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get involved
Kids Helping Wildlife Developing a sense
of respect for fellow living things and an appreciation for the
natural world is often rooted in our childhood experiences with
nature and wildlife. In recognition of this the Wildlife In
Need Center has developed programs for kids of all ages to help
foster the development of these important characteristics.
Creating Homes for Wildlife
 Whether you are a gifted carpenter or
just learning to swing a hammer you can help make homes for
wildlife. Many of our patients like woodchucks and cottontails
use nest boxes while they are here at the Center as safe hiding
places. Other animals like raccoons and squirrels take their
nest boxes with them when they are released. It provides a
place of shelter while they are getting used to their new homes.
Some can even be used in your own yard to attract wildlife.
These homes for wildlife make great scout projects and Moms and Dads
alike can lend a helping hand to make a wildlife home. Please
call the Center for a list of our current nest box needs.
[Click here for available nest box designs]
Projects for the Young or the Young at Heart
If you are under the age of 12 and want to help wildlife
great! Here are a few things you can do to help us help
wildlife.
Pick Greens
Dandelions, clovers, plantain, and wide-blade
grasses are important foods for cottontails and woodchucks. Just
pick them into a plastic shopping bag and tie shut. Refrigerate
until you can get them to the Center. We can’t get enough
dandelion greens for our hundreds of juvenile cottontails. It is
their favorite food and helps cure diarrhea.
The Early Bird Gets the Worm
When it rains, pick up night crawlers and earthworms from the
sidewalk. Birds love to eat them. If you prefer not to gather
living animals, put them back in the yard. They will help the
soil and the local birds may catch them on their own later.
Gather Maple Seeds
Pick up maple seeds when they fall in the spring and put them in paper bags or
cardboard boxes to dry. Squirrels love to eat maple seeds.
Save Pinecones
Pick up pinecones when they fall. The seeds they contain are food for
squirrels. We can also pack them with suet or peanut butter for small personal
“birdfeeders” for our patients. Just store in paper sacks or cardboard boxes to
dry.
Berry Berry Good
Pick wild berries. You may have a raspberry patch,
elderberries, wild currents or a mulberry tree, or you could take
a family outing to a local you-pick-it strawberry farm. Birds,
squirrels, woodchucks, raccoons, and opossums all like these.
Plant a Sunflower Garden
Varieties vary from 1 foot high to six to eight feet, but all
make sunflower seeds that birds, squirrels, and chipmunks relish. If you plant
them in a six foot square outline with a space for a “door” your children will
have a living playhouse as the plants grow tall. Harvest the seed heads at end
of summer and dry. No need to remove the seeds from the heads or shell the
seeds – the animals do that quite well themselves.
Tree Trimming
When you trim trees such as elm, oak, willow, and apple, or thin out raspberry
and blackberry thickets, let children gather the branches to bring to us.
Squirrels and cottontails eat the leaves and bark, and the branches are good
for chewing exercise.
Collect Fall Nuts
In the fall pick up acorns, chestnuts, and other types of nuts, and put them in
paper bags or cardboard boxes for drying.
Food for Thought
When gathering any of these natural foods, be sure they haven’t been treated
with chemicals such as fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides or run-off from
roads contaminated with petro-chemicals. It wouldn’t be good for you or our wildlife
patients. Please take only part of what you find – the local
wildlife depends on these food supplies too. When picking on
someone else’s property, be sure to ask permission. Some parks may
have rules against gathering wild produce. |
