Snug Harbor Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary

12/27/2024

🥳 It’s $5 Friday!!! Every Friday we ask for $5 donations, while it doesn’t seem like much when we have 20+ people donate it adds up to make a big difference! 🥳

We already had a $25 donation this morning from Buckys Way when she brought us some other donated items! So thankful for her support.

🥰 Today our goal is to reach $300 to order a bucket of formula. The formula we use (Fox Valley) we buy in bulk (20 lb buckets) to help cut overall costs. 🥰

You can donate via PayPal

Venmo/Cashapp- SnugHarborWildlifeSC

We hope everyone has a great Friday! And an amazing weekend!!!

💜,
The Snug Harbor Family!!

Help support Snug Harbor Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary by donating or sharing with your friends.

12/27/2024

Everyone meet Sweets! We got this young love bug in this afternoon who unfortunately has distemper. (We have had 4 others with distemper the last two months- it’s been heartbreaking)

We often hesitate to post them because we know their chances of surviving are so slim. As much as we try to keep happy stories and updates we have to share the brutal reality these guys face. Also to remind you why it’s important to make sure your pets stay up to date on their vaccines. Raccoons can get the feline and canine strands of distemper. Neither have a cure, only being able to treat the symptoms from the virus and hope for a miracle.

One medication we do use for early detected cases of distemper like this sweet face boy, is Tamiflu. So if you have any leftover or didn’t use we will gladly take it!

Y’all pray for this boy to pull through. Video of him in the comments.

💜

12/27/2024

We accept all forms of caffeine 😂

12/26/2024

Everyone getting their Christmas presents/goodies yesterday!

12/26/2024

🍾🎇🎉Please read and share!🎉🎆🍾

We know some firework celebration has already begun as we bid fairwell to 2024! We do ask everyone to keep their eyes open for wildlife and move with kindness when you see them appear the next few days.

It’s no shock that fireworks scare animals- our pets and wildlife it’s amplified. (On a personal level- make sure your dogs are microchipped and kept safely where they cannot get loose- preferably inside and get meds you may need for their anxiety through your vet💜. So many pets go missing once they begin.)

⚠️ Be cautious driving!! ⚠️ Wildlife will running away, getting injured doing so, darting into roads and end up displaced with all of the extra noise. They may be rushed to your garage, carport, back yard, crawl space etc to shelter. They are TERRIFIED, please don’t corner, let them hide and decompress the next day as long as not in any intimate danger.

⭐️ If they are injured ⭐️
Please call us or text us pictures/videos of the animal, where it is and any other information. You can text/call 803-226-7555 or 803-767-8974.

Do not try to move or interact with the animal and do not offer any food/water. Depending on their injuries feeding or giving water can cause them to go into shock.

If you have issues after the celebrations have calmed with wildlife not wanting to leave. We can walk you through a variety of humane eviction techniques.

Some we commonly use first-

Peppermint Oil- you can water it down in a spray bottle mist it in the area or dab a few dots of it nearby. Never on or towards animal. Their senses are much stronger/sensitive than ours. They do not like it and will leave. This can take time with getting annoyed with the smell and feeling like the area is calm enough to leave back out. To them the world was ending it will take them a bit.

After an event like this Lights/Sounds could scare them more, they could feel under attack again and retreat more; or go ahead and head back home.

If neither work just reach out to us and we will see what else we can recommend.

🚨 *KEEP IN MIND wildlife removal company’s charge insane amounts and most are required to kill the animals. 🚨

🗑️🚮And of course help clean up debris so wildlife and pets don’t ingest or get stuck on/in anything. 🚮🗑️

Thank you for helping keep SC wildlife safe!

💜,
The Snug Harbor Family

12/25/2024

Thank you Angel and Allison for sending us in your pictures!!! Merry Christmas!!!

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas friends!!!

Will try to keep this one short and sweet! We are so humbled and appreciative of every single one of you! These last few months since us transitioning over to Snug Harbor have been nothing short of amazing. We can absolutely not do what we do with out the support and love y’all give to us so THANK YOU from the bottom of all of our hearts here at the Snug Harbor Wildlife family!

We cannot wait to see what 2025 holds for us, if it’s anything like what the last few months have been it will be an absolute blessing and can’t wait to do it with y’all by our side!

Regardless of what your Christmas looks like today, whether times are tough financially, family problems, dealing with grief missing a loved one for their first missed Christmas, or your spending it alone for whatever reason. Find a reason to smile today! If you’re having a hard time doing that please message, text, or call me today. 803-767-8974 💜 Y’all are here for us and we want to be there for you too! May not be able to fix your situation but we will share a laugh together and that solves so much even for just a moment!

