Becoming a Wildlife Rehabilitator – Morgan’s Journey

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Everyone has their own story of what they wanted to be when they grew up. For me, it was always a blur. There was always something that I COULD do, but I never really took an option and ran with it full force.

I attended a local community college for nearly 3 years after high school, starting with the dreaded general ED’s. I eventually decided to start taking American Sign Language classes, which led to my interest in getting certified as an ASL Interpreter. Obviously that didn’t last too long, because I decided to leave the program after a few unwelcoming speed bumps along the way. My last class in the program was December of 2017.

It took me a little over a year to come up with a plan of what I was going to as far as careers go. Lots of brainstorming, mind-changing, and hopeful thinking landed me where I am today. I am thankful for the experience, even if it took longer than I’d originally thought.

Time has taught me that if something is meant to be, it’ll be.

With that, I thought it would be fun to tell you the story of how I started my journey of becoming a Wildlife Rehabilitator.

(If you read all the way to the end, I promise that you’ll be overloaded by the cuteness of my sweet fuzz-ball goslings… peep peep!)

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*JUST SO YOU’RE AWARE: Wild animals are not domesticated simply by hand-raising. A wild animal is, and always will be, wild at its genetic roots. It takes the proper licensing, specialized facilities, considerable training and expertise, and a lifelong dedication to the animals in order to properly care for them while in captivity. Please be aware of your surroundings, and know where your local wildlife rehabilitators are located in the event that an injured or orphaned animal needs help.

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The Call…

It was April 14, 2019. I was washing the dishes when I got an unexpected call from a family friend of mine.

“Morgan! I have an animal rescue for you!”

Marissa was driving to her house when she found 4 little yellow babies in the middle of the road, with no mama in sight. She scooped them up and put them in an empty lunchbox, and took them home with her. Since she knew that I’d go out of my way to make friends with any animal that I crossed paths with, she called me right away.

I told her that I was stuck at the house without a car, but that I really wanted to help these babies. So, she drove them over to me a little while later.

(Kyle was gone for the day with our only car, so it became an inside joke for us: the ONE day that Kyle goes somewhere without me, I end up at home with baby animals!)

As soon as I saw them, my heart absolutely melted. They were the sweetest little things that I had ever seen! I took them inside and made a safe place on the bathroom floor for them to run around and explore. I sat down with them, and watched with giddy excitement. A couple of hours had gone by when I finally saw the porch light come on, so I walked over to meet Kyle at the door.

(At this point, he still has no idea about the babies… I didn’t tell him anything all day, because I wanted to keep it a surprise. How’s that for a ‘welcome home’ greeting?) 😉

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Easter was only a couple of days away, so I gave him a hug and told him, “Sooo, babe? I think the Easter Bunny came by a little early this year”.

Of course, he was confused. But I led him to the bathroom and his eyes lit up at the sound of the peeping that was coming from the other side of the door. He carefully opened up the door and changed his gaze between me and the babies – back and forth, back and forth.

I quietly said, “Marissa called me earlier today and said she found some baby ducks in the middle of the road, so I told her I’d take care of them until I found a rescue to take them to…”. *nervously smiles*

By this point, I could see the happy tears forming in his eyes.

“Morg, these aren’t ducks- they’re baby Canada geese!” And sure enough, he was right!

We found ourselves sitting on the bathroom floor with 4 sweet goslings for the rest of the night. We played with them until they plopped up on our laps and fell asleep. We were in love. Like, completely.

We made a cozy bed for them to sleep for the night, and I started to research wildlife rescues that I could call first thing in the morning.

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Unless you have the proper licenses to do so, you’re not allowed to keep a wild animal in captivity. So, I knew we had to find a rescue for these goslings ASAP.

Over the next 24 hours, I was on the phone constantly. Research, call, hang up and repeat. I called over 25 different places, and I wasn’t having any luck. They either didn’t take in waterfowl (like ducks or geese), they didn’t answer their phones (and didn’t have a voicemail), or the rescue was permanently closed. I was lost.

Frustrated and in tears, I cuddled and played with our goslings in between calls, hoping that I’d get ahold of a rescue who was willing to help. As much as I loved them, I knew that the longer we had them, the longer they would go without the proper rehabilitative care that they needed.

Then, FINALLY… the next morning, I was able to get in touch with an awesome rescue that’s located a couple of hours away from us. With traffic, it would’ve taken us 2-3 hours to get there. So, they ended up referring us to a different rescue, which was about an hour and a half south of us. We were so relieved!

We gathered up our goslings, and we headed down to San Pedro! The International Bird Rescue was a life saver for us. I felt good knowing that our goslings would be raised, rehabilitated, and eventually released back into the wild when the time was right.

The staff was kind enough to send us a few updates of the goslings as they continued to grow at the rescue! They were eventually released back into the wild on July 1, 2019. (Thank you, thank you, thank you to IBR for everything you did ((and continue to do)) for wildlife!)

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If you haven’t already guessed, this is where my journey with wildlife rehabilitation comes into play.

I had done so much research over the past couple of days in regards to wildlife rescues and rehabilitation centers. Coincidently, I started getting sponsored ads on my Instagram feed for an online school called the Animal Behavior Institute. They had a program specifically for wildlife rehabilitation, and it really had my interest.

I just kept thinking to myself, ‘Why haven’t I thought of this before?’…

I talked about it with Kyle for a few days, and he was supportive (as always) of the idea. There was still some things I had to figure out, like finances, etc., but every time I thought about it, I got excited.

I applied to the school about a week later, and was accepted soon after.

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One of the big things that influenced my decision was my already-established love for animals. Another reason was the fact that it was so difficult for me to find a rescue in our area that would take in the goslings. I thought to myself over and over, “I want to be that person who people can rely on to bring injured/orphaned animals to”. Of course this won’t be able to happen right away, but it will always be a huge goal of mine once I am certified.

Even though I didn’t include every single detail of this experience, I still wanted to share with you the very beginning of my wildlife rehabilitation journey.

As of now (April 2020), I only have 2 classes left before I finish the program. I am also volunteering with the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue as a remote hotline volunteer, and I am really enjoying the experience. I am getting to observe a different aspect of the rehab process by being on the other end of the calls as they come in by the public.

Once Kyle and I are able to complete our big move to Arizona, I can start looking for more opportunities as a rehabilitator. I already have a few ideas in mind, so I am looking forward to seeing how it all turns out!

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If you’re ever in need of a wildlife rehabilitator, check out the website that I linked below. They even have an app that you can use if you’re on the go!

https://www.nwrawildlife.org/page/Find_A_Rehabilitator

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I hope you enjoyed reading my story – I can’t wait to make a difference in this field that I love so much!

Do you have a similar story? How about a completely different one? Whatever it may be, share it with us down below!