Wildlife center founder offers tips for rescuing animals

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation founder Dawn Keller appreciates would-be rescuers eager to assist injured animals, but she advises they go about it in a way that keeps them and the animals safe.

To that end, the rehabilitation center offers guidelines on how to best assist a trapped or injured animal on its website at flintcreekwildlife.org/found_an_animal.

Under no circumstances should a person keep the animal, Keller said.

"We don't want people stealing fawns or bunnies or baby birds from their moms," she said.

That may mean putting the animal in a box and taking it to a licensed wildlife rehabilitation center if one can do so safely, said Keller, who also cautions people not to feed or give water to the animal. In the case of swans, cranes, birds of prey, foxes, coyotes and some other species, Keller recommends contacting a wildlife center or the municipality where the animal was found or one of the agencies certified to treat wildlife listed on Flint Creek's website.

"We're all-volunteer and we don't have the capacity to pick up every animal we treat," said Keller, adding no one except a professional should attempt to treat the animal even if the intention is to release it.