The Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation is a non-profit charitable organization located in Carbon County that is dedicated to the care of sick, orphaned and injured wildlife. Facility Director Debbie Pappas took time from her busy schedule to stop by Castle Country Radio to talk about the wonderful services they provide.
“We are a state and federally licensed permitted wildlife rehabilitation facility and what that means is we are the State of Utah’s wildlife rehabilitators. So regardless of what people think whenever you see or hear of injured or sick wildlife its not the State of Utah that takes care of that, they may be involved in picking it up on occasion but they are always taken to a wildlife rehabilitator,” explained Pappas. The most common calls that the wildlife rehabilitation receives is that an eagle has been hit on the highway and in the Springtime its baby birds have fallen from their nests. There are many types of patients that the facility helps including waterfowl, small mammals, songbirds and raptors.
Because this is a non-profit charitable organization they rely solely on donations. “We entail a lot of expenses; we have to figure out where that money comes from and that means fundraising. We have some great donors particular out of the Moab area, which is part of the area that I cover but as far as wildlife rehabilitators in the State of Utah I cover the biggest geographical area so we handle a lot of calls, even down to the Four Corners area,” said Pappas. Unfortunately, the number of patients that are treated grows every year.
The facility currently set up their on-site hospital thanks to the generous donation from a local business. “Sutherlands Lumber, thank you, Kyle Heffernan and his people there. Kyle ordered us a bunch of cabinetries for our small hospital, we have been working out of boxes for three years, it’s just mind-blowing, but Kyle purchased all of that and donated it and the State of Utah Division of Wildlife has a program called the Dedicated Hunters Program and we have had a couple of those gentlemen coming out and installing those cabinets,” stated Pappas. The organization accepts all types of donations and are always looking for volunteers who may have special skills to offer. Any citizens that would like to volunteer at Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation can contact Pappas at (435) 650-3441.
To learn more about Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation visit their website at https://wildliferehabprice.wixsite.com/2ndchance