Grand Rapids Wildlife Rehabilitation

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Grand Rapids Wildlife Rehabilitation Grand Rapids Wildlife Rehabilitation is the only permitted wildlife rehabilitation facility in Itasca county.

GRWR is allowed to admit most Minnesota species for rehabilitation or emergency medical treatment.

23/06/2025

Our flying squirrel made a surprise appearance yesterday when I was cleaning enclosures! Flying squirrels are nocturnal so I don’t see her other than when I take her out to weigh her in the morning. I was pretty excited she let me sneak a video of her.

Did you know that flying squirrels don’t actually fly? They have a large flap of skin called a patagium that extends between their wrists and ankles that they spread apart and use to glide in the air. They have been known to glide over 150ft at a time. Soon she will be in a pre-release enclosure where she will be able to practice gliding before she is released.

22/06/2025

My passion with wildlife rehab is absolutely emergency and critical care. This is why.

These hatchling Northern Flickers’ nesting tree was blown down during the storm. Several chicks passed in the fall, but three of them survived the destruction. The home owner gathered them up as soon as she found them and created a new nest for them and tried to reunite them with their parents. Unfortunately, the parents didn’t return to the nest and the babies weren’t doing well so she brought them in to us. One sadly passed while I was examining them. The other two were nearly lifeless and, honestly, I didn’t think they were going to make it. One had raspy breathing and the other has a possible fracture. They both had a lot of scrapes on their little bodies. I gave them subcutaneous fluids and then oral fluids every 15 minutes along with force feeding them every 15 minutes until 1 am and then my husband got up early this morning to do it until I got up. Between pain meds, a TON of fluids and feedings, these babies pulled through. The little one even took food from the hemostats on his own this morning 🥹 I don’t know if these babies are going to make it if they have internal trauma, but they are much more full of life today and I am cautiously optimistic that they will. Being able to pull animals out of the depths like this case is one of the many things that keeps me passionate about wildlife rehab.

Best of luck, babies! You have a lot of people rooting for you! 💚 If you would like to donate to our babies please check out our Amazon baby registry in the comments!

21/06/2025

Life of a wildlife rehabilitator! We had a wedding to go to today, but babies need to be fed regardless so I have to work my activities around their feeding schedules. Generally I have to stay home so I was pretty excited I finally got to go to something 🤣 Between the wedding ceremony and reception I had to run home and feed this little 13-Lined Ground Squirrel. He has been at Wildwoods for several weeks. WW never got in anymore of his species and and needs to be raised with other 13LGS his age to allow him to socialize and learn how to be a 13LGS. Another rehabber that lives in southern Minnesota has a group of 5. She is up for the weekend and will be passing through Grand Rapids tomorrow afternoon so I brought him home with me from work last night and am taking care of him for the weekend. He sure is a cute, little one!

And congrats to the Brobergs! 🥳

21/06/2025

We hope everyone made it through the storms safely with minimal damage. If you find displaced babies or injured animals please reach out to us 🙏🏻

Happy Father’s Day to all of the dad figures out there! Here are a few more of the babies that we have taken in so far t...
15/06/2025

Happy Father’s Day to all of the dad figures out there!

Here are a few more of the babies that we have taken in so far this month. I had 7 patients come in yesterday alone. If June continues this way we are going to blow our May admit numbers out of the water!

This beautiful girl came in this morning after being found on a golf course. She was having a hard time walking. Conserv...
14/06/2025

This beautiful girl came in this morning after being found on a golf course. She was having a hard time walking. Conservation Officer Holt was able to safely capture her and bring her to us for medical treatment. (Thank you!) We will be providing supportive care and monitoring her for the next couple of days. ❤️

12/06/2025

Another batch of squirrels got to move into an outdoor pre-release enclosure today! They are absolutely LOVING it out there! And I think all of my other patients are enjoying the peace and quiet inside now 🤭

12/06/2025

I am having issues with Messenger. Some messages are coming through, but then disappear, there are no longer any names on any of the messages and they are alllllll marked as unread. 🙃 So, until the bug is fixed, if you have a wildlife question please text me a photo and the issue.
218-360-9954

If you work in veterinary medicine you know to expect trends. Well, I haven’t had a coyote in 4 years and now I’ve had 2...
10/06/2025

If you work in veterinary medicine you know to expect trends. Well, I haven’t had a coyote in 4 years and now I’ve had 2 within a week!

