It was a busy year for the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. Staff at the Burnaby-based centre helped 3,274 animals in 2011, the most in seven years.
"Two thousand and eleven was an extremely busy year, but with the help of volunteers who gave their time, and the support of local individuals, families and companies who donated cash, food and equipment, we were able to save the lives of hundreds of animals," said the association's Yolanda Brooks. "Everyone at the Wildlife Rescue Association would like to thank them for their generosity and their dedication to helping wildlife."
Rescued animals came from as far as Calgary, Whistler, Courtenay and Grand Forks and included ravens, owls, hawks, mergansers, great blue herons, hummingbirds, grebes, skunks, marmots, moles and beavers.
One skunk, named "Bubbles," made headlines after it was recently released in Vancouver's West End. Bubbles was brought to the association for rehabilitation because of a plastic drink lid stuck around its neck, which was cutting into the skin.
The largest animal rescuers handled was a beaver, and the smallest was a hummingbird saved from the jaws of a cat.
"It had puncture wounds and lost feathers, but it survived to fly another day," Brooks said.
Other notable cases included a young, male raccoon that lost its tail last January after he was electrocuted and fell from a transformer tower.
"We operated to create a clean wound, and he was released after about two weeks in care," Brooks said.
In summer, there were a couple of orphaned common merganser chicks.
"When they first arrived their waterproofing was poor, and we didn't think they were going to survive," Brooks said. "Waterfowl are also incredibly stressed in captivity, and their environment has to be very carefully controlled. We raised them for 72 days during the summer. They were successfully released."
For more on the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C., go to www.wildliferescue.ca.
