05/08/2025
⚠️ PSA: Don't let your cats free roam!
Cats pose an extreme risk to wildlife populations, especially birds and baby bunnies. Many birds and other wildlife who are caught by cats end up dying if they don't receive prompt medical attention.
Cats absolutely deserve time outside, but their time outside must be monitored to protect wildlife. Enclosed catios, cat harnesses and supervised outings can help protect other animals who have every right to be safe in their natural environment.
As a reminder, domestic house cats are not a natural part of the environment so it's unfair to put other animals at risk simply to let them free roam.
Thank you for protecting our sensitive wildlife populations! 🐇🐈
People think the hardest part of wildlife rehab is losing animals. Sometimes, it’s actually people.
Last night, I was on the hotline with someone whose cat had gotten into a wild rabbit nest. Two baby bunnies survived the initial attack but only barely. I calmly explained what needed to happen: they needed antibiotics immediately. They needed a licensed rehabber or a 24-hour emergency vet. This wasn’t just a “wait and see” situation. Cat saliva carries deadly bacteria, and untreated, even a small scrape can be fatal.
She didn’t want to drive. She didn’t want to wait until morning. She didn’t want to bring them to the emergency vet.
But somehow, she did have time to drive to the store to buy kitten milk and an eyedropper, so she could feed them herself, despite being told not to. Despite being told it could cause them to aspirate and die.
And then, when we couldn’t provide a magical solution on her terms and timeline, the texts turned cruel.
She told me she’d just “put them outside.”
She told me it was because of me.
She mocked me. Dismissed me. Told me I was a problem.
But let me be very clear: it wasn’t because of me. It was because her cat attacked them.
It was because she didn’t want to do what was needed.
And in the end, the babies died overnight.
Another rehabber reached out to her in the morning for me and found out they hadn’t made it. That’s exactly why we pleaded for her to act the night before. We’re not trying to be difficult. We’re trying to save lives. But people lash out when the solution requires any level of discomfort or effort.
Let me remind you:
I don’t get paid for this.
None of us do.
We are a 100% volunteer-run wildlife rehab.
All donations go to food, medicine, enclosures, not salaries.
We operate below the bottom line most months.
And yet we still answer the hotline. At 7 a.m. At midnight. In between vet visits, and while we’re bottle feeding babies.
We deserve to eat dinner with our families.
We deserve to sleep.
We deserve to not be screamed at if we don’t respond to a text within 30 seconds.
We deserve basic human decency.
You don’t have to thank us. But you do have to stop blaming us for the consequences of your own choices.
If that’s too much to ask, then you’re not trying to help wildlife. You’re trying to control the people who do.
Wildlife rehab is hard. But it’s made ten times harder by people who turn their guilt into cruelty when they don’t get what they want.
Please be kind. We’re doing everything we can, with far less than what we need.
This photo is of a baby that was brought to us in a timely manner and survived after being bitten by a cat. This is what’s possible when people act quickly and compassionately.
We believe in healing pets as a whole - Mind, Body & Soul! We specialize in holistic healing therapies, cooperative care training and organic pet products.
