Raccoon Release

At the Atlantic Wildlife Institute we have all become intimately familiar with raccoons. Presently we have about 20 raccoon kits that we are taking care of, and they are a handful. They each need to be cared for and fed twice a day; once in the morning and once in the evening.

Even when they are young they need to be checked up on frequently because they have the tendency to get into mischief.

But a full year later when they are full grown, all this hard work pays off. Yesterday we took the mature raccoons that came in last year and drove to an undisclosed location to finally release these beautiful animals back into the wild.

They weren't all exactly sure what to do.

A job well done!

Squirrel Release

Today was a special day; after moving them to a larger outdoor enclosure less than two weeks ago, seven squirrels we have raised from infancy were released.


They tentatively make their way out of the cage...


Some prefer to stay inside.


We took in a number of orphaned animals over the weekend.

a duckling

a robin

a dove

and last but not least, a group of pheasant chicks

Starling Release

Remember this little fella?


Just a week after that photo was taken he was ready to be released.


So earlier today...


A happy ending.

We also received a larger gosling over the weekend, as well as a couple of smaller animals that didn't make it.