00:00
Kathy
Hello and welcome to Wild About Wildlife. In this episode, we’re celebrating a birthday! Our clinic in Regina, Saskatchewan is turning 10!
So that’s where we’re going to spend the next 30 minutes, chatting with Salthaven West director Megan Lawrence; clinic manager Natalia Slipak; and long-time volunteer, Erin Ennis.
As the only wildlife rehab centre serving southern Saskatchewan, this small – but ever growing clinic is celebrating a decade of making a difference in the lives of wildlife.
I’m your host Kathy Mueller. Let’s get started.
00:45
Kathy
All right, Megan, Natalia, Erin, thank you so much for joining me today. There is so much going on at Salthaven West this year, so much to be excited about. You're going to be moving at some point. You're looking at a new clinic, you're fundraising, you're celebrating 10 years, so much to talk about! Let's start though at the beginning and Megan, that all starts with you because Salthaven West is your baby. When you moved out to Regina did you have any inclination that yes, this is what I'm going to do? I'm going to start up a wild rehabilitation clinic?
01:25
Megan
I did actually. I had a conversation with Brian Salt, the founder of Salthaven, before moving to Regina and said, you know, I found out there is no rehabilitation centre in Regina. So why don't we expand and start one and see what happens? So, within two weeks of moving to Regina, I had my permits from Canadian Wildlife Services and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, and we got our first patient the very next day. So, it's grown a lot in the last 10 years from a very small place to an even littler, small place, and now we're hoping to expand by next spring.
02:04
Kathy
So, give our listeners an idea of what the clinic looked like when you first got it going. What kind of capacity you had to, like how many patients could you take in?
02:15
Megan
Well, I wasn't sure how much demand there was going to be in Regina for wildlife rehabilitation and injured animals. So, it basically started in the small bedroom of a basement at the old place that I lived at. And very quickly within the first few months, we were getting hundreds of patients coming in and we then expanded to the entire basement at the old place. So, we decided we needed a bigger place, moved to a new place that had a little bit bigger basement, and then we've completely taken over that and then realized in over the 10 years, that we've outgrown it and we outgrew it a few years ago. So, we've been working hard trying to get a new, bigger, better place.
02:54
Kathy
And Nat, you're the clinic manager. So, first, how long have you been with Salthaven West?
03:00
Natalia
Well, I started volunteering with Megan in 2018 and it was amazing. I mean, I, at the moment I started, I knew that was, where I wanted to be. So, I started volunteering 2018 and then I became the clinic manager in 2021.
03:18
Kathy
You've seen some of the growth over those 10 years. Do you have some stats, like how many animals you would have been seeing back in 2018 when you started compared to what you're seeing now?
03:34
Natalia
We were between 800 and 1,000 per year. And in the last, as Megan said, in the last 3 to 4 years, it has become extremely busy. And now we're seeing about 1,400 animals a year. So, it's getting busier by the month.
03:54
Kathy
And if you're working out of a tiny cramped space, how do you make that work?
04:00
Natalia
Yeah, we have to get very creative, honestly. We have actually had great days where we're like, oh my gosh, this this worked. We do have to sit down sometimes and kind of move things around and kind of play a clinic Tetris. It's fun, but it's very stressful sometimes and as the patients get better, their needs and requirements change so the sizing for their enclosures and their enrichment needs, everything changes, right? So, we do have to keep constantly adapting to the space for the animals that keep coming in and they keep getting better. So yeah, there's a lot behind wildlife rehabilitation that is very extensive and hard to explain to the general public sometimes, but definitely it's been a challenge. 600 square feet, 1,400 animals a year. It's a lot of work.
05:00
Kathy
And what do you think is contributing to that increase in in wildlife patients?
05:06
Natalia
I think there's a couple factors. I believe that the exposure that we're getting; we got a community engagement manager that is absolutely fantastic in the last couple of years. And we have had a lot of exposure with the general public and with organizations here and in all southern Saskatchewan. So, exposure, it also helps that people are starting to look more for wildlife. So, as the education programs grow, people are more conscious about wildlife and I think they know who to call now, right? It's not the Ghostbusters, it's us.
05:48
Kathy
You should get t-shirts made with that on it or something. Perfect slogan. Erin, let's bring you in now. You've been a volunteer at Salthaven West for a long time, and you're also a biology technician at the University of Regina, which is where we're actually talking to you from tonight. So, give us an idea of your role at Salthaven West. Has it changed over the years?
