What To Do When You Find Wildlife

1. Remember; it is not within the Mandate of the Department of the Environment to rescue injured or orphaned wildlife. Wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and release is undertaken by WILDLIFE REHABILITATION FACILITIES (see 4, below), all of which are staffed by volunteers and funded through donations. So you have to become a participant in the rescue of any animal you find.  
    
2. Stop, look carefully. If it is a bird, look around and note what you see (just so the wildlife rehabilitator has some idea of how the bird got hurt) if it is an animal, do the same. If it is a larger animal, make sure there is no sign of any other animal of the same species in the area.
    
3. Check to see if you have a blanket, or a coat or something big enough to cover the animal, check to see if you have gloves. Check to see if you have a box or something to carry the animal in.
    
4. Contact a wildlife rehabilitation facility:
       CEI (403 932 5632)
       Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (403 239 2488) www.calgarywildlife.org
       Medicine River Wildlife Centre (403)728-3467 www.medicineriverwildlifecentre.ca
       Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Edmonton (780) 297-3979 www.wildlife-edm.ca
    
5. BEFORE YOU ACT to rescue the animal you have found, think carefully about how you are going to go about rescuing it, plan what you are going to do, and then, act with confidence. This will take a little time but it is time well spent. Following a plan and acting with confidence will keep you safer and will reassure the animal you are handling.
    
6. If the animal is lying helpless on the ground: Cover it carefully with a blanket or a coat. Once it is in the dark it is less likely to fight, more likely to relax.
    
7. If it is a bird of prey, baby or adult, make sure the cloth/blanket/coat or whatever, covers its feet…the talons of birds of prey are the most dangerous bit of the bird but if they have a good grasp of cloth with their feet and their heads are well covered up it is easy and fairly safe to handle them.
    
8. Talk gently to it as you would to a domestic animal, dog/horse
    
9. If the animal appears to be an orphan, LOOK around very carefully before you touch it. Baby bunnies and deer fawns should be left alone (unless you see the mother dead beside the fawn)
    
10.  Once wrapped in the cloth/blanket/coat/or whatever you have covered it with, pick up the  animal and put it in a box.
     
11. Do not show the animal to anyone.
     
12. Leave the box in a cool dark quiet place until you can get it either to a rehab facility or a rehab facility volunteer can collect it.
     
13. Do not worry about feeding the animal.