Can you imagine a hawk falling from the sky and into your mom’s flower garden? Or a duck family that decides to make a swimming pool their pond? These and other stories fill the pages of Wild Rescues: Amazing Stories from a Wildlife Shelter. Each story, based on real patients, highlights a kid discovering a wild animal in need and helping it on its journey to recovery. Woven with fascinating animal facts and tips for helping wildlife, the book encourages us all to become wildlife rescuers helping humans and animals to be good neighbors. Part of the proceeds from this book go to Westsound Wildlife Shelter on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Where did you originally get the idea for this book?
I volunteered at my local wildlife shelter with my teenage son. I was amazed by the interesting abilities of the wild animals in my own neighborhood and became passionate about helping them. I also learned that many of our good intentions (seeing a baby bird trying to fly by itself and thinking that it has been abandoned) are not good for the animals we are trying to help. I wanted this book to inspire kids to learn the right tips for helping animals and to be amazed by their specialness like I was.
What part of creating this book did you most enjoy?
The research! I loved talking to vets and other wildlife shelter rescuers about the animals I based my stories on.
When was your favorite time reading this book aloud? Why?
My local shelter hosts an event called “The Spooky Creature Walk” around Halloween. Visitors can walk through a candle-lit path in a local forest and meet the different ambassador animals (animals that can not be released back to the wild). I read stories from my book about some of the animals the visitors saw on their walk!