Tinybits Wildlife Rescue

09/04/2026

Dear friends, followers, and supporters, my sisters oldest daughter was in a horrible accident 3 weeks ago involving a semi head on. She suffered multiple injuries but the worse is a TBI (tramatic brain injury) She has fought for 3 weeks and is finally awake but unable to move her right side or talk yet. She will need months of rehabilitation. The only location in our state is 3 hours from home. I'm gathering funds for her mom, my sister, to go with her to the center. She will need gas/food/hotel. If you feel you want to help us, as I will travel up at least weekly, I am putting my Venmo information in the comments.
Each dollar helps and is appreciated.
Thank you all.
Dawn

https://venmo.com/code?user_id=3848623146141106431&created=1788225117

09/01/2026

Copied from another rehabilitation center....

It's "turn over the baby you have been illegally raising" season, where people who have been raising wildlife babies illegally all summer are now realizing they have no idea what to do with this wild animal who can't stay in their house any longer but also has no wild friends or life skills.

We get it.

There are not enough wildlife rehabbers to meet the need. Maybe you were frustrated that all of us were full. Maybe you didn't know it was illegal. Maybe you just wanted that magical Disney moment for the summer and figured it would all work out in the end.

We get it - our founder Kristen started much the same way. But now's the time to get those animals back on track for the wild.

This is our annual call for people to turn over the animals they have been raising that now need somewhere to go. No matter what has happened thus far, you have the opportunity to be responsible right now.

The raccoon pictured here was raised by a group of teenage boys this summer, but when school started back up, they needed somewhere for him to go. Rather than bring him to us, they dumped him in a park. He's still a baby and had no understanding of what to do. He tried to climb people's legs, was crying loudly... and that's not humane. Worse, his whiskers had been cut off with a pair of scissors, his legs had multiple wounds of what looked like cigarette burns, and he was covered in fleas.

Was that the best case scenario for him, to be dumped in a park, still a baby, after only knowing a life with human teenagers, where it appears he was abused?

Thankfully, some kind people saw this happen and scooped him up and brought him. Now he's adjusting to his new raccoon friends, learning life skills, and may be released this fall.

We would rather get those animals now while we have the space and the animals have the time to adjust to wild life before winter. We have a very high success rate for wilding up squirrels, raccoons, and turtles. When wilding up doesn't happen, we also have an excellent success rate with placing imprinted opossums as educational ambassadors (they don't "wild up" quite as well).

We would rather get them before they cause destruction to your house. We would rather get them before they are dumped somewhere without any life skills.

If you have an animal you have been raising this summer: thank you for caring about them and trying your best. We'd like to finish their rehab journey (or be their permanent placement home).

08/24/2026

08/15/2026

Friends if you can help, this is my precious neice. She is still in CCU. We found out she doesn't have insurance and it's going to be a long recovery and her boys still have monthly bills to take care of.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ep3RMamhb/

06/13/2026

The animal most people swerve to avoid is the one quietly keeping their yard clean — and she's gone before her second summer ends.

A mother opossum is born after just thirteen days, the size of a honeybee, and crawls on her own into the pouch. From there it's a sprint: pouch, then a ride on her mother's back, then the night shift alone. Barely two years, and most of them spent eating the beetles, slugs and fallen fruit nobody wanted, and clearing carrion off the road before it spreads anything.

She almost never carries rabies — her body runs too cool for the virus to survive. Her blood neutralizes rattlesnake and copperhead venom so well that scientists are studying it for a universal antivenom. And when she goes stiff in your headlights, she isn't bluffing — her body faints from fear, something she can't switch off.

The ugliest face on the block belongs to its gentlest worker. 🍃

06/11/2026

THE TURTLE YOU CARRIED BACK TO THE POND JUST CROSSED THE ROAD AGAIN

You saw her in the middle of the road — a painted turtle, moving slowly, one deliberate step at a time. You pulled over, scooped her up, and carried her back to the pond she obviously came from. You drove away feeling good. She turned around and walked right back into traffic.

She was not lost. She was not confused. She was heading to her nesting site — a sunny patch of soft soil she may have used for years, possibly decades. Turtles know exactly where they are going. When you moved her backwards, you did not save her. You doubled the number of times she has to cross.

In May and June, the majority of turtles on roads are females looking for a place to lay eggs. They may be heading away from water — this is intentional. Nesting sites are on land, sometimes hundreds of yards from the nearest pond. A turtle heading away from a creek is not a turtle in trouble. It is a turtle on a mission.

The rule is simple and it comes from every wildlife agency in the country: always move a turtle in the direction it was already heading. Even if that direction seems wrong to you. Even if it leads away from every body of water in sight. The turtle knows. You do not.

