Raven Ridge Wildlife Center holds a Wildlife Baby Shower
Washington Boro (WHTM) It’s a busy time at Raven Ridge Wildlife Center. On top of their daily work taking care of rescued animals, they’re getting ready for their Baby Wildlife Shower this Saturday, April 6, at the Columbia Crossings River Trails Center in Columbia Lancaster County.
“So the baby shower, we’re hoping, brings the community out to learn more about us, what we do,” says Tracie Young, the center’s rehabilitator. “Not only is it to raise awareness about what we do, but it’s also going to help us hopefully raise some significant amount of donations.”
When the baby population builds up, so do the expenses.
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“Each species has a species-specific formula, quite costly. Incubators are running 24/seven for weeks on end. As they grow, they need fresh food every day. And pretty much every cage and every incubator is occupied.”
Baby season at Raven Ridge is already well underway. In fact, it started almost a month early this year, with a very, very, very young fox.
“This particular fox came in at three days old at the beginning of March. So that’s very early. Eyes were closed, very, very small,” says Tracie. “We’ve been having more of a mild winter. The weather has been more unpredictable, which plays a lot into nesting and denning and when these animals are deciding to have babies. So we’re just going to have to assume as things get warmer they’re going to give birth earlier.
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That fox kit was just the beginning. Three more fox kits have arrived at the center, and just a few days ago Pharaoh, their resident Great Horned Owl, met his first foster chick of the season. He’s turned into their resident Superdad.
“He’s very protective of the owl. And he does an amazing job at raising these great horned owls. At one time in one mew, he’s had 14 babies.”
So what should you do if you find a baby animal in distress?
“The first thing to do is get a hold of a wildlife center because there are certain animals that are on the ground,” says Tracie. “There are certain animals that the parents only come to twice a day. So they’re really not abandoned. But a big no-no is taking them home and feeding them.”
“The parents continue to teach them how to fly, how to eat, bringing them food, how to hunt so they belong on the ground. And the nice thing is, with a cell phone, we can have people take pictures and send them to us right away so we can kind of gauge the age, what we’re looking at, does this animal really need to come in or not.”
You won’t see any of these youngest babies at the baby shower. They need peace and quiet. But Raven Ridge will have some of its ambassador animals for you to meet, like our old friend Barron Von Vulture.
“We’re also going to have Marty, who is our big brown bat,” says TRacie. “We want people to realize that the bats are going to be starting to come out of hibernation. And we’re also going to be promoting another event that we’re doing in April to raise funds to build our new bat flight cage.’
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“We also have a falconer. Her name is Molly and she is a friend of mine. She is bringing some unique birds of prey to get up close and take pictures and just see these beautiful birds.”
One of the events at the Baby Shower will be the introduction of their newest animal ambassador. We got to meet him, but we’re not going to ruin the surprise. You’ll just have to come see for yourself.
The event is free and runs from 11 to 4.
For more information, click here or here
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