warehouse were deafeningly loud. Luckily, with the confidence of many years experience handling wild animals, we were able to safely and quickly grab the frightened Ringtail and secure them in a box to transport them back to our clinic in Manila. We were also very fortunate to learn that the employees knew that this particular washing machine had come down from Hoopa, which would prove invaluable information when it came time to release the Ringtail back where they belonged.

 

Upon initial exam, our staff rehabilitators discovered that this adult male was slightly thin and moderately dehydrated but had no physical injuries. With his trademark tail longer than his body, big round eyes and short ears, he was ridiculously cute! Treating his dehydration was first on the agenda. Subcutaneous fluids were provided to overcome his hydration deficit. He was otherwise stable so we moved him to outside housing where he could have more privacy and de-stress from his ordeal. Almost immediately he climbed the wall and found a high spot where he could feel safer. A varied diet of rats, fruit, and insects was offered which he readily ate.

Over the next few days we monitored the Ringtail’s hydration, providing more fluid support as needed. We ran lab tests and treated his parasites. 

Within a week, his condition had improved dramatically and it was time to take him back to his mountain home in Hoopa. Once his box was opened in a small forest clearing, he wasted little time observing his new surroundings before he ran from his box and into the cover of brush. 

It was an honor to be able to provide the care he needed and return him to the place where he belonged. Thank you so much for supporting our work so we can continue to help our wild neighbors in need.

DONATE

Share

New Wild Review v6e3 Taking it Squirrel by Squirrel with Napa Wildlife Center’s Linnaea Furlong.

Join us on New Wild Review for a conversation with Napa Wildlife Rescue’s Director of Animal Care and Operations, Linnaea Furlong. (please check out the awesome work of Napa Wildlife Rescue)

A recent social media post by Linnaea struck a chord with New Wild Review. She wrote:

“It’s surreal, watching all the systems breaking from above in the world, and wondering how it’s going to turn out, but at the same time, now I need to feed baby squirrels, now I need to bathe the raccoon child with mange, now I need to put worms in the glowing orange gapes of phoebes, now I need to train the new hotline person. Things are falling apart and staying the same at once and I am just taking it squirrel by squirrel.”

In our conversation, we talk about what it means to provide care across boundaries during chaotic and dangerous times.

Your support for Bird Ally X, and all of our projects, from Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, to our Botulism Response Team to this podcast, is deeply appreciated. It’s your generosity that makes it all happen. We need you now very much. Please donate if you can.

DONATE

Share

When the Tower Falls and Your Nest is Lost

On Friday a private water tower in Fort Dick, north of Crescent City, close to the Oregon State Line, collapsed unexpectedly. Unfortunately it was the nest site for a pair of Barn Owls (Tyto furcata). The property owner found of the owlet nestlings alive, buried in the debris. They called Humboldt Wildlife Care Center to find out what could be done.

With help from our volunteer transport team, we brought the babies 90 miles south to our facility on Humboldt Bay admitting them on Saturday morning.

Three Barn Owl nestlings in our incubator – a remarkable size difference between them!
The largest of the three Barn Owl nestlings sleeps peacefully.

______________________________________________________________

Considering their mishap, three of the babies are in surprisingly good shape, although the other three of their siblings didn’t survive.

There is a chance that we can build a nest box and return them to their parents, and the options for that are still being explored. If we can’t, then our raptor aviary currently under construction may have these three young raptors as its first patients.

Regardless, it’s your support that makes their second chance possible. Thank you for donating to their care. It takes a lot of mice and rats for these youngsters to become free and wild adults!

If you can, please donate here:

DONATE

Share

The First Babies of 2025!

On the second of April, right after we opened, we admitted the first wild orphans of 2025. A student walking to school in Weott found an Opossum who had been hit by a car. In her pouch they found six tiny babies, eyes still closed, who were alive. They took the babies and wrapped them in a sweater and kept them warm. Until the babies could be brought to our clinic in Manila.

They’re doing well now, hydrated and becoming accustomed to a replacement milk. Thanks to this resourceful young person, these six babies have an excellent chance of getting a second chance at wild freedom.

These are the first six of several hundred wild orphans that Humboldt Wildlife Care Center will admit this season. we could really use your support. Without the donations of our human neighbors we would never be able to provide quality care for our wild neighbors. Please help! Thank you!!

DONATE

Share