16/10/2021
News: RE: Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release
Recently, Patti Stangel, owner, and operator of Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release asked Kim and me to come out to the complex for a thorough inspection of the animals, birds, and the shelters in which they are housed.
At the end of September, Patti celebrated her 70th birthday. Also, Monday, October 11, marked a landmark ten years in operation.
Kim and I have been actively involved with Patti’s operation from the very start when she housed her charges at her home on Hamilton Avenue, Eau Claire. As the operation grew, it became evident that she would need a much larger facility to handle all the incoming animals and birds in need of help.
We were among the first to be invited out to her new location outside of Colfax, Wisconsin, and to see the excitement and enthusiasm she emanated that day. In addition to a larger home, the property has a very large “machine shed”, which she immediately put to good use, housing the sick, wounded, and recovering animals and birds.
But that was just the beginning. Patti is not a wealthy woman, money-wise. But I know of no one wealthier regarding compassion and heart when it comes to the love and care of “her critters”. Anyone who knows Patti well knows that in the past she had been very efficient as a cafe owner, a tavern owner, and a professional photographer.
However, when she took the reins as WWR’s leader all those years ago, it was very evident that she had found her life’s love and work. In fact, work is not the correct word at all because she loves her “job” and it is not a job to her at all. IT IS HER LIFE’S CALLING.
However, I have watched her attempt to do almost every aspect of the operation on her own. I have also watched her continual weight loss, with some alarm. It is understandable that Patti feels responsible for each and every rescue. I have personally witnessed how much she grieves with the loss of any of her “critters” lives.
Patti has always somehow managed to stay afloat through good times and bad. However, the pandemic has really taken its toll on her and the entire operation. Because of the pandemic, we have not been able to do the Chippewa Valley Musicians WWR Fundraisers since the Fall of 2020.
It is frustrating, depressing, and downright angering to me to know that all the generosity of so many good and talented musicians must now remain idle.
So what’s the answer? How do we, as a community, stand with Patti, who has in the past ten years taken in an estimated 1400 animals to date. How do we tell her we have her back when, pandemic or not, she gets thirty to fifty calls a day for rescue help?
As Kim and I toured each cage, Patti explained that there are so many needs right now: a distinct lack of funding via tax-deductible donations - 501 (C) (3), so many shelter upkeep needs: treated wood, tarpaulins, cage fence wiring for 50-foot flight cages, a need for 2 additional 8X16 foot cages, some kind of metal panels to make slanted roofs on cages for easier snow removal in the upcoming Winter months.
Patti is financially unable to hire someone to double-check the strength of current caging and latches or provide much-needed baled straw for creature bedding. If you, or someone you know, has the expertise or the needed materials, please, please let Patti know that you have her back.
If you have lost a loved one, a release “In Memory Of” is a possibility as well.
I do not want to make this sound all “Doom and Gloom”. Patti is aggressively looking into fundraisers at Festival Foods, Markquart Motors, Scheels Sports, and Mazda Motors. If you see an opportunity to vote for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release as a recipient of any of these grants, please let them know how important Patti’s work is to you, to me, to all of the Chippewa Valley that cares about the welfare of our wildlife.
I want to mention some of the “good guys” who have gone out of their way to help: Dave at Florian Gardens, The Lake Hallie Eagles Club, Elizabeth Fischer, who uses Zoom to get Seasonal Info out on tape right from Patti’s location, Jim Zons who filmed a great horned owl release near Elk Mound.
Patti also wants to thank Taylor Melan and Scott Konsela for taking time out of their already over-busy schedules to help her.
Patti told us what will happen without help: she will have to cut back on rescues, not replace or build new cages, while her suppliers continually raise prices on her animals’ food. This is not an option as far as I am concerned, nor should it be for any of us.
Please do something . . . anything . . . that you can so that Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release can continue to provide.
