Wildlife Rescue Courses — Chaos to Calm Pets

Multi-species harmony, one household at a time

Wildlife rescue

Helping Our Wildlife

60 courses on baby birds, raptors, corvids, hummingbirds, and more — what to do in the first two hours before the rehabber takes over.

Start here

The Path Forward

Becoming a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator11 modules

Preparing for the Wild10 modules

The Ethics of Wildlife Rescue10 modules

Animal

Age

Topic

Wildlife Babies

27 courses

Aerial Insectivores

A swift fell down your chimney, or a mud nest let go of the eaves. 10 short modules on what to do in the first two hours — vertical brooders, the no-water rule, histoplasmosis safety, and how to get the bird to a rehabber who can actually raise it.

Common Backyard Songbirds

The baby bird on your lawn is probably a robin or a cardinal. 10 modules on telling them apart, staging a chick by its pinfeathers, wiring a basket nest back into the shrub, why bread and milk hurt them, what rehabbers actually feed, and why boxing a ground-hopping teenager is kidnapping.

Corvids in Crisis

That crow on your lawn probably doesn't need you — and if it does, its whole family will dive-bomb you for helping. 10 modules on telling a normal fledgling from a real emergency, surviving the mob, zero-contact transport, and why a tame crow is a tragedy.

Hummingbird Nestlings

A nest the size of a thimble, babies lighter than a nickel, and a heart that beats 1,200 times a minute. 10 modules on sewing a fallen nest back into the tree, keeping nestlings at 90°F, why sugar water alone starves them, and getting them to a rehabber before the clock runs out.

The Kidnapped Fledgling

Most 'rescued' baby birds were never in trouble. 10 modules on nestling vs. fledgling, the week every songbird spends on the ground, the put-it-back protocol, the human-scent myth, the true emergencies (cat saliva, fire ants, bleeding), the berry-basket nest, and watching from 100 feet for the parents.

The No-Rehab Orphans

The rehabber won't take them — so if you don't, nobody will. Paola has raised dozens. 10 modules on why these three species are unprotected, sparrow and starling nestling diets, crop-milk substitutes and syringe feeding for squabs, weaning, the release dilemma, and the lifelong responsibility you're signing up for.

Raptor Nestlings

The fluffy owlet at the base of the oak is probably fine. The hawk on its back with talons up is not — for you. 10 modules on branchers, welder's gloves, the towel drop, why hot dogs kill, star-gazing head trauma, West Nile, and the federal law that makes keeping one a felony.

Running from Day One

They hatch fluffy, eyes open, and running — and they will not open their mouths for your toothpick. 10 modules on finding a scattered brood, the warm box, the tapping trick, the marble water dish, pasty-butt, splayed legs, and why a hand-raised turkey becomes a 20-pound problem.

The Starving Nestling

It's Saturday night, the rehabber is closed, and the naked chick in your hand has about three hours. 10 modules on the weekend bridge: heat before food, the no-water rule, the puppy-kibble-and-egg-yolk slurry, toothpick feeding, crop checks, fecal sacs, aspiration — and the Monday-morning hand-off.

Waterfowl Babies

Ducklings in the storm drain, a gosling that thinks your boot is its mother, and the bread that cripples them for life. 10 modules on the extraction, the no-bread rule, niacin, why hand-raised ducklings drown, the mirror trick, and the goose that gets euthanized for loving people.

Armadillo Pups

Found one baby armadillo? There are three more. 10 modules on the identical-quadruplet rule, soft juvenile shells and dog bites, the soil incubator rehabbers build, the sticky-tongue syringe trick, belly abrasions, claw-safe transport, and the leprosy glove rule nobody tells you about.

Baby Mice and Voles

A nest of pink 2-gram babies in the shed, and no rehabber will take them. 10 modules on house mouse vs. deer mouse vs. vole, the condiment-cup brooder, paintbrush feeding so you don't drown them, the 2-hour night shift, bladder stimulation, weaning, soft release — and the hantavirus rule that keeps you safe.

Beaver Kits

The flood took the lodge and left a shivering, waterlogged kit on the bank. 10 modules on drying and warming without burning it, the high-fat formula beavers need, the 2-inch triage tub, oil-gland grooming, willow and aspen weaning, why a lone kit stops eating, enteritis, Giardia safety, and the two-year rehab reality.

Chipmunk Pups

A striped pup that can die of fright in your hand and squeeze through a pencil-width gap the moment it recovers. 10 modules on chipmunk vs. ground squirrel, the dark-box rule, escape-proof housing, swaddled syringe feeding, cache training, the forest-floor menu, cat bites, over-wintering, ticks, and why a caged chipmunk never settles.

Eastern Cottontail Bunnies

The mower found the nest, and now four pink bunnies are in a shoebox. 10 modules on why they're probably not orphans, the overnight string test, how staring at a bunny can stop its heart, the cow's-milk-and-carrots death trap, the KMR-and-cream emergency recipe, cecotropes, feeding volumes that won't rupture a stomach, cat bites, tularemia, and the hand-off.

