Wildlife Rehabilitation: From Rescue to Release

“There’s a lot of beauty in just being in the dance” – Sara Cole on wildlife rehabilitation. Partners for Wildlife is excited to welcome back to the show, Sara Cole, a wildlife rehabilitator from Minnesota. Join host Gail Buhl for a discussion about baby squirrels, expressions of gratitude, lessons learned, and advice to new rehabbers. Sara shares her insights, and experiences, describing how “the...

Partners for Wildlife is excited to welcome Dr. Katie Haman, the Wildlife Diversity Veterinarian with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, to the show. Join host Gail Buhl as they explore the concept of One Health. Dr. Haman shares her journey while diving into the interconnectedness of animals, the environment, and humans. They also discuss One Welfare and highlight the essential role...

“Whatever you think an animal might need, you need too.” – Tiffany Wentz-Root on self-compassion for wildlife rehabilitators. Partners for Wildlife kicks off its fourth season with the second part of our compassion fatigue conversation. Washington state-based mental health therapist Tiffany Wentz-Root joins host Gail Buhl to discuss the impact of trauma, burnout, balance, joy, boundaries, and the...

Host Gail Buhl welcomes Washington state based mental health therapist Tiffany Wentz-Root to the podcast to discuss self-care for wildlife rehabilitators. This is Part 1 of 2. In Part 1, Tiffany explains her origin story, which includes serving in Iraq for the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003. Tiffany goes on to reveal some of her own past struggles with mental health, how that experience led to her inte...

Host Gail Buhl is back for Part 2 of her in-depth discussion with Minnesota-based wildlife veterinarian Dr. Miranda Torkelson on the medical management of fox. In this episode, Gail and Dr. Miranda touch on topics ranging from the treatment of mange and other parasites to diets, handler safety, housing, and preparation for release. Dr. Miranda urges listeners not to attempt to treat wild fox outsi...

Gail Buhl welcomes wildlife veterinarian Dr. Miranda Torkelson for a two-part discussion about the medical management of red foxes. Dr. Miranda starts out with some of her origin story, which includes highlights from her ambitious career in wildlife medicine. Later in the episode, Gail and Dr. Miranda cover the basics of red fox natural history as well as perspectives on often well-meaning but ill...

In episode 9, Gail Buhl welcomes Amanda Nicholson back to the podcast. If you missed Amanda's first appearance on Wildlife Rehabilitation: From Rescue To Release, check out season 2, episode 13. There she talks with Gail about social media best practices in wildlife rehabilitation. Amanda serves as Senior Vice President of the Wildlife Center of Virginia. In this episode, she virtually visits Gail...

Gail Buhl is back with Part 2 of her discussion with Ruby Davis, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Director for the Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center. In Part 1, episode 8, Ruby discusses her origin story and the natural history of the striped skunk, a common skunk species in North America. Here in Part 2, Gail and Ruby do a deep dive into the rehabilitation techniques of young skunks in care. That...

Host Gail Buhl welcomes Ruby Davis, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Director for Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center. There, she oversees the center’s rehabilitation, along with the training and mentoring of staff and volunteers. This was an in-depth conversation, so we've divided it into two parts. In part 1, Gail and Ruby cover Ruby's origin story and how she came to enter a long and fulfilling ca...

Host Gail Buhl is back for a Part 2 with guest Tim Jasinski to talk about the wild fostering of the Canada Goose. In Part 2, Tim and Gail get further into topics such as goose behavior, understanding flocks, gender differences, how goslings develop, and techniques in wild fostering of goslings in their journey to independence.  Next episode, Gail welcomes Ruby Davis, wildlife biologist and wildlif...

In episode 5, Gail welcomes back a familiar face --Tim Jasinski, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist at Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village, Ohio. Tim originally appeared on the podcast in Season 1, Episode 19 to discuss one of his passions in wildlife rehabilitation, the Timberdoodle. That first interview with Tim and Gail is well worth going back to take a listen! In this episode...

Host Gail Buhl is back for Part 2 of the in-depth discussion she had with Deb Galle this past fall about Cottontail Rabbits. Here in Part 2, Deb gets into more of the specifics about how she cares for rabbits after assessment and intake. Those include formulas and food, housing, avoiding imprinting, controlling the environment and her approach to managing rabbit's stress, general husbandry, and th...

