(gravel rustling)

>>I found him on the floor.

At first I thought it was a
little mole or a dead mouse

and then all of a sudden
he was just (groans).

I was sprawled out and I was
like, well, you're a bat!

I know who to call.

>>What should you do if you find

a very young orphaned raccoon,
skunk, or bird in the wild?

To find out and to learn
about an organization

that works very hard to
ensure that these animals

make their way back into
their natural habitat,

join us as we visit
Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary.

Come on!

(bird chirping)

>>I've always been
very fond of wildlife

and non-human animals.

I'm a landscaper by
trade and one time,

some lady gave me a
crow but he couldn't fly

so I took him home and
then about a year later,

a friend of mine said,

"It's illegal for
you to have this crow

"but you can become a rehabber
if you apply with the state."

and blah, blah, blah, blah.

So I did that and
it's been a total joy.

It's fulfilling, it's fun,

it's wonderful for
nature for us to do this.

It's just all around good.

>>Okay, so let's talk
about the mission

of the organization.

Jessie, fill us in on that.

>>Sure!

So we have a couple of different
main points to our mission.

The first one is to take care

of the injured and
orphaned wildlife

that comes into our care so
that we can rehabilitate them

and then release them back
into the wild eventually.

And then another one is
advising citizens on what to do

if they find an injured
or orphaned wild animal.

So to do that, we have to
know the natural history

of the animal species
that they're dealing with,

be able to tell them what
is normal in the wild,

and what is abnormal
and give them advice

on when to take
action or inaction.

And then the third
is to reach out

to schools and different
educational events

and talk a little bit
about our native wildlife

and their needs and what we
can do to live with them.

>>Give us an example
of who comes to you.

>>I guess the best way to say

is we do all of
the native animals

except for fawns and bears.

Everything else, opossums,
and raccoons and bunnies and--

>>Skunks.
>>Skunks and--

>>Foxes.
>>Foxes, yeah.

We do mostly all of the water
birds in Central Virginia

and we do all the songbirds.

>>And someone
called earlier today

and they had a bat.

>>So when somebody calls us,

the first thing we do is we
ask them what the situation is,

what the animal was
doing, what it looks like,

another thing that's coming--
>>How old it is.

>>How old it is.

Another thing that's come
in handy is smart phones

because now people
can take pictures

and send them to us so we
can get a better idea on age

and if it's acting funny
and kind of go from there.

>>And the goal is for them
to be back in the wild.

That's the goal.

And if they bond with humans.

>>It's very difficult for them

to become a wild animal again

so we go out of our way to
make sure when we bring them up

that there's always
two animals together

so they bond on each
other rather than on us.

>>Give us an example
of a typical day,

who's fed and how they're fed
and how often they're fed.

>>Right, yeah.

So a typical day for us is
seven o'clock in the morning

until seven o'clock
in the evening.

So we're going all day long.

So the first thing I'll do

is start with feeding
the baby birds

because they have to be
fed every 20 to 30 minutes.

>>Oh my goodness!
>>And that's all day long.

So we have a little timer
that we carry around with us

and when it goes off,
we stop what we're doing

and we go feed the baby birds.

And then I work on
to the baby mammals.

So I would tube feed
the baby possums next.

>>And why are they tube-fed?

>>Just to make sure
they're getting

the proper amount of
formula each feeding

so we can ensure that
they grow up healthy.

>>Right, if you tried to
do it with a bottle feeder,

you wouldn't know.

It would fall all
over their face

and you wouldn't have any idea

how much actually
they took in, correct?

>>Right, exactly.
>>That's right.

And they also do not know

how to go to the
bathroom on their own.

So what do you call that?

>>We call it stimulating
and we have to do that

for all the baby mammals when
they come in after they eat,

before and after usually,
we'll stimulate them.

>>You call it poop and
pee them, I heard you.

>>Pee, pee them.
>>Pop and pee them.

(both laughing)

>>We pee and poop 'em.
>>Yeah.

(everyone laughing)

>>Stimulating is
the official term.

>>But it's interesting
because that's something

that most people don't know

that their mother would
normally help them with that.

And how often do the little
baby possums need to be fed?

>>Well, the ones that
we just fed today

are four times a day now.

They've just moved on
from five times a day.

So what we do is
we spread that out

so that their last
feeding is at seven

because we don't
want any animals

to go longer than 12 hours
overnight without being fed.

>>If we get teeny weeny beanies,

then somebody takes
the incubator home

so they can feed 'em at night.

>>And that is the
other point too

is that when people find
these orphaned animals,

these little animals,

it is so important
that they stay warm.

It has to be 100 degrees
or something, right?

>>Yeah, they can't generate,
depending on their age,

but the tiny guys can't
generate their own heat

so they literally will be cold.

So if you find a baby
and you pick him up

and he's cold to the touch,

then you need to heat
him up immediately

and we use heating pads for that

or incubators or
whatever you have.

>>You have a nest of baby
skunks that just came through

and they're doing
really well now

but they had been so
cold that it took--

>>We lost two of them.
>>Wow.

>>Yeah.

>>And how do you care
for a baby skunk?

>>So baby skunks, we start
out by hand feeding them

with a nipple and a syringe
but once they open their eyes,

they're very unwilling to accept

the formula by hand
anymore and so--

>>They can eat on their own.

>>They start eating
on their own.

We put in what we
call a mush bowl

and so that's
their formula mixed

with a couple other
little soft foods

to get them started
on eating solids.

>>Sweet potatoes.

Everybody here eats
sweet potatoes.

>>Sweet potatoes! (laughs)
>>It's all over her clothes.

>>It's Southern!
(both laughing)

>>And boiled eggs.

