President of Chevron Exploration Technology Company, Melody Meyer worked on the team led by Chevron employee, Tommy Lyle where she helped to build flight cages for the Wildlife Rehab & Education Center’s Education Ambassadors. Not only did these employees get their hands dirty for the love of our wild friends, they also purchased the necessary materials to build the flight cages. 

Chevron’s HumanKind Campaign has encouraged their employees to learn more about charities and how they can lend a helping hand.  “We hope employees who have participated in this program will come back and be a permanent volunteer long after their employee contribution has been made,” says Susie Hebert, Community Engagement Specialist for Chevron.  

The Wildlife Rehab & Education Center is thankful for the generosity and support of the employees of Chevron and the Chevron HumanKind Campaign.  Our animals can now continue to move forward towards a better tomorrow!

 Sharon Schmalz, Executive Director

The devastation that Ike wreaked is difficult to comprehend. Many animals and birds were displaced and injured, but because Ike struck at the beginning of the squirrel’s second litter of the year, that population has been hit the hardest. Hurricane Ike brought us over 1500 squirrels! During the three week period post-Ike, several hundred other wild animals were also brought to us for care.

WR&E wants to send a huge THANK YOU to the Houston SPCA, NWRA members, IWRC members and the hundreds of individuals and organizations who have contacted us with encouraging words, offers of supplies, financial donations and hands to feed babies. Knowing that people from every walk of life, from one coast to the other, were sending their hope and concern buoyed us.

WR&E is uniquely positioned to respond to disasters such as Ike. We are no stranger to disaster, our oiled wildlife response team responds to oil and chemical spills along the entire Gulf Coast and our affiliation with the Houston SPCA has provided even more expertise and response capability. 

WR&E prepared written procedures and contingency plans, placed rescue and response supplies in containers that could be airlifted in response to a wildlife disaster and trained our personnel and volunteers. Then we waited and prayed we were ready. 

I’ve been impressed and touched by the people who love wildlife and those that care for the orphaned and injured. Hundreds of caring people left their damaged homes, used precious gasoline and drove to the Wildlife Center to bring the orphaned and injured to us for help.

Volunteers donated thousands of hours of time, individual wildlife rehabbers accepted the smallest and those ready for an outdoor cage and our network of rehab organizations rallied to transfer some of the load. What a wonderful group of people you are!

Our affiliation with the Houston SPCA was key to the overwhelming success of  WR&E’s response to Hurricane Ike. A centralized permanent facility gave the public a single point of contact for the orphaned and injured or to donate the gift of time, money or supplies.  The HSPCA opened their arms and their generator powered facility to us after we lost power and shared volunteers and veterinary professionals.

I send my deepest gratitude on the behalf of native Texas wildlife to each and every one that pulled together during this devastating crisis to save so many lives.  Thank you.

Sharon Schmalz, Executive Director

Winter is normally a time for rehabilitators to regroup and prepare for the upcoming cycle of Spring. While the absolute number of animals was down compared to spring months we remained quite busy. In order to give our readers a perspective, please note the shortlist of activities…

•Volunteers wishing to actively participate in the Wildlife Center’s mission of mercy grew. Numerous orientation and training sessions were held to prepare them for the 2008 season.

•An additional fledgling enclosure was constructed (inside the center) to expand the home for those feathered teens who think they are ready to find freedom. Although they are not ready for prolonged flight, the cage allows the caretakers a controlled environment to catch them after a successful escape.

•Efforts in equipping the surgery suite are ongoing. Items such as a surgery light, anesthesia unit, surgery table, autoclave, x-ray light box, microscope among others have been graciously donated to enhance our triage and surgery area.

•Three additional flight cages were added to our existing trio in order to meet the growing demand for outdoor space. Each provides one hundred square feet of floor space; built to meet and exceed federal standards. What a noteworthy addition to the facility!

•A new phased addition is underway to accommodate waterfowl. Comprised of both enclosure and pool, it will provide a ‘splash’ park for visiting waterfowl. The framework of Phase I is complete and WR&E is looking forward to raising funds to fulfill the remaining two phases in the near future. Phase II includes siding and Phase III incorporates a pool filtration system. Completion of this project is anticipated in time for our next Pelican and Northern Gannet residents.

•Education remained an integral part of WR&E’s efforts with the continued sessions with both boy and girl scout troops and school classes. Through these endeavors boys and girls of all ages as well as adults experienced benefits of sharing space with wildlife through the use of our Peaceful Coexistence teaching house visuals in conjunction with several of our wildlife ambassadors.

•Developed and instituted ‘hands-on’ training on our wildlife retrieval kit. The kit consists of nets, gloves, catch and dart poles. Through gifts of caring contributors, we attained the first of several. Plans are to acquire two additional kits for our center.

•Two Oiled Wildlife Response workshops were conducted. The first in Lake Charles, Louisiana sponsored by CITGO and the second in Brownsville, Texas sponsored by Texas General Land Office.

Sharon Schmalz, Executive Director

Wildlife Rehab and Education reached an important milestone this year with the opening of its Wildlife Center. The achievement would not have been possible without the unfailing support of our volunteers, their families, individual contributors and our corporate sponsors. The workload has been grueling as we honored our commitments to the wildlife entrusted to our care, provided educational opportunities, taught Oil Spill Response Workshops, responded to oil spill drills as well as oil spills AND opened the Wildlife Center.

It is with a deep sense of wonder and respect that we look back on everything that has been accomplished this year and smile. With great pride and joy we hosted our Grand Opening. The event was magical at times as we shared the depth and breadth of our programs and commitment to native Texas wildlife. As always, the Educational Ambassadors took center stage thrilling young and old alike.

No words can equal the impact of seeing an owl or hawk in person knowing mankind is responsible for its tragic but in this case, redemptive journey. Our flagship ambassador, the Great Horned Owl cared for by Sharon Schmalz is nearing twenty-five years of educational service. He has educated tens of thousands of school children. He came to Sharon with multiple injuries, but it was the gunshot that severed half of one wing that made him non-releasable.

The good news is that the media, both print and television have taken a great interest in the Wildlife Center and have given us much greater exposure to audiences that we had previously been unable to reach. Even better, native Texas wildlife have benefited from the public’s awareness of who we are, what we do and our message of conservation. The bad news is that we have stretched our resources thin to service the increased demand. In particular, we need more suitable release sites for opossum, raccoon, squirrel and water birds, more volunteers and additional financial support.

As spring approaches, the Wildlife Center will be in desperate need of volunteers to care for thousands of babies. The Wildlife Center provides a unique environment to learn and care for a wide range of species without a 24/7 commitment. We also provide opportunities for volunteers to answer phones, enter data for animals arriving at the center, shuttle wildlife between rehabbers and to release sites, fund raise and assist with the tons of paperwork that comes with running a facility. In closing, Wildlife Rehab and Education wants everyone who has helped with our mission to serve native wildlife to know how deeply we appreciate your efforts. Thank you!

Eagle Scout, Gil Poplinger organized, fundraised and provided crew to prepare three flight cages for the Wildlife Center. As part of the Eagle Scout program, each scout must select a community service project and manage it from start to finish. In addition to learning important leadership and organizational skills, the scout must fundraise to pay for the project. WR&E volunteers and their spouses constructed the framework for the cages and Gil and his workforce moved sand and gravel into the new flight cages. They also helped attach the hundreds of slats on the cages. The cages have proved invaluable. Each cage has been full of songbirds, water birds and raptors. The birds have gone to their release cages in good health and weight. Thanks to Gil, we have be able to house many birds this first year at the Wildlife Center. 2007