Sending all of you massive hugs!!

🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄

12/24/2024

We passed our inspection!

12/24/2024

For those still waiting for gifts to arrive deep breaths!!!!

12/24/2024

This week we have had two situations where we were contacted by people who have tried to raise squirrels on their own. Both squirrels ended up getting metabolic bone disease as a result.

Bringing up both of these cases is not to cast shame on their finders who ultimately were trying to help care for them, but for awareness. Many people call us wanting to take care of a squirrel, raccoon or baby opossum they find on their own. Every single time we try to discourage them from doing so, conditions like MBD are a huge reason why. People often get frustrated that we won’t coach them or teach them what to do over the phone and below is why we don’t.

There is so much knowledge and training that goes into caring for these animals. We don’t suggest bringing them into us to be rude, selfish or any other negative reasoning- we do it putting the animal first. We urge our volunteers/rehabbers and anyone else who wants to care for these animals to learn before having an animal in your care. These babies come from venerable situations and are so much more fragile than a puppy or kitten. Learning as you go can put their life in jeopardy.

We get a lot of animals in every year that have already been fed or tried to be cared for and the damage already been done. When they have been fed the wrong foods, aspirated or hurt further there’s little to nothing that we can do to reverse it.

Dietary needs of all of wildlife are very particular and most of what you read online is incorrect. The biggest thing we see on that aspect is people being advised or reading to feed wildlife kitten milk. THIS IS THE WORST thing you could possibly do. For instance taurine that’s in kitten milk replacers (KMR) is toxic to raccoons.

Come baby season almost every post we post will say DO NOT feed the animals you find. If they have been without food for a day or more, injured or sick feeding them can send them into shock. We have a process of making sure their body temperatures are up, certain fluids are administered and everything is introduced slowly to allow their bodies to adjust.

The dietary guidelines even past baby/milk stages are crucial too. Did you know nuts are not a good diet for squirrels? Peanuts are actually not suppose to be fed at all. So many things that many of us didn’t know before hand that we grew up thinking was normal food sources.

We work hard to set these animals up to be healthy babies when released because life for them out there is difficult.

One of the squirrels who came into us this week was cared for by an amazing family up the road. Even with the research they did, they chose the right milk and got the squirrel out of the danger zone for that. Got her started on some of the right solid foods but were over feeding nuts and not enough high calcium foods, which depleted the right nutrition. We worked hard on sweet Sheila for three days before her body gave out. Our heart broke loosing her and even more so to have to tell the family who clearly loved her that she passed. We shared our insight, taught about MBD but shattered us to raise awareness on what went wrong. We never want anyone to feel “at fault” or feel guilty for acting out of love.

The other case was a family where dad and daughter had been caring for a squirrel. I spoke to them a few months ago, encouraged them to let us take over care. When they denied we asked both to reach out to share some diet resources. Regrettably there were skipped steps and things not followed through on resulting in MBD as well. By the time these animals show symptoms they are in severe pain, their body’s are weak and even the most aggressive medical intervention doesn’t always work. This sweet girl passed before we could even get to her.

Again, no blame to these people who had huge hearts and wanted to help these animals. The best thing you can do for these guys is reach out to trained rehabbers. If you want to learn we are happy to pass on as much knowledge as you want to absorb. If you reach out to a rehabber know that these reasons are why we ask for them to come to us, and if we seem short or firm about it- these stories are why. Each loss- dozens of losses each season break our hearts.

This isnt a job to us. It's a lifestyle. We dont get paid- this is all volunteer work. We pour our hearts and souls into every single animal. We are on call 24/7, we sacrifice sleep, family time and so much more. So help us by letting US help YOU and that animal you find.

💜

12/24/2024

🎄🎉 THANKS TO YOU!! 🎉🎄
(Please take a moment to read)

We hit 2000 followers today! Helping our organization grow on social media is so much more than just the click of a button!

Connecting with y’all is so important to us! Knowing you, your family, your pets and your stories means the world to the Snug Harbor Family. We want you to feel a part of ours too!

Social media allows us to continue that bond and relationship with you while bringing awareness to our hard work. The more interaction and followers we have the more Facebook allows our posts to show up on other peoples feeds too.

A massive part of our organization is educating and bringing that awareness to you, your family, friends and neighbors. We want to get these topics to the dinner table and brainstorm how we can help our wildlife thrive. What can we each do in our yard, community and daily routines to help them in this forever changing world we live in.

