Born to be Wild-Animal Rehabilitation and Rescue

07/14/2024

Please stop giving water to injured or orphaned wildlife. You might think you are helping but there is NEVER a good reason to give an injured or sick animal water NEVER. EVER.

Giving injured wildlife water can do more harm than good if given the wrong way. Here are 3 reasons not to give water and what you should do instead.

07/06/2024

It’s not everyday you get a glimpse of baby opossums in mom’s pouch!! The babies were born 10 days ago and are getting big fast!

Opossums give birth to babies about the size of a jellybean, who then crawl up their mom’s stomach into her pouch where they live for about 8 weeks before coming out.

Super cool animals!!

07/02/2024

Newest intake is coming from a vet office in Big Rapids. This poor squirrel was found with a broken back leg and two bb’s in him. The vet office preformed surgery and called me to see if I would rehab him.
Sweet boy will be living the good life for the next few weeks before returning to the wild.

06/27/2024

Please stop using this poison! We get cats coming in poisoned all the time too!

Three calls today for rabbits found INSIDE bait boxes.

06/05/2024

Five has been our number this year… I seem to be consistently releasing in groups of five. These were my first ever tube babies. Up through February of this year, I was passing tube babies off to another rehab. I “reluctantly” accepted that I was going to have to tube feed if I was going to intake possums and turns out it’s not as difficult as I thought ha

05/26/2024

Anybody want to help support our weekly formula purchase?! We are now on an intake hold mostly because people who want us to take animals then, never donate. we do not get any support to do this. We are licensed follow. The rules of DNR sets and all funding comes from donations. Unfortunately, people aren’t donating. This is our weekly cost for raccoon formula alone that doesn’t include the other animals we have in our care.

05/25/2024

We are an intake HOLD… we are at capacity for Raccoons. 🦝
Please don’t take babies or feed them anything. Almost every animal
In our care right now is because of people not following the law 😞

05/22/2024

https://store.foxvalleynutrition.com/milk-replacers

Sharing our Venmo in the comments and the link to where we purchase our formulas. We need raccoon formula!!!! We go through at least a pound of formula a day!

05/08/2024

I was tagged in a post multiple times about a injured baby raccoon. I stuck with my standard, “What makes you think it’s injured comment.” Meanwhile plenty of keyboard. Warriors were out there volunteering to come take it.

The Finder was able to reach out to me very concerned that it had a injury, I walked her through what is normal and not normal and determined the animal was not injured, but possibly wondered from it nest .

The Finder was able to listen to my instructions to create a plan for reuniting.

They sent me this video. 🥰

05/05/2024

This sweet soul was brought in yesterday. 2lb’s of adorable! We are in need of p*e pads and towels again!! If you want to contribute to its care and the care of the other 50 animals we are feeding and vetting please donate to our Venmo or Amazon wishlist!

04/28/2024

We are looking for volunteers over the age of 18, to help with daily bottle feedings!!! Must pass a one hour training and be able to commit to at least one timeslot a week. Average timeslots are 45 minutes.

04/10/2024

We need raccoon formula desperately. Anyone able to purchase or donate to the cost please do so. I’m happy to send our shipping address to anyone able to help!🦝❤️🦝❤️🦝❤️

03/31/2024

I can’t stress it enough. If you find a baby animals please do not attempt to feed it. Just keep it warm till help can be found. Even if it takes 24 hours to get help, just keep the baby warm. A rehabber can hydrate a dehydrated baby safely. It’s far easier to hydrate a baby than it is to flush out a baby that has been fed the wrong stuff.

03/31/2024

When bringing wildlife to any wildlife rehabilitator, please keep a few things in mind.

Your state does not pay them to care for wildlife. They are volunteers.

Most people who bring them animals in need will not donate towards that animal’s care.

Raising a single baby raccoon to an adult costs approximately $500, if you consider the formula, vaccines, cleaning supplies, enrichment toys and healthy food when they are weaned. That’s only if the animal doesn’t require extensive medical care.

Raising your average squirrel will cost approximately $150. Baby Cottontails $50. Baby foxes are about $700-$1000 each.

If you can’t donate, they will understand. Believe me - they aren’t in this for the money. They will be happy you cared enough to help the animal and bring it to them.

But if you are able to support your local wildlife rehabilitator, it would be greatly appreciated. They work very hard. During baby season, there is very little sleep. When they aren’t caring for the babies they are generally working a second job or trying to raise funds to care for the little ones in their care. They witness a lot of sad situations and it can be hard for them emotionally.

Send them a note of appreciation. It will mean more than you will ever know. ❤️

02/17/2024

Welp, this is a first. Raccoon babies in mid February, in West Michigan 🫣😳🤷🏻‍♀️

02/15/2024

Emily the raccoon has been with us 2 weeks and has made a full recovery from her URI and extreme dehydration. She has been wormed and will get her first round of vaccines this weekend. I’m still hoping to see some more fear from her, and will likely never understand why she doesn’t have that natural fear. I’m hoping she isn’t a discarded “pet” but sadly people don’t understand that you can’t feed and love on babies and expect them to survive when they get too aggressive for you.