>>Boiled eggs, also
another favorite

and banana is a
big favorite too.

So we have a few little tricks
that we get them started

with eating the solid stuff

and then we'll go on to the
dog foods or the vegetables,

things that they
may not be willing

to start out eating initially.

>>And it's a transition so
you have a new facility,

the animals are no longer
in your car or in your home,

but then they
transition outside.

>>Yeah, so we start
all our babies inside

in one of the nurseries.

And that way, we can hand-feed
them or bottle-feed them.

The baby birds, as
I mentioned before,

have to be fed every
20 to 30 minutes

so we can easily do that inside.

And then once they,
what's called fledge,

where in the wild they would
willingly jump out of the nest

and start learning
to hop around and fly

and find food on their own,
but mom still is feeding them,

we simulate that by putting 'em

in our fledge cage or a aviary.

And so same with mammals too.

The raccoons, once
they've graduated

and started eating a little
bit of their mush bowl,

we can put them into a
smaller outdoor enclosure

so they can learn
to start climbing.

And then once they've
gotten good at that

and they're totally
off hand-feeding,

then we can put them into

the regular large
outdoor enclosure

where they can continue
to grow and develop

and get stronger until
they're released.

>>And they're released
at what, four months?

>>Four or five.

>>And them possums, you
measure their length, right?

To decide when they are--
>>Yeah, it's eight inches.

>>Eight to 10 in the springtime

because there's
lots of food around.

But possums come in all year.

They don't have a season
like squirrels do,

so the ones that we get in
in the fall, to release them,

we wanna make sure they're
a little more prepared

because there's less food around

so we wanna make
their body length,

not including the tail,
12 inches at least.

>>Right.

And the facility was built
way back in the woods

so that they could be
released right here.

They're not worried about dogs,
you're not worried about--

>>Well, some of
them we do release.

We have a couple of estates
where we're allowed to release

'cause you can get
overloaded with animals.

And we don't wanna
release the foxes,

which is a predator
with little bunnies,

so they would go over
in one of the estates.

So I have a story about these
woodpeckers that we have here.

It was a VDOT guy who they
were cleaning the lines,

the power lines, and
they cut a branch

and the branch fell
down and a woodpecker,

a baby piliated,
rolled on the ground.

And so they gathered
up the babies

and the guy was sweet enough

to put all the
babies in his hoodie

and keep the truck
going for two hours.

>>Oh, he knew.
>>Yeah, pretty cool.

Sweet guy.

>>And all of your
animals, again,

that's the goal is for them

to be released
back into the wild.

>>Yes, successfully.
>>But you have a handful

of educational animals
here, they're handicapped,

they wouldn't survive, so tell
us a little bit about those.

>>So, we have a few.

We have Jack, the red-tailed
hawk who is missing an eye.

And because hawks rely on
their vision for hunting,

he can't be released
into the wild.

We have a barred owl who's
severely handicapped visually.

And then we have Esperanza the
possum who is missing a tail

so we can't release her.

And the rule of
thumb with possums

is that they have 50%
or more of their tail,

we can still release
them but anything less,

and they probably wouldn't be
able to survive on their own.

And then we have an
education corn snake

who was raised by somebody

who tried to sell her on
Craigslist, which is illegal,

but we offered to
give her a home

and use her as an
education animal.

And so he said he would do that.

So we have her and then
we have a box turtle

who has some mobility
issues with her hind legs.

And that's

all the guys we have.
>>That's it.

>>You have to follow
specific rules and laws.

Talk a little bit about that.

>>Right, well the--
>>With the gaming.

>>Virginia Department of
Game and Inland Fishery.

They're the ones who
give us our permits.

And then the Feds give us
our permits to do birds.

And the Department of
Agriculture comes here too.

So we actually have
three departments

that we're under
and supervised by

to make sure that we do
everything correctly.

>>Right.

>>And it takes two years

to earn a rehabilitation
permit because--

>>And if people wanna help,

because I'm sure
people love animals.

If they wanna help,
what can they do?

>>Well, we are a
501c3 non-profit

so that means we
don't get any money

from the state or federal,

so we run solely
off of donations.

We do some grant work so.

Donations are first and
foremost the best way to help.

And then there's also things

like donating Food
Lion gift cards

because we have to
feed these animals

lots of fresh fruits
and vegetables

so we're constantly
going to the store.

And then there's
things like puppy pads

that we use a lot of, Kleenex.

>>Paper products.
>>Yeah, paper towels.

>>And volunteering and helping.

>>Volunteering would
be wonderful, yes.

>>So tell us the difference
between the sanctuary here

and The Wildlife
Center of Virginia.

>>The Wildlife Center of
Virginia is a hospital.

It's a wildlife hospital.

When we have an injured
baby, we send 'em over there.

When they have healthy orphans,
they send them over here.

So it's a totally
symbiotic relationship

and I'm just grateful that
they are so close to us.

>>We're very lucky

because they're only about
40 minutes aways from us

and most states don't even have

a wildlife veterinary
specialist,

so we've got 'em right
over the mountain.

>>One of the goals for
you all is for people

to understand the connection
between wildlife and ourselves.

>>Well, I think it's
good to remember

that we're part of
a huge community

and that community is not
just human being communities.

It's all the plants and
it's all the wildlife

and it makes us richer if we
keep that community intact.

>>There are things
that we can do

to help prevent animals
from dying, correct?

>>And one of the most
important things you can do

is plant native species
of plants in your garden.

If you don't have any native
plants in your garden,

the birds can't
feed their babies.

It's just that simple.

>>Yeah.

Well, thank you all so much for
spending time with us today.

>>Thank you.
>>Thank you!

It's been wonderful.

(bird chirping)

(jazz music)