Pick her up gently with both hands on either side of the shell, behind the front legs. Keep her low to the ground. Move her to the far side of the road in the direction she was traveling. Set her down and walk away. For snapping turtles, grip the rear of the shell only or slide a car mat underneath — their necks are long enough to reach your hands at the sides.

She has been making this crossing since before the road was built. Move her forward, not back.

06/03/2026

I WASN’T SWIMMING IN YOUR POOL.
I WAS CIRCLING A WALL I COULD NOT CLIMB.

You saw me near the blue water.

Small.
Dark.
Moving slowly along the edge.

Maybe you thought I liked it there.

Maybe you thought I had chosen your pool like it was a pond.
Maybe you waited for me to “find my way out.”

But I was not swimming.

I was trapped.

I am a toad.

My body is made for damp grass, garden soil, leaves, night air, and insects under porch lights.

Not smooth tile.
Not chlorine.
Not a deep blue wall with no root, rock, mud, or branch to hold.

I kept circling because every wild body searches for an edge that makes sense.

But your pool had no shore.

The water touched my skin.
The chemicals touched my skin.
My strength ran out one circle at a time.

Please do not leave me for morning.

Use a pool net, bucket, or container to lift me out gently.
Place me in a shaded, damp spot away from the pool.
Check the skimmer basket before turning the pump on.

And please give the next small life a way out.

A floating escape ramp.
A rough board.
A rope along the edge.
A pool cover when the pool is not in use.

Because I was not enjoying your backyard.

I was drowning quietly
beside a wall that looked like water
but had no way back to land.

Backyard pools can be deadly for wildlife because animals may fall in or mistake them for natural water, then be unable to climb out over steep, smooth sides. Humane World recommends escape devices such as FrogLog or Skamper-Ramp, and PETA also suggests ramps, ropes near the waterline, pool covers, and fencing to reduce drownings.

06/03/2026

Right now, most animal rehabilitation centers are nearly at capacity with baby bunnies.

With the best intentions, people are finding nests in their yards and accidentally separating healthy babies from their mothers. We need your help to stop this.

Many people don’t realize that mother rabbits do not stay with their nests during the day. They stay away on purpose to keep predators from spotting her babies, the mother only visits the nest twice a day (at dawn and dusk) to feed them. The rest of the day, they may look abandoned, but they aren’t. Mom is nearby, waiting for a safe time to feed them.

If you find a nest of baby bunnies in your yard, please leave them alone. Do not move the nest, and do not relocate the babies. Mom chose that exact spot for a reason, and moving them means she won’t be able to find them.

Please only intervene and call us if:

1. The babies are visibly injured or cold.
2. You know for a fact that the mother is deceased.
3. A domestic pet (cat or dog) dug up the nest.

If you aren’t sure, do not touch them. Call a rehabilitation center We will gladly walk you through the situation to figure out if they actually need rescue!

The best thing you can do to protect baby bunnies today is to share this post. Help us get the word out so we can keep wild families together and save hospital space for the animals who truly need medical care. Thank you for your help!

06/03/2026

I WASN’T THE SMELL UNDER YOUR DECK.
I WAS THE MOTHER YOU TOOK AWAY.

You noticed the smell first.

Near the steps.
Under the deck.
Close to the place where the grass was pushed aside and the dirt looked freshly opened.

Maybe you thought:

“Skunk.”

“Problem.”

“Get it out.”

So someone set a trap.

And when I was caught, maybe everyone felt relieved.

The yard was quiet again.
The smell was gone.
The hole under the deck looked empty.

But it was not empty.

I am a mother skunk.

Under that deck, in the dark, there were babies.

Not pests.

Not a smell.

Babies.

Tiny bodies with closed eyes.
Little paws.
Soft striped backs pressed together for warmth.
Mouths that still needed milk.

They did not know I had been taken.

They only knew I stopped coming back.

They waited where I left them, because that is what babies do.

They cried under your floorboards.
They crawled through the dust.
They searched for a mother who was no longer allowed to find them.

Please, if you see a skunk going under a deck, shed, porch, or crawlspace in spring or summer, do not rush to trap her.

Do not relocate her.
Do not seal the hole immediately.
Do not block the entrance without checking for babies.

Assume there may be young inside.

Keep pets and children away.
Watch from a distance.
Call a humane wildlife professional, animal control, your state wildlife agency, or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for guidance.

Sometimes the safest answer is patience.

Sometimes a mother only needs a few weeks before her babies are old enough to follow her out.

Then you can seal the space properly so it does not happen again.

Because I was not just “the smell under your deck.”

I was the only road
between those babies
and the rest of their lives.