02/12/2024

This chunky boy is my new animal ambassador, he was breed and bought from a breeder and ended up in the care of another rehabilitation organization. Paco is on a diet ( he isn’t happy about it) and workout plan ( hydrotherapy)

11/13/2023

Still shocked at how little this LATE SEASON raccoon is .. after months of rehab and loosing a “finger”, antibiotics this little guy is out in the elements. Might be one of my most feisty adolescents … still keeping a close eye on my boy!

08/25/2023

Got an injured raccoon in tonight, but upon further evaluation just happened to be a ton of maggots and a few botflies I was able to get one out on my own… But if you’ve ever tried to hold a raccoon still with one hand and remove a botfly with the other you’ll understand why I need to call in reinforcements tomorrow.



08/21/2023

This is us actually begging, I don’t like it but have no options at this point.

Round two of baby season is a lot crazier than in years past. We have two very large vet bills coming up for the fox and skunk. Any donations are so appreciated. Please share, donate anything you can so we can continue to help with babies. Otherwise I’ll be forced to stop intakes anything until we can get these paid down. Vet bills are about to hit 2000$$ Venmo in comments. Cash or Checks can be brought directly to us. Thanks for the support in advance!

07/14/2023

Meet Miles. The newest addition here. Miles is 5 and has never been outside. We can’t wait to introduce Miles to all sorts of new things! Huge thanks to Miles owners for surrendering him to us!

06/29/2023

This poor soul was dropped off tonight by animal control. Mange. These cases break my heart.

06/24/2023

I had to be a hostage negotiator today.

I had to hear that it was my fault for not meeting his demands, that babies were going to be killed.

This is one of the worst parts of wildlife rehabilitation. It happens about once a week— and every time it happens, it nearly makes me sick.

There’s a misconception that wildlife rehabilitators are a free, government-funded pest control service. In reality, nearly 100% of wildlife rehabilitators (myself included) are volunteers who work to save orphaned and injured animals. Even if we had the resources to remove and relocate “nuisance” animals, we are not authorized to do it. I would permanently lose its permitting if I relocated wildlife.

Relocation of nuisance animals is inhumane and ineffective. It spreads disease, leaves baby animals motherless, and leaves the relocated animal confused and without food or shelter in an unfamiliar area. And, as long as someone’s home or yard is hospitable to wildlife, another animal will simply move in.

Wildlife rehabilitators are often willing to provide advice on humanely repelling wild animals so they will voluntarily relocate. For example, I was happy to tell today’s caller that he can bring his bird feeders and pet food inside at night to dissuade an unwanted raccoon. The problem is that these solutions only work if you are willing to do them. People normally say they say they are not going to “change a damn thing” about how they live for a “damned raccoon” and would “sooner give it a dose of lead” than feed his pets inside.

This kind of behavior is cruel. The animals don’t deserve this and neither do I. There is no amount of threatening, cursing, yelling, or screaming that will magically allow me to relocate an animal that you don’t want on your property. It is— literally— not my job.

Don’t be like this. Please call wildlife rehabilitators exclusively for orphaned and injured animals, or to listen to advice about humanely repelling and excluding nuisance animals. Listen to advice on how to reunite babies with moms. Listen to advice when we say DONT FEED THE BABY ANYTHING. This requires some effort on your part. We can’t do it for you. But verbally abusing wildlife rescuers won’t fix anything. I can’t continue to give advice, be ignored, and then rehabilitate an animal, when you took matters into your own hands. I’m tired, broke and can’t keep up.

( adapted post from for fox sake)

06/04/2023

Sometimes you just need a hug after a meal.

05/24/2023

Super excited to announce the Girls on the Run team at Ferry School chose Born to be Wild-Animal Rehabilitation and Rescue to donate the proceeds of their lemonade stand today from 4-5:30!!! Come get a glass of lemonade and wish them luck on their big run coming up!!!

Thanks Ferry/Voyager

04/27/2023

11pm feeding…. I think they know I’m now stretching them to 6 hours at night and go crazy.

Also, only took me two years to find a solution to my wrists being scratched to death.

The baby “ pterodactyls” are sound asleep now 🙂

04/23/2023

I have the most Kent County raccoons I have ever had.

We are not allowed to house raccoons from different counties together, and all raccoons must be released in the county they came from… This is why rehabbers fill up quickly, the amount of space needed for each county is crazy.

I had a lady upset with me tonight because I couldn’t take a single baby from Kalamazoo. That one baby would take up an entire enclosure. I have to make the best judgment calls I can within the rules and regulations I have to follow.

Donations are at an all time low… If you are able I will add both our Venmo and Amazon wishlist in the comments.

Puppy pads, wet kitten food and formula are the biggest needs right now. Cash donations go straight to vet care!!

04/17/2023

It was a very busy weekend over here. 9 opossum babies, 5 raccoon, 4 squirrels, 2 bunnies ( I don’t take bunnies ) and my Silkie chicks are hatching … lots of mouths to feed all of a sudden!!

01/03/2023

Some people don’t know this, but we have an unadoptable cat… she has been fixed 3 times and continues to grow back her female parts… I have been so against foster failing animals; we hardly named her… meet Purple the “sweetest” freeloader we have here … believe it or not, she is really the sweetest ( and meanest) 3 year old cat ever. Yes, we saved her and nursed her to health. Yes, we love her. She runs our house, the dogs are terrified of her, she has no fear of any animal, and snuggles under the covers with me most nights … she might be the most dangerous animal here 😂

12/25/2022

He was pretty pumped!