Wolf Hollow News

Wolf Hollow is still open and willing to help wildlife!

With the recent Washington State “Stay Home Stay Healthy” mandate, we have made further changes to our operation, but we are still available to take care of injured and orphaned wildlife, and to answer your wildlife questions over the phone.

For at least the next 2 weeks staff members will be alternating who is on-site and on call, so that only one person is at the center each day. Staff will answer the regular 360-378-5000 number. If you call when we are not at the rehab center you will receive instructions on how to reach the on call staff person. We will be operating without on-site animal care volunteers.

We are asking people on San Juan Island to call ahead if they have an injured or orphaned wild creature so that we can gather all the necessary information over the phone and arrange to receive the animal while maintaining social distancing.

On other islands and the mainland, some vet clinics are willing to continue working with us and a limited number of animal transport volunteers are available to collect animals. They too will be taking precautions in order to minimize contact and reduce risks.

We realize that it will be more challenging to transport animals to our rehab center and to provide care with limited personnel, but we will do our best to maintain this essential service to wild creatures in need and to our local community.

With your help we’ll get through this and we’ll keep helping wildlife.

Celebrate Spring Wildlife

When so much is uncertain, it’s good to know that nature is continuing as normal. Spring is here, new, fresh leaves are sprouting, flowers are blooming and birds are singing. To celebrate the beauty of spring we invite you to share your photos of local wildlife. Whether you’re out for a walk, working in your yard, or watching from your window, take a moment to enjoy the antics of your local wild creatures, then take a photo and email it to us. We’ll share the best and funniest on our Facebook page and web site.

This is the time of year when many birds are arriving back in our area for the summer, so each week we’ll have a special category for photos of a particular bird, starting this week with the Rufous Hummingbird. To inspire you, we have included a photo taken by Richard Foxenberger a few years ago.

Please email your photos to wolfhollow@wollhollowwildlife.org, and don’t forget to include your name and where and when you took the shot.

We look forward to seeing all your beautiful photos.

Baby season at Wolf Hollow officially started on March 1^st with the arrival of a batch of tiny infant squirrels that were found on the ground in a yard in Sedro Woolley. This is the earliest we have ever received baby mammals. When they arrived, the little squirrels were only a few days old and were pink and furless, but in just 2 weeks they have almost doubled their weight and have grown a soft down of grey fuzz. Their ears and eyes should open soon, so stay tuned for more photos of these youngsters.

We wanted to reach out and let you know what Wolf Hollow’s plans are in the event that COVID-19 has a major impact on our local area.

First, we have made the decision to cancel our annual Open House. Of course we never want to cancel events, but we felt this was the right decision in the current circumstances. The health of our members, donors, volunteers and community has been and remains a top priority.

Second, we plan to continue normal operations as much as possible. Our rehabilitation staff will continue to be on site seven days a week and be available by phone after hours for emergencies. If staff members become sick, we have experienced volunteers who are available to fill in so that our wild patients continue to receive care.

We rely heavily on our network of Animal Transport Volunteers on other islands and the mainland to get animals to us for care. As long as our volunteers are able and willing to do this, and the ferries to the islands are running, we plan to continue serving all of San Juan and Skagit Counties and Northern Whidbey Island.

Wildlife “baby season” is here and you can rest assured that we will do our best to continue to provide care for all the injured and orphaned wild creatures that need our help at this time of year.

We are grateful for all the support you have shown our organization throughout the years. We hope you and your loved ones remain well.

We are sorry to announce that Wolf Hollow’s Open House, scheduled for March 28^th, has been canceled. Due to community concerns about the coronavirus, we felt that this was the most responsible course of action.

We apologize to anyone who was looking forward to touring our facility and meeting our staff, board, and volunteers, but we look forward to seeing you all next spring at our 2021 Open House.

Our “baby season” for 2019 came to a close on Nov 21st when we released our final youngsters of this year – 3 young deer and 7 raccoons.  These youngsters came to us as tiny fawns and kits in early summer and spent the following months growing and learning skills in preparation for life in the wild. 

The young deer tentatively stepped out of the trailer and slowly moved off through the woods, nibbling as they went

Later, the raccoons took a few minutes to emerge from their transport carriers, then trundled off through the bushes to climb a tree.