Wild Bird Rescue Turns To Community To Keep Doors Open
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (CBS4)- One of the only wild bird rescues in the Denver metro area is in need of some help of their own. The Wild Bird Rescue and Rehab in Wheat Ridge takes in hundreds of birds every year, and is now worried they may have to close their doors.
"He still had some eggshell attached to him so he had just hatched and it was during that storm we had last week," Morgan Sandoval said.
Sandoval is a licensed veterinary technician at the facility.
"Usually hatchlings, it's hard to get them to digest synthetic foods they wouldn't get from mom and dad," she said while preparing food for their newest residents, a week old pigeon and dove.
"It's rewarding just to be able get these guys back into the wild where they belong," she said while hand feeding the birds.
Since opening in 1998, the facility has rehabilitated and released more than 25,000 birds back into the wild after a range of injuries.
"We get calls of babies that have fallen out of the nest a bird on the side of the road with a broken wing today we had an emergency two birds were poisoned," Executive Director Carmen Rutschka said.
Rutschka started as a volunteer several years ago, today she's stepping in hoping to rescue the rescue that in January was set to close its doors.
"We can't let that happen we are in a very critical stage where we need all the help we can get," she said.
To keep operating they need everything from time volunteering and monetary donations to the shelving on the walls.
"We want to be able to wrap it around the entire room unfortunately it's really expensive, and these bins are so important every bird," she said.
For nearly 20 years they have had the community behind them they are hopeful in their time of need they can count on that support again.
Wild Bird Rescue and Rehab is holding a baby bird shower on April 27 at their Wheat Ridge location.
The fundraiser runs from noon to 4 p.m. Bring an item form their wish list and enjoy games, prizes and refreshments.
