Volunteer View

Thank you to...

Erin Landrum, Friends summer intern - Serving as an intern at Friends of Texas Wildlife proved to be a summer well spent. I ascertained significant lessons, expanded my knowledge and experience of animals, and gained long lasting memories. Each week brought evidence of the communities' needs for the wildlife rehabilitators. It was a neat opportunity to aid in maintaining populations of wildlife in the forests and providing relief to the surrounding communities.  Helping Friends raise the baby wildlife through adolescence and learning how to work with the citizens was a well-rounded experience.  Whether it was cleaning the raccoon pen or caring to injured fawns, each assignment was vital to their future release.  My most memorable aspect of the internship was seeing the personalities develop in the young animals.  I made some unique connections in caring for the orphaned wildlife - and am now able to view all wildlife as each having a story of their own. As a Wildlife and Fisheries undergraduate student at Texas A&M University, I am convinced that this irreplaceable internship experience has well equipped me for my future career.

The raccoons in the photo to the left were two of six rambunctious raccoons that I helped to raise this summer. These two are not siblings but were orphans found in attics of homes. While it was fun to bottle feed them when they were small being completely dependent of humans for their survival, it was extremely satisfying to see them mature and gain independence as they grew.  It was an exciting day for me and them when they were moved into the larger soft-release pen more similar to their natural environment, which brought them closer to complete independence.  Every day working at Friends was amusing because of the comical antics of the raccoons.

All the extremely hard-working, dedicated volunteers who spent a hot day in August helping to build much needed cages for the animals in our care. Thanks also to Janette and Bill Winkelmann for hosting the group and to John Hayward for helping to teach all the newcomers how to properly build a cage. At the end of a very long, hot day 7 new cages were finished and some left that same afternoon to give some little ones a bigger home in which to complete their rehabilitation. Each of these cages would have cost approximately $500 if they would have been purchased - so a huge thank you for your time and sweat.

Participants included; Janette and Bill Winkelmann, John Hayward, Jill Tagudin and her husband Ray Cullotta and their son Foster, Linda & John Kasper, Cheryl Meyer, Tina Saalwaechter & her mom, Tom Conley, Jo & Doug Snyder, Pam & Donnie Morgan, Tessa Keel, Evelyn Heyde & Jimmy Johnson, Debbie Gray, and Frank Jackson.

Congratulations to...

Volunteer rehabber Melony Jackson who just successfully completed all the requirements to become a permitted rehabilitator for Friends of Texas Wildlife. A lot of hard work and time goes into achieving this accomplishment. Congratulations on a job very well done!!!


Volunteer Updates

Evelyn Lowery has recently become a member of IWRC and has signed up to attend their Basic Wildlife Rehabilitation class being held in Houston in November.

 

Friends of Texas Wildlife
P.O. Box 130786
The Woodlands, Texas 77393-0786
Phone: 281-259-0039
Email: inquiries@friendsoftexaswildlife.org