Madrona, a Red-tailed Hawk, is one of our unreleasable education birds. She has been with us for over 20 years and has made numerous appearances at presentations and children’s activities in the local area. Volunteers built her a nice enclosure when she first arrived, but, over the years, our damp climate had taken its toll and the cage was starting to fall apart.

Thanks to funding provided by the ANDAH Foundation, our Facilities Manager Mark Billington and volunteer Jerry McElyea were able to take down the old cage and build her a beautiful new enclosure. It is 24 feet long and 8 feet high to give her plenty of space to move around, and a choice of perches so she can sit in the sun and watch what’s going on, or take shelter from the wind and rain.

As his community project, local student Merritt DeShon decided to lead a guided walk up Mt Young and invite participants to make donations to support Wolf Hollow’s work. The weather didn’t cooperate, but we all had fun, and learned all kinds of interesting facts about local plants and animals from our knowledgeable guide.

Our thanks to Merritt for all the time and effort he put into gathering information and perfecting his guided walk, and to everyone who braved the rain to take part. We were delighted to receive $590 in donations from walk participants. Thank You!

Chanda Stone joined Wolf Hollow as Executive Director in September 2018.

A native of southern California, Chanda has many years of experience as an arborist, wetland restoration coordinator and volunteer specialist. She earned a graduate degree from Portland State University and created TEAM Tualatin, a summer program for teens to restore natural wildlife habitats. Volunteering in the community is her passion. Chanda is a past board president for Nursing Mother’s Council of Oregon, a Girl Scout Leader, and she currently serves on the board of the Friday Harbor Film Festival.

Chanda moved with her husband and two children to San Juan Island in 2017 after living and working for five years in Saudi Arabia. Having traveled the world, she and her family feel lucky to now call San Juan Island their forever home.

After 4 months of care at Wolf Hollow, four young otters were released on the shores of a sheltered bay. They ran along the shore, investigated the rocks and seaweed, explored the driftwood and splashed in and out of the water.

When they arrived at Wolf Hollow in June and early July the kits were about 3 months old and had been orphaned or become separated from their mothers. Each was found alone in a different place, but they quickly became inseparable and swam together, fell asleep on top of each other and learned how to catch live fish and crabs.  By fall they were well grown and ready to tackle life in the wild.

On Tuesday August 28, we released our first three seals of the season–Muenster, Danbo, and Brie. After our seal pups reach a healthy weight, we are able to let them back into the ocean to experience life back in the wild Pacific.

Muenster was found alone in bustling Roche Harbor and hauled out on July 21, on some paddleboards. He was slightly dehydrated, weighed just over 22 lbs. When he was released he weighed 40.3 lbs.

Danbo was seen alone on shore at Semiahmoo Resort for two days. After being picked up by the Whatcom County Marine Mammal Stranding Network on July 6, he received overnight care at Whatcom Wildlife Center before being flown to Wolf Hollow. He was very thin and dehydrated, weighted 16.4 lbs, had an umbilical infection and puncture wounds on his flippers. When he was released he weighed almost 47 lbs.

Brie was our first seal pup received this season, picked up by a kayaker somewhere on Orcas island on June 27, and kept with a friend overnight. When we got her on June 28, she was alert and active, only slightly dehydrated, and weighed 22.2 lbs. By the time we released her, Brie weighed nearly 60 lbs.

Watch this video to see how it all happened down at Kansas Cove.

And remember … if you see a Harbor Seal on the beach, leave it alone and call the Marine Mammal Stranding Network (1-866-767-6114)!

Brie

Muenster

Danbo

Wolf Hollow’s education team “flew” over to the mainland to participate in the Anacortes Children’s Festival. To honor the Year of the Bird, kids  colored hummingbird flyers, tested their knowledge with our build-a-bird game, and practiced their bird watching skills with our  scavenger hunt. Thanks to a grant from the Skagit Community Foundation, we were able to provide all kinds of great activities so kids and parents alike could have fun, learn about Wolf Hollow and notice all our native birds!