Groundhog Pups (Woodchucks)

A whistling, wandering baby woodchuck — and incisors that can crush a fingernail. 10 modules on spotting a true orphan, bite-safe handling, the formula rehabbers use, weaning onto clover and dandelions, the need to dig, respiratory illness, why relocating a groundhog kills it, car strikes, rabies and bite laws, and why one can never live indoors.

Opossum Joeys

The opossum on the road is dead — the babies in her pouch may not be. 10 modules on checking a pouch safely, why pulling a joey tears its mouth, the artificial pouch, why rehabbers tube-feed, low-lactose formula, lapping, metabolic bone disease, fleas and anemia, typhus hygiene, and why a 'pet' opossum dies at two.

Porcupettes

Born with soft quills that harden in hours, and a tail that can quill you before you blink. 10 modules on the soft-quill window, the towel-and-board handling method, re-uniting after a tree fall, slow-growth formula, bark and pine-needle weaning, orange incisors and malocclusion, mange, climbing enclosures, quill-puncture first aid, and why no porcupine belongs in a house.

Squirrel Pinkies & Fuzzies

The storm dropped the nest and there are pink babies on the lawn. 10 modules on gathering them warm, the phone-call trick that brings the mother back, never feeding a cold pinky, electrolytes before formula, Esbilac vs. Fox Valley, milk bubbles at the nose, bladder stimulation, bloat, fleas — and why the cute baby becomes a wire-chewing adult.

The Fawn Crisis

The spotted fawn curled alone in your garden is not abandoned — its mother is 12 hours away on purpose. 10 modules on the hiding strategy, the real orphan signs, the 24-hour colostrum clock, why goat's milk kills, emergency electrolytes, the bathroom routine, how petting a fawn can kill it, car strikes, ticks and CWD, and why a bottle-raised buck becomes a weapon.

Bobcat Kittens

Ear tufts, a spotted belly, a stub tail with a black tip — and a hiss that means it. 10 modules on telling a bobcat kitten from a barn cat, respecting the defensive display (welding gauntlets, towel swaddle), taurine-rich feline formula and meat slurries, panleukopenia, vertical space and hiding boxes, whole-prey weaning, the no-petting rule, fall and car-strike fractures, toxoplasmosis and FeLV, and why a tame bobcat is a 30-pound public-safety problem.

Coyote Pups

A healthy coyote pup should be terrified of you — and the whole course is about keeping it that way. 10 modules on coyote vs. dog puppy identification, washed-out and bulldozed dens, feeding behind visual barriers, parvo and distemper, carnivore nutrition, the fear response as a health check, pack-building for single orphans, fleas and worms, rabies-vector-species rules, and why a habituated coyote is a dead coyote.

Raccoon Kits

The cutest baby in the woods and the one most likely to get you in legal trouble. 10 modules on why driving a raccoon kit to the vet can get you arrested, checking chimneys and attics for the mother, chittering and biting (heavy leather only), formula triage and bloat, distemper's crusted eyes and tremors, enclosure destruction, the omnivore weaning menu and water-dipping instinct, the imprinting disaster, roundworm and rabies defense, and why raccoons turn aggressive in captivity.

Red and Gray Fox Kits

Kits playing outside the den with no adult in sight is normal; a naked, shivering kit in your yard at noon is not. 10 modules on den dynamics, sarcoptic mange, distemper vs. rabies, capture with nets and blankets, canine formula and emergency care, weaning onto raw meat and whole prey, the play-bite danger, car-strike triage, tapeworms and mange in your own dog, and why a caged fox has no place indoors.

Bat Pups

A thumb-sized pup on the patio and a bite you'd never feel. 10 modules on why mothers drop pups in flight, the twilight reunion in a wall pouch, zero skin contact (Tupperware and leather), why feeding a bat pup is fatal, little brown vs. big brown bats, torn wing membranes, decontaminating gear for white-nose syndrome, the 90–92°F heat-pad brooder, the legal reality of rabies exposure, and why every bat goes to a specialist.

Bear Cubs

The one course where the answer is almost always 'walk away and call the warden'. 10 modules on the treed cub and the mother you can't see, the 24-hour walk-away mandate, activating state game wardens, the lethal returning sow, car-strike triage when the mother is confirmed dead, heavy steel crates only, never feeding or watering a cub, 'fed bears are dead bears', parasites and claws, and the multi-acre world of professional bear rehab.

Skunk Pups

Blind pups wandering in daylight, a foot-stomp before the spray, and a recipe that actually works on your dog. 10 modules on spotting a true orphan, when baby skunks can spray (and the warning signs), blanket-and-darkness capture, high-fat low-lactose formula, weaning onto insects and eggs, eye infections and roundworms, hypoglycemia and seizures, the peroxide-and-baking-soda de-skunk wash, rabies-vector cross-contamination, and confiscation laws.

Adult Wildlife

20 courses

Backyard Window Strikes

The thud against the glass, then the bird on