We have plans to work with other SC organizations to bring conservation matters and building habitats to our youth. Getting our next generations involved is crucial to our environment and all of those who live in it- including us!

So help us celebrate this milestone! Share this post and tell something about Snug Harbor Wildlife when you do. Whether it’s something you’ve learned since following us, a wildlife matter we have helped you with, how you met us/found out about us or whatever your heart wants to share about our mission!!!

🎉We have two more days to reach our 2500 follower goal for our Christmas giveaway!!! 🎉

Make sure if you’re new here to like, follow, share and invite your whole friend list (we will show you in the comments how). Even if it’s friends/family not from SC- they can learn and keep our info handy too- we will help find a rehabber for anyone nation wide if they call us!

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and safe travels the next few days!!!

💜 With lots of love!!! 💜

-The Snug Harbor Family

12/23/2024

Our biggest need for volunteers is transport. Sometimes we get calls for animals on the other side of town or state. We work with other rescues and rehabs statewide as well that often need the same assistance. Want to be trained to help with this need?

Email us today! Or fill out our volunteer form on our website!

Get involved with our organization, no matter how busy your schedule is we have ways that you and your family can get involved!

12/22/2024

Another Christmas Opossum from our friend Dale! Great job!

12/22/2024

We asked and y’all delivered-literally!! We got about 5 cat towers total on the way from word of mouth!

A lot of us rehabbers use Ferret Nation/Critter Nation or Midwest Nation cages that look like this below. We often catch a good deal on listings we find but with how amazing y’all have been helping us find things we need we thought we would post this here as well.

Many people who have had Guinea pigs, rats or ferrets in the past have these laying around. These are the most durable and easy to keep clean cages, we section off the levels when crowded with babies and open them up to multi level when they get older. New these cages are about $350 for a double level like pictured below.

If you know anyone who would be able to donate them to us we would be over the moon. We can also provide receipts for your donation since we got our 501(c)3 approval last week!

We hope everyone is enjoying this chilly but beautiful Sunday afternoon!

12/22/2024

We went from about 1600/1700 to right at 2000 so far!!! I think we can clear that 500 gap!!!

We will now be giving away two prizes! Invite your whole friends list not just certain people. You would be surprised who would be interested in wanting to learn more about wildlife and seeing our updates!

🎄Christmas Giveaway!!!🎄

Help us reach 2500 followers by Dec 25th! Enter by liking AND following our page, invite your friends, comment below how many you invited and this post!!!

⛄️When you comment below how many you’ve invited that’s your entry! Whether you invited 2 or 200 each entry weighs the same. Make sure you share, share, share! ⛄️

If we hit 2500 by Christmas we will announce the winner Christmas night! The chosen entry wins a novelty shirt of your choice, the street cats bathmat, and the raccoon tote!

🥳If we surpass that goal- for each additional 1000 followers will be an additional winner! 🥳

💜 Ready, set GO!!! 💜

12/22/2024

A little late night fun with this silly girl!! We had an amazing surprise from Mrs Peggy Christianson with a tower she got while out shopping this morning. Really surprised me and about made me cry! We have the best supporters and I’m just so thankful for everyone who helps this dream of ours. It’s been a rough week, lost two squirrels this week. So this little bit of fun with Sally is just what I needed!! Hope it makes you smile too!

-sad disclaimer-

Our Daphne that came in a few weeks ago attacked by a cat. She started having seizures and passed in my arms during one. Her infection she has in her ear had been treated with three antibiotics and steroids, I can only assume with none of them wiping it out completely that she went septic causing the seizures. I’m just glad I was with her to comfort her in her last moments. 💜

I took in a little girl three nights ago, Sheila. She was being raised by an amazing family not far from us. Sweet Sheila had not been feeling well for a day or two so they called us and brought her on over. After an exam and talking more with her family we pin pointed she had metabolic bone disease. We immediately got her loaded down on fluids, pain medications and supplements to start correcting the disease process. Yesterday was an amazing day, she was alert, ate some avacado, some kale and acorn squash! She drank tons of fluids and lapped up some nutrical like a champ! This morning she seemed drained again, I kept a close eye on her while working in the rehab room and at one point I checked back in on her and she had passed. She passed quickly and for this I’m thankful. 💜

For every one I loose they will always stay in my heart. I love them all so very much and am always honored to have been their caregiver. Even more so honored that the community entrusts us to care for these beautiful creatures. Holding the rest of the babies a little tighter tonight.

12/21/2024

Charlie, Adalynn and Isabel colored some Christmas opies!! Thank you Angela for sending these in for us! They did fantastic!