July 2018 News From Dr. Debbie We are so busy right now I don t know where to begin. Animal babies have been flooding in: fawns, bears (10 of them!), beavers, porcupines, red fox, grey fox, coyotes, ducks, geese, squirrels, bunnies, and more bunnies, lots of songbirds, but no baby raptors this spring. Go to our Facebook page to see pictures of them. Our garage sale was a huge success again thanks to the dedication of Marilyn Anderson and Dawn Lindborg and the volunteers that put in hundreds of hours. Since then we ve been at the Garrison Art Fair and had a brat sale at the Garrison Family Foods. The raffle ticket sales are in full swing. Find a board member to buy some from. You can also buy them at the Garrison Animal Hospital or at our booth at Garrison Play Days at the end of the month. We have great prizes again this year with the grand prize being a cooler full of fishing and camping supplies valued at $500. We have been invited by Chuck and Don s, a pet food retailer in the cities to take part in their summer fundraising campaign. There is potential for substantial donations in exchange for volunteers from our organization going to their stores to promote our organization and educate the public about our work and our goals. That s all for now, got to get back to feeding babies! It s Turtle Time Countless turtles lose their lives while crossing roads, especially this time of year. We are in the middle of the nesting season where they are coming out of the water, leaving their typical habitat and looking for areas that are bright, sunny and often on hills where they can bury their eggs for incubation. If you see one trying to cross the road, there are a couple of things you can do. The easiest would be to "play traffic crossing guard" and hold back cars until the turtle completes her trek. However, please be careful and only do this when it is safe! Another option would be to just pick up the animal and carry her to the other side. Always help a turtle cross the road by placing it on the other side of the street in the direction it was heading. But have a good look at the turtle first. If it is injured, please call the Garrison Animal Hospital. Brat Sale Our annual brat sale for Wild and Free at Garrison Family Foods takes place on Friday July 6 th and Saturday July 7 th. If you are interested in volunteering for a shift selling or cooking brats, please call the Garrison Animal Hospital at 320-692-4180 to sign up. Otherwise we look forward to seeing you over the weekend for an excellent brat lunch or dinner.
The North American Beaver The North American Beaver is a very common animal for Minnesotans to spot around our lakes and rivers. Beavers are in the rodent family and have the requisite continuously growing front teeth just like rats, mice and porcupines. These teeth self-sharpen as the animal chews through wood. A single bite can cut through a branch the width of a human s finger. Another well known characteristic of beavers is their large, hairless, flat tail. This is used as a rudder when swimming, a slapping danger signal, a balance tool, and fat storage area for long winters. Beavers have tiny eyes with poor vision but have excellent hearing, especially underwater. By using their webbed back feet and large lungs, a beaver can stay submerged for 15 minutes and travel a half mile in that time span. Most beavers stay with their family group until 2 years of age when they are displaced by the newest litter. Beaver dams and lodges are built from woven reeds, sticks and logs that the beavers pack with mud. As one of the few animals that can actually modify their environment with their construction, beavers provide habitat for a wide array of aquatic and land-based wildlife. Sometimes these changes benefit humans by decreasing erosion, and sometimes they cause us more problems by changing river and stream flow and flooding areas that were previously dry. Wild and Free received a juvenile beaver this spring when its mother was hit by a car. With regular feedings of formula and additions of poplar and maple twigs, root vegetables and water to play in, the little beaver has done very well. We will be releasing it into an acceptable family group in the future and another successful case will be complete. Thank you to all the dedicated volunteers that have helped with this little animal s care. Small town festivals are a celebration of life in MN. Communities come together to have fun, eat fair food, meet their neighbors and brag about their town. That is why Wild and Free always looks forward to Play Days in our home town of Garrison. It will be celebrated this year on July 21 and 22. Wild and Free always has a float in the parade and a booth in the park. We do a meet and greet to to tell Garrison residents and visitors all about our organization. We raise money through donations, memberships, Wild and Free Merchandise sales and Raffle tickets throughout the weekend. We time our annual Raffle to be drawn at the wrap up to the festival. This year it will be on July 22 at 5:00pm. The Raffle Grand Prize for 2018 is a cooler filled with fishing gear and outdoor summertime accessories, with an approximate value of $500.00. In addition to this great cooler, we have a $100 gift certificate from a local meat market and gift cards from many area restaurants and services. New prizes are being donated by people and businesses every day. Our goal this year is to have over $2,500 in prize value. You can buy raffle tickets at the Garrison Animal Hospital now and at the booth during Play Days. If you would like to sell tickets to help raise funds for Wild and Free, stop by the hospital and check out a few packets. All tickets, sold or unsold, must be returned to the Garrison Animal Hospital by 7/14 for reintegration. Wild and Free is a volunteer driven organization. So if you want to work the booth or donate a prize, every donation of time, energy or financial support is appreciated. Contact Kathy Peterson at 612-801-7872 or kathy@robertpeterson.org to let us know how you want to help. Don t forget, we are a 501(c)(3) charity, so your financial or prize donation is tax deductible. Page 2
The Bobcat by Addie Lu Sawyer (age 7) Chuck and Don s We are excited to share some great news! Wild and Free has been selected, along with Can Do Canines, to be recipients of Chuck and Don s Raising Awareness fundraising campaign this Summer. Chuck and Don s is a Minnesota based pet food supply company with over 29 stores in the Twin Cities metro area, as well as stores in Colorado and Wisconsin. Their primary mission in fundraising has been on pet-related causes, with special focus on spaying/neutering, assistance dogs and pet rescues. Although Garrison Animal Hospital fits that description, Wild and Free does not. So we were very pleased when Chuck and Don s decided that wildlife rehabilitation was worthy of their support. John Yeamen, a previous board member for our organization, was instrumental in bringing our work to the attention of Chuck and Don s management team. As you know, Wild and Free is a not-for-profit program that relies on the sole support of its members and community citizens. To date, we have had volunteers visit over 14 of their stores educating their staff, sharing stories and pictures, along with talking with their customers. If you find yourselves near one of their stores, please stop in. The campaign runs from June 15th - July 31st. Bobcats are one of the big cats in Minnesota. Bobcats have tufts on their ears. They like to eat mice and squirrels and other little animals. Bobcats know how to hunt in the snow and their big feet keep them from sinking in too deep. They might look like cute kittens but they are wild and bite and scratch if you try to touch them. You should not play with the baby bobcat at Wild and Free because it is supposed to bite and be wild. This is all true and I know because I love cats. Thanks! Wild and Free members and staff would like to take this opportunity to give a great big THANK YOU to Linda and Dave Causton. For many years they were always available to help no matter the weather or time of day. We ll miss you!! REMINDER If you haven t renewed your membership for 2018 yet, please take a minute and do so now. To renew, please fill out the form below and mail it soon. Yes, I am interested in the Wild and Free Wildlife Program! Name Address City/State/Zip Phone # (home) (work) E-mail address (optional) $20.00 Individual $30.00 Family $50.00 Business Other Donations Make checks payable to: Wild and Free Wildlife Program PO Box 241 Garrison, MN 56450 Page 3
Thank You..Thank You.. We couldn t do it without our wonderful supporters!!! New Memorials Beverly Crawford in memory of Dianne Rose in memory of Reoccurring Donors Peggy & Farzad Farr Jan and Doris Mezzenga Susan Smith Major Donors $500+ William Hultgren Mark and Jocelyn Kerr Dr. Stacey Tamulinas Douglas Ault Mille Lacs Energy Community Trust - Denim Day Mildred Wetrosky Major Donors $100-499 Joseph and Janet Albrecht Gloria Anderson Jon and Metta Belisle Carrie Berge John and Mary Bigelow Win & Susan Carlson Jeroy and Lorraine Carlson Cindy Conklin Mary & Gary Evans Colleen Haley Judy and Rod Hayes Steven Jarvi Beth Lavan Dean and Christine Loiland Paul Lund MacDonald Home Improvements Doug and Sally Mayfield Paula Miller Debbie Monchamp David and Erin Romano Sharon and Donn Sawyer Senior Morning Club Bob and Betty Wold Major Donors $50 - $99 Adult Leisure Club Barbara Anderson Sharon Bolar Lenore Bryant John and Debra Chute Joanne Pedersen and Constance Comford Mary Lee Forte Barb Johnson Tim and Gina McKanna Mark & Caroline O Day Jo Olson Kassandra Strandberg Dennis Winterowd Steve Zebro Flight Pen Donors Muriel Stewart City of Wahkon Adopt an Animal Rev. Bruce and Norma Miller Wild and Free News! Sometimes waiting for the next quarter s Trumpeter just takes too much time and you want more Wild and Free news right now! If this fits you, there are more ways to keep up with the happenings at W&F. You can go to our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ wildandfree.garrison/, you can go to our web page at www.wildandfree.org, or you can send your e-mail address to info@wildandfree.org and receive the monthly e-newsletter in your e- mail inbox. Page 4
The annual garage sale was a big success again this year. Held at the Garrison VFW Pavilion May 9-12, sales totaled $4,309.21. For the first time in the many years we have volunteered for the garage sale, we have never seen such a great turnout of dedicated "veteran" and "first-time" volunteers! Thank you all so much. As in prior years, gratitude to the VFW who lets us use their pavilion at no charge and is very supportive, even ordering a huge garage sale sign for us! Thank you to all the folks who donated items, plants, baked goods and also those who "shopped" the sale. Also thank you to Farm Island Storage which donates storage space. Remember to start saving your donations for next year! If you can hang on to them until the first part of May that would be great. If you absolutely can't, ask the clinic to get in touch with Dawn or Marilyn and we will see if we have room at Farm Island Storage. We are so lucky to have Steve and Annie Chouinard, the owners, give us this space, but it is limited and at their discretion and we don't want to impose too much. Gratefully yours, Marilyn Anderson and Dawn Emstad-Lindborg. St. Patrick s Day by Mary Roach Wild and Free had a great time participating for the first time in the St. Patrick s Day parade in Brainerd this year. We couldn t have asked for a nicer day. Lots of people lined the parade route and were showered with candy, beads and bracelets Many people recognized and applauded the work we do in the community which was awesome. A shout out and thank you to all the volunteers who helped decorate our float and participated in the parade: Alice and Rob Almendinger, Kristin Carlson, Cathy McDougal, Kendall and Addie Sawyer, Scott and Karen Henley, Soren Pierson, Kim Solmonson, Steve Lewis, and Mitch and Max Roach. As always, I am so impressed with our volunteer community members who readily step up to share their time and energy for the benefit of our organization. Kudos to all! Sora by Jim Lease What's a Sora? It's a small chubby bird in the Rail family that spends its time in swamps and marshes. They're secretive and rarely seen. In the past I've seen one adult and, this year, 2 babies near our home in the Brainerd area. They spend the winter along the Mexican border and fly north to raise little ones. Page 5
Sponsors Corner Our sincere appreciation to our sponsors for their assistance in the publication of this newsletter Please Support Our Sponsors Mike s Tree Company 218-825-8207 Wal-Mart Brainerd 218-829-2220 Garrison Animal Hospital Garrison 320-692-4180 Tutt s Bait Garrison 320-692-4341 Garrison Family Foods 320-692-4323 Bollig Tree Services 320-360-2279 E.L. Menk Jewelers 218-829-7266 Oberg Fence Deerwood 218-534-3118 Farm Island Self Storage 320-676-3123 First Impressions Printing 218 829-1860 Check out the pictures of Dr. Katie releasing a rehabilitated Bald Eagle at www.wildandfree.org The Trumpeter is a publication of the Wild and Free Wildlife Program. Wild and Free, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to the education of the public regarding wildlife, their habitat and relieving the pain and suffering of wild animals. Professional and humane care is provided in efforts to preserve our local wildlife. Editors Becky Miller and Jim Lease Wish List paper towels laundry soap bleach postage stamps wild bird seed gutter for side of building, please call for details Wild and Free Wildlife Program PO Box 241 Garrison, MN 56450 First Class