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Become a Wildlife Steward! If you're ready to volunteer, please click here to get started. There are several ways you can help:

Become a wildlife steward
Donate your time--organizational support
Make your property into a release site

A principal strength of any non-profit wildlife rehabilitation center is its volunteers.

We are no different--we appreciate and need volunteers for a variety of operational and wildlife care needs.

Some people believe that the only volunteers a wildlife rehab center such as ours needs are those who work directly with wildlife. Not so! Because we only have four paid employees, there are a multitude of tasks with which Board members and other volunteers presently help. Some of these are listed below.

Often people worry about volunteering because they think they need to commit to a fixed schedule. Not so! Our wildlife stewards are diverse. Some of those who sign up for regular hours are retired. Some who work regular jobs during the week commit four hours with us on the weekend (for wildlife care), or three or four hours during the weekend or any evening of the week for non-wildlife care activities. Others prefer for us to call whenever we have or anticipate special projects. Whatever your interest and talents, we believe that we can find something mutually satisfying and helpful. For those who want to contribute through their businesses, you'll always receive in-kind credit and mention in our newsletter!

What are your interests or those of your friends and colleagues? Please look at the list below. If anything sounds interesting to you, let us know. If there's something missing that you'd enjoy helping with, please let us know that as well.

A trusty volunteer helps out at Call to the Wild, our annual auction.

Fundraising -- Does helping with an afternoon tea and fashion show, a women's winter getaway, our gala auction, or grant-writing sound fun? We do them all with the help of our friends!

Artists, playwrights, writers, photographers, musicians, jugglers, balloonists, clowns, and others -- Your suggestions about how to enhance our participation at environmental fairs, special events, fund raisers, our web site, newsletter, press releases, and other community outreach activities would keep our spirits continually replenished.

July 4th booths, parades, and Farmers' Markets -- If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you.

Fishermen -- If you know any sources for herring or don't want to use the head of the fish you just caught for crabbing, we might have an eagle or seagull that would appreciate fresh saltwater seafood! If you're close enough, we might even pick it up.

Carpenters -- We've been fortunate to have wonderful community help when building our mews (outdoor cages). We need some continuous help with basic in-door maintenance and "touch-ups". When we have raised enough money to build the waterfowl cage and additional mews we so badly need, we'll also need help. In fact, if we know you're out there, that may be the only impetus we need to get ready to tee-off a serious fundraising effort!

Flower-tenders, lawn-mowers (the two legged sort), and weed pullers -- We need some quiet "Tidy-Friday" types on any day of the week to help us keep the grounds around the building mowed and colorful.

Household watch -- When a sheet is beginning to lose so much color you can't make out the print, when a towel is wearing thin but not yet fraying, when you look at a flannel blanket and say you're tired of the pattern, please think of us! We use these to line indoor cages and cover the tops of incubators to simulate quiet darkness that soothes a traumatized animal. Old aquaria are also of great benefit, as are heating pads.

Organizational development -- If you are experienced in non-profits and would like to assess our stage of development, our board members would enjoy meeting with you and would sincerely appreciate your suggestions on how we can improve our effectiveness in fulfilling our mission.

Learn more about submitting a Volunteer Application.

The primary qualifications for wildlife stewards are a genuine interest and a sincere commitment. All potential stewards go through an orientation class. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Director provides four levels of training for volunteers. Wildlife Stewards must have their own reliable transportation. You can download a more complete Wildlife Steward Job Description (pdf).

Once accepted into the training program, stewards are required to complete one level of training to work in the wildlife care portion of our facility and respond to telephone inquiries about injured wildlife. Subject to interest and performance, all Level One stewards have the option of engaging in levels two through four. At each successive level, stewards are provided with increased opportunities for learning and treatment.

The Level One class training includes training in how to stay safe while working with and around wildlife, special handling techniques, and natural history for various species. Level Two instruction includes anatomy and physiology for birds and mammals, giving injections, tube feeding, and administering medications. Training in triage, creance flight training, and other special skills is provided at higher levels.

Our rehab center works with the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council to sponsor Course 1A/B training in the area for our stewards and others in the community. Interested stewards are able to utilize our training and support to qualify for a wildlife rehabilitation license from the state of Washington.

Veterinarians -- Your assistance, in so many ways, is deeply appreciated. If you've not yet been involved in our program, we welcome an opportunity to familiarize you with our rehab facility.

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Make Your Property into a Wildlife Release Site

Is your property great wildlife habitat?

Complete the Release Site form (download a pdf or word document) and send it in to the address on the page or to mike@westsoundwildlife.org. If your property looks like a good match for some of our releasable patients, we'll be in touch. Thank you!

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