Deborah Galle, a longtime Connecticut-based wildlife rehabilitator joins host Gail Buhl to discuss caring for Eastern Cottontail Rabbits. Deb and Gail get into a lengthy discussion, so we've divided their talk into two parts. Here in Part 1, we learn about Deb's career path, which originally had nothing to do with wildlife. Later Gail poses the common question, "Why rehabilitate rabbits?" This epi...

Gail Buhl is back with Part 2 of her in-depth discussion with Dr. John Huckabee on the Art of Wildlife Rehabilitation. Dr. John Huckabee is an icon in the wildlife rehabilitation world in North America. What's clinically best for an animal and what feels best isn't always the same. In this episode, Gail and Dr. John talk about how that plays into the need for adequate self-care and risk of compass...

Wildlife Rehabilitation: From Rescue To Release host Gail Buhl is back for a third season! Gail, a Master Level Wildlife Rehabilitator in Minnesota, draws on decades of experience caring for wildlife to connect with guests on a deep, meaningful level, eliciting thought provoking dialogue among fellow peers. That unique ability to draw out the story behind the story comes into play right off the ba...

In Part-2 of our discussion with Dr. Leslie Reed, a Minnesota-based veterinarian who specializes in wildlife dentistry, we get into more specifics about what good dental care looks like for different species of wild animals and why it's so important to treat pain adequately.  Gail and Leslie get into how wildlife rehabilitators can be more effective caregivers through learning dentistry basics and...

Our host Gail Buhl invited Dr. Leslie Reed on the show to talk about her unusual niche within the wildlife rehabilitation sector -- wildlife dentistry! Animals that have teeth suffer from many of the same problems humans do, such as cavities, chips, decay, and foreign bodies lodged in the gum line. These and many other dental issues can severely affect an animal's quality of life in care and after...

In Part 2, host Gail Buhl talks more about social media for wildlife rehabilitation settings in Part 2 of an in-depth discussion with Amanda Nicholson, senior vice president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia. Amanda is one of Gail's go-to gurus for all things social media. This part of their discussion gets into best practices, including avoiding posting content that could jeopardize a wildlife r...

Host Gail Buhl caught up with Amanda Nicholson, senior vice president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia. Amanda has long been their communications and social media guru, and was eager to share some of the things she's learned, having managed the Wildlife Center of Virginia's social media presence since the earlier days of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Gail and Amanda talk about how and why ha...

Host Gail Buhl caught up with Dr. Michelle Willette of Partners For Wildlife and The Raptor Center at The University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Willette shares her expertise on the ever-evolving and sometimes controversial topic of animal welfare. Welfare isn't something we give to an animal, she says, rather it's a state of being that exists with the right inputs and conditi...

Host Gail Buhl connected with Rachel Avilla, co-founder and project manager of the database Wildlife Rehabilitation MD , or "WRMD." Rachel gives us a synopsis of her origin story, starting with her first career step out of college, which was a summer internship at The Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa. That led to an internship at Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital . There she met Devin, her...

Dr. Michelle Rivard and Casey Mclean, marine mammal expert guests from SR3 in Washington are back in conversation with Gail Buhl, sharing more about the release phase of caring from Harbor Seals. Later in the episode they get into some of the nuanced differences among pinnipeds, particularly the California Sea Lion. We learn what a what makes a seal a "true seal." This episode also dives more into...

Host Gail Buhl connected with marine mammal veterinarian Dr. Michelle Rivard, and Casey Mclean, of SR3, the Washington state based organization named for its missions: sealife response, rehabilitation, and research. Casey and Dr. Michelle tell Gail about SR3’s origin, how they came to be involved, and all about the work they’re doing with harbor seals. This is a two-part series. In Part-1, we cove...

Dr. Dave Scott began his career as an electrical engineer, working for 10 years at the Department of Defense, then decided to attend veterinary school. He practiced small animal vet med and emergency care for several years, but eventually followed his heart into wildlife medicine. He again went back to the Department of Defense, but continued to practice wildlife medicine on a volunteer basis. A p...

Host Gail Buhl caught up with Lauren Glickman, a former Volunteer Manager at PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) in Seattle and current organizational training and development consultant.  Lauren Glickman began her career in the Peace Corps, then found her way into wildlife rehabilitation in the Seattle area. There she volunteered at PAWS and quickly realized she had found a passion for anim...