This little guy was found today after likely being hit by a tractor. He has a closed femur fracture and is already on his way to Wild and Free for radiographs to see if he’s a candidate for surgery. We did an exam, gave fluids, pain meds and wrapped his leg to stabilize it for transport.

If you are interested in joining our transport list please message us your name, number, email and address. We rely heavily on our transporters as many of our patients require radiographs and more intensive medical care. Transports are generally pretty short notice as emergencies can come in at any time. If you have more questions let me know!

Good luck, little one! 🤎

*Negative comments will be deleted. This little one was all alone on the side of the road. The finder pulled over and wa...
07/06/2025

*Negative comments will be deleted.

This little one was all alone on the side of the road. The finder pulled over and was able to get him into his vehicle. At first, he thought he was a puppy that had been dumped. After he had him contained realized this wasn’t a regular domestic pup, but instead was a tiny coyote pup! He is suffering from mange and is very dehydrated and malnourished. He is very lucky that he was found when he was.

What is mange? There are two types, both of which are caused by different mites. A skin scraping must be done and looked at under the microscope to see which species is present.

Sarcoptic Mange (also known as scabies) is caused by Sarcoptes mites and is zoonotic, which means it can be transmissible to humans. These mites burrow into the skin and are incredibly itchy, painful and create skin lesions, scabs and hair loss.

Demodectic Mange is caused by Demodex mites that normally lives on the skin, but can cause an infestation when a young or immunocompromised animal’s immune system is unable to control them. These mites live in the hair follicles and create skin infections, skin thickening and hair loss.

Mange usually causes a variety of secondary issues like bacterial infections, wounds from scratching and hypothermia. If you see an animal that is suffering from mange they should receive medical treatment at a wildlife rehabilitation facility. They will need fluids, medicated baths, antiparasitics, antibiotics, etc. given to help them recover. I often see people comment to throw out medications in food. Those medications are weight dependent, do not treat any secondary issues caused by the mange, you cannot monitor for adverse reactions or guarantee that animal is the one who eats it. Instead please contact a rehabber and we can work with you to live trap the animal.

Best of luck to this little coyote on his recovery journey! ❤️‍🩹

05/06/2025

This little fawn was at the road edge, all alone...when a vehicle approached it layed down right on the roadway. Look closely at the tree area to the right of the fawn. Mama is right there! This fawn was escorted from the road right to the area where mom was seen. It will be fine. It does not need to be rescued!

Look at that face! 😍 This Northern Flying Squirrel was found after some trees were cut down. She was likely taking refug...
05/06/2025

Look at that face! 😍 This Northern Flying Squirrel was found after some trees were cut down. She was likely taking refuge in one and was found hopping through the yard approaching a dog. Normally, we try to reunite squirrels when trees are cut down, but this story was different. If you ever find a wild animal and see these signs call a rehabber right away. The red flags for me in this scenario were:

1.) A single flying squirrel. Flying squirrels live in colonies so it’s very strange for a baby to be all alone.
2.) Out during the day (they’re nocturnal), but contributing this to the tree being cut down.
3.) Approaching a dog. Orphaned wild animals will eventually reach a point of desperation where they are just so hungry that they start obsessively following people, dogs and other animals around looking for food. This is a very clear sign that a baby is orphaned.
4.) When approached by a human and picked up she curled into a ball in their hand. This baby is exhausted and depleted. She was running out of energy.

Since this species is very social and does better with friends, I put a call out to other rehabbers in the state to see if anyone had any Northern Flying Squirrels in care that we could combine, but no luck. However, we had this flying squirrel puppet and rechargeable heart beats purchased off of our baby shower list last year. She has been snuggled up to it every time I go in to feed her. The gifts you all get for these animals are so appreciated! This puppet is bringing her so much comfort right now. If you would like to peek at our list and send something to our many orphans I’ll link it in the comments. 💚

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