06:16
Erin
Well, so I started in 2017 and then in 2019 I was a summer student thanks to the Canada Summer Student Jobs and I'm very happy that that's still continuing today. The volunteer aspect is like, there's so much onboarding that happens with volunteers and you'll ask any volunteer, and it starts off small, but then it can really expand in a lot of different ways. And I think that's because of the ways that the volunteer cohort has really evolved over the several years I’ve been a part of it. So, when you start, it's like you're feeding baby birds and you're learning how to prepare food and things like that.
Now I have more handling expertise or more handling experience with some of the species that are more difficult. So, things like raptors or larger carnivores, things like that. And something that I really enjoy doing is helping to exercise the raptors that come in. So, when raptors come in, and if they have broken wings and they need surgery, part of the recovery is going to be physiotherapy, but also just like reconditioning their muscles. And you can only do that by flying. So, we do creance flying, which is attaching the raptor, the bird to a long line with anklets and then just like making several passes. And it can be time consuming because birds come in in all sorts of conditions and some haven't had surgery, but that is something that I really appreciate being able to do, being trusted to do at Salthaven.
08:01
Kathy
So, you must have a natural interest and natural passion for animals, for wildlife.
08:10
Erin
Yeah, I think I’ve always loved animals. I've always loved wildlife. When I was going through university, I was actually in anthropology. But I decided to switch into sciences and then I spent a year in Australia working in a vet clinic, which had a lot of urban wildlife. And then moving back to Regina and continuing my degree in science, that is when I got introduced to Salthaven and making wildlife rescues. And yeah, that's just really informed more and more of my passion for wildlife and for conservation in general.
08:47
Kathy
So, Erin, actually that's a perfect segue into what I wanted to ask you about next and your experiences at Salthaven West and have they influenced how you think and feel about wildlife conservation and the importance, you know, that we all need to coexist and live with wildlife?
09:09
Erin
Yeah, absolutely. I think, if I'm going to be honest, I mean, working in wildlife, there aren't always happy endings. And you just, you see the reality. You see the reality of what nature can do. So, animals just coming in because they're injured, but you also are seeing those human-caused effects. So that can, yeah, it can bum you out. And I know for everyone, but especially for our rehabilitators, like it's, the compassion fatigue is enormous. That said, I think that while being cautious working or being a part of a wildlife rehab clinic, it does make me hopeful because you also see what even a small clinic like Salthaven can do and then you're seeing what other organizations are doing and how they're improving and how they are using new best practices to further their goals.
And yeah, I think in terms of conservation, we're ecosystems within ourselves, within our human societies, and we do really need to rely on each other. And that's where that interconnectedness part comes in between wildlife clinics, between conservation officers, the government, you know, research institutions. I feel that most people are pretty aligned with how they feel about wildlife, with how they feel about environmental welfare. We want good things for environment. We want good things for wildlife. So, we need to rely on one another a lot to accomplish those goals and make those changes that we want to see happen. So, it does make me hopeful. And I mean, I think the impacts of wildlife rehabilitation are really clear and really very important.
11:04
Kathy
I'm going to play devil's advocate a little bit, and I'm not sure who wants to tackle this, but what would happen if the wildlife all became extinct or some key species became extinct as we've already experienced, but, what's the harm in that happening?
11:25
Erin
I mean, thousands of species go extinct every year, sometimes every day. And maybe those impacts are not known to us. But as we all learn you know in grade 3 or 4 about the impacts of an environment over a system and how there is just this downline, this cascade effect of impact. And if species are to go extinct, and this is where the public education needs to come in, because you may not be seeing certain species or wildlife in general. And I think you feel it as a greater community because the environmental degradation, I mean, it's really as a whole, right? So, species are not just going extinct or becoming at risk just in and of themselves. There are these like greater pressures being placed on them which means there's greater pressures being placed on a lot of species and ultimately that will come down to us. Is that, you know, is that in the land? Is that in the water? Those are the two greatest resources, anything living on planet earth needs. And so, it is, you know, it's an ask to make people or to ask people to think more broadly than just their lives and their communities. So, yeah, I think, expanding that sort of mindset for the greater public is super important. So yeah, the songbirds matter, the coyotes matter, the jackrabbits matter, because they're all part of an ecosystem that we live with, we live within. We are animals too, and we are not separate from that.
13:03
Kathy
Well, it was really nice to hear you say earlier that most people, you think most people are aligned with that and making sure that we can find a way to live with all the wildlife that is out there. And how is Salthaven West contributing to that wildlife conservation efforts and the overall health of the ecosystems? And I don't know if that's one for you, Erin, or if someone else wants to pipe in there.
13:32
Erin
I think Megan and Natalia can speak to this more, but I would just say like as a volunteer, I have seen the efforts that have been forward to make those connections with government, with the public. And that is just like setting us up for such a more impactful future like for our organization. And yeah, it's that for me, it's that interconnectedness again, and you don't get anywhere alone. So, I've like as a volunteer, I've just been completely blown away with the efforts that have been put forward.
14:09
Megan
We do try and do a lot of education on a small scale, whether it's social media, on the phone, going out to community groups and schools. And it may not have an effect on the whole population, but we try and explain to people why trapping the squirrel that's in your backyard that's bothering you and dumping it somewhere else doesn't work. There are probably orphans that you're leaving out there. That squirrel won't have access to food resources or shelter. It may be in a new squirrel's territory; you know when one of them may get killed. So, you know they may think it's just a small thing. It's just a squirrel. I'm going to get it out of my area. But then it creates a bigger problem, especially for us when we're taking in three, four, five orphans that they left behind.
14:57
Natalia
We are in contact directly with a lot of institutions like museums or universities, other rehabilitation centres, and, as Megan mentioned, public education. So, the work that wildlife rehabilitation centres do, it's extremely important, in my opinion. We are treating species that are at risk, endangered, or threatened and you know it may not solve everything, but it solves a lot for that specific animal that may go out back in the wild, it may reproduce, and then it may make a change on that specific species. Education is extremely important. It affects not only our numbers, but also the way that people see wildlife and the way that people understand wildlife and everything around us, not just the animals, right? When you have a population that is decimated in birds, then you'll get more bugs. And then everyone may say, oh, we have this infestation. This is happening. But it may not be the bugs. It may be that that population of birds is decimated. So now, you know, that pest is growing. So, it can be defined in so many ways and so many levels. And yeah, wildlife rehab has a lot of levels and it's extremely important. I think we're doing a great job, all of us, wildlife rehabilitation centres, into putting the word out there. We had a post not long ago about not feeding bread to birds. And a couple of the comments where, well, we've been doing it for years and it was never a problem. But you know, the fact that we've been doing things for years doesn't make it okay. Now that we know better, we should do better. So, as we learn and as we do better, it's our responsibility to share that.
17:04
Kathy
I do have to say that's one lesson that I've learned since volunteering at Salthaven was, because it's something we grew up with right? At the beach, down at the cottage and you go down, you take your stale bread and you feed the seagulls and whatever, you feed the geese. But now that I've learned and become educated and, like you say, it's that awareness raising right? And Megan you talked about getting into schools and that and if you can tap into the heart and mind of a young person and get them passionate about this at a young age. And of course, this generation now, they're growing up just so much more environmentally aware, given the conversation about climate change, etc., that that's going on, right?
So, I mentioned, I’m sitting in Ontario. I'm part of the Salthaven, Ontario team. And I understand that there's different wildlife that we see here compared to what is seen in the Saskatchewan clinic. So, can you give us an idea? We talked a little bit about the 1,400 patients that you're seeing every year, but what are some of those animals that might be a little different than, than what is seen at the Ontario clinic?
18:12
Megan
We're on a migratory fly path here in Saskatchewan, so we see a lot of birds that are migrating north and south. So, one of those ones that's a favourite patient in our clinic is pelicans. We also see a lot of Swainson's hawks, which migrate all the way from Argentina and spend the summers here in Saskatchewan. We get a lot of different songbirds, some other different raptors, and Nat can probably talk more about some of the other patients that we see. I know she'll want to talk about pelicans.
18:49
Kathy
You like pelicans?
18:51
Natalia
Yeah, pelicans and are my personal favourite. I'm a little bit obsessed about them. Yeah, so we do get, we treat about 140 different species every year. And we keep getting surprises every year, you know, like we had a couple of first timers last year and this year, canvasbacks, we had like sanderlings. There are different things, but we get snapping turtles. As Megan said, there's a lot of migratory birds that we get here and it's just, it's amazing. It's amazing to see a new species and you're like, wow, this is unbelievable. And what are the chances that we get to see this animal here, right? Because they're just passing by They're not even passing by through exactly our city. They're probably an hour or an hour and a half sometimes a little bit further away from us, but they're injured, and someone found them and then they bring them to us and it's just, I don't know, it's bittersweet because you're very sad that they got injured and they have to come in but at the same time it's extremely exciting because you never saw them in real life.
20:09
Kathy
So, you must have a pelican story to share that's one of your favourite heartwarming type patient stories that sticks with you.
20:17
Natalia
Yeah, I mean, it's hard to choose. There was one not long ago, a pelican that was found in a lake and, as a lot of our wildlife, there was some fishing line, a hook stuck to his bill, into his wing. So, the way it was stuck, he was trying to get out of it and then he made a laceration on his neck, a pretty severe one that needed some stitches and it needed to be sutured and he needed antibiotics and pain meds. And he was very depressed. When he came in, he was completely dehydrated. Emaciated. He was given up. He had given up on life and you could see it in, in his face. They're so expressive and their eyes are so beautiful, and you can tell when they're sad. So, when we got him in, all our team got to work very hard and, yeah, eventually after the course of antibiotics and pain meds and a lot of fish, he got strong and then he got released and it was just absolutely heartwarming.
21:30
Kathy
Got to love those kinds of stories. And Erin, people may be listening to this and thinking, oh, I'd love to come and volunteer. So, can you give, you must have some stories too as a volunteer and from your experiences working in the clinic.
21:45
Erin
Yeah, I was thinking about that. I also have a pelican story, but not, it didn't really have a happy ending, but I think it just kind of highlighted like the need of rehabs because it was a pelican a few years ago that was spotted in Wascana Lake, which is in the middle of Regina, and myself and another volunteer, Dr. Rebecca Reed, shout out to her. We canoed out with the help of her family friend in his canoe and we found this pelican and I was able to net it and we hopped into the water and you know brought it back to shore and Rebecca and I spent like hours debriding it of maggots and then it went to Salthaven and it really seemed like it was doing better but then its wing was just like far too compromised after a few weeks and then it had, it did have to be euthanized so if you are wanting to volunteer in a wildlife centre you do have to be prepared for those realities because even, despite everyone's best efforts, and it is going to be several people working on a singular patient over like several weeks or months, sometimes the outcome is not what people would like.
But another one that I often think about this patient and it was a little long eared owl which looks like a tiny great horned owl and they're just these little ferocious beings and, you know, they could kill you if they were big enough. This one came in and it needed to have an external fixture placed in so that its wing could heal. It had a broken wing and then over about three months in the summer of 2019, I was flying this owl pretty much every day and It really was not doing very well. I would kind of get it going and it would just sort of flutter to the ground, but then it would turn around and face me and puff up. But over time it did get stronger. And then when it came to release, it surprised everyone like without all the gear on, it just like took off and soared and so that was just amazing to see because it wasn't, you know, it wasn't certainly, wasn't just my efforts, like this was being fed by people every day. Of course, it had the expert veterinary care and the surgery and then of course the people that rescued it so I always think of that spider web of people that have an effect on a singular patient and it's really beautiful and releases definitely are one of my favourite parts about being a volunteer. It's always is really fulfilling and can bring a tear to your eye and yeah, like even recently Natalia and I did a release with three hawks and this one hawk that was not flying well in training, we released it just wondering how it might do without all the gear on and it did incredible. We're like, where was that when we were flying? So yeah, that's an incredibly rewarding part.
24:50
Kathy
Yeah, you talked about community and it really does take a community. So, Megan, you know, as Salthaven West celebrates 10 years, we alluded to it earlier, it's really important to recognize the community, all of the supporters, the donors, the volunteers, everybody who has come together to help Salthaven West, not just survive, but thrive and grow over those 10 years. So, what would your message be to that community?
25:20
Megan
We are so lucky to have the support of not only the City of Regina, but the Province of Saskatchewan here and we have a lot of people, the veterinarian communities even in Regina and outside of town. One of our long-standing volunteers, she's a veterinarian now in the U.S. and we can still reach out to her for advice. We work with conservation officers, police, fire department. There's a lot of people in the general public, they are so willing to help and bring animals for hours to drive them sometimes to get help, because we're the only rehab centre in southern Saskatchewan that can take multiple species. Of course, the volunteers are everything. We couldn't do what we do without the volunteers and Nat and Erin are true examples of that where they started you know, as they said, small, just feeding you know baby birds or a couple squirrels and it was clear that they were, you know, they knew what to do. They had the instinct for it. They had the abilities and they've been long-standing volunteers and we are hoping as we expand into the new place that we can take on more volunteers. That's always my favourite thing with seeing new volunteers come into the clinic and the first time they see an owl up close or something, just the look on their face. They're so excited because it's something they would never see that close in the wild.
26:42
Kathy
And then you mentioned the new clinic there. So, let's talk about that because it's so exciting. What are your plans in terms of expanding?
26:50
Megan
We have purchased a property now so we are very excited that we can start putting forth plans to move forward. We hope to get construction underway in the fall and we can move in hopefully by spring and be fully operational there. It will not only meet our current needs but allow us to immediately expand and help more wildlife right away. We can have an indoor tub room where we can swim pelicans and geese and other large birds instead of trying to you know do it in little kiddie pools out outside. So, we're going to be able to immediately expand and help more wildlife and help them more appropriately.
27:30
Kathy
And am I remembering correctly? I think it was mentioned you're in like 600 square feet right now and you're going to like, how big are you going to get? How many more patients a year do you think you're going to be able to accept?
27:44
Megan
We're hoping we can accept more patients right away once we're up and setting up. Yeah, we're going from 600 square feet. It will be probably a 2-3000 square foot clinic and over 20 acres of land where we can expand our outdoor cages. So, the raptors that are in conditioning can have larger spaces to fly and get stronger quicker so we can get them out sooner. We hope that people will know that we've got more resources and we'll be willing to bring patients from farther away.
28:13
Kathy
And do you think it's, it will mean that you'll be able to accept some species that you currently cannot accept or is that more tied to the legalities of the kind of animals that you're allowed to treat?
28:27
Megan
That's what we're hoping to do. We aren't allowed to do fawns here, so young deer, because of the constraints of being in the city of Regina. So, we plan to build a large outdoor fawn enclosure where we can take them in when they're orphaned, and they can have the space to grow up and we can release them.
28:46
Kathy
In the bigger picture, why is Salthaven West needed? Why does Regina, why does Saskatchewan need a Salthaven West?
28:56
Natalia
Well, I would say personally, we are, as Megan mentioned before, the only wildlife rehabilitation centre; we serve all southern Saskatchewan. We get a lot of wildlife that otherwise would suffer and die out there. Many of them are threatened, endangered or, you know, like very important species and keystone species. We also take about 5,000 calls a year. Those calls are being diverted from emergency services like 911 or fire departments. We do serve the community in many ways and our environment in many ways. I think it's of extreme importance to have a wildlife rehabilitation centre. I wish there were more licensed wildlife rehabbers in southern Saskatchewan. But until then, I think it's extremely important that we exist and that we thrive and we've had a lot of support from our wonderful community and we're hopeful that they will still come forward and they will still support our existing and growing in and getting better and bigger and you know, have more resources to help our wonderful wildlife, and so important.
30:28
Kathy
And speaking of needing the support of the community and that, you've launched a fundraising campaign now to help fund the new clinic, to be able to do the renovations that are needed, to get it up to the appropriate standards to be able to house wildlife that are on their road to recovery. So how can people help support this endeavour?
30:53
Megan
There's lots of ways. We accept donations over the phone via credit card. They can mail cheques to us. A lot of times people will bring a patient and bring a donation with the patient to help cover some of the costs of the food and care for it. They can donate through the website, www.salthaven.org, and we're grateful for any donations, large or small.
31:15
Kathy
And I was seeing something on there about adopting a room?
31:19
Megan
Yeah, that's a great fundraising initiative that our community engagement manager came up with where people can feel like they're part of the new clinic and they can adopt, symbolically adopt a room in that clinic and we’ll put up a plaque with their name on it. They'll get a certificate that they've donated for that room. So, it's, yeah, it's a great initiative and I hope it works.
31:45
Kathy
Well, I think that is the perfect place to end it. Megan, Natalia and Erin, thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you.
If you’d like to learn more about Salthaven West or donate to support their new clinic, visit www.salthaven.org and click on the Salthaven West tab.
As always, drop me a line if you have a question about anything you hear on Wild About Wildlife. Or if you have an idea for a future episode. You can reach me at wildaboutwildlife@salthaven.org.
Thanks so much for tuning in. Together we can keep the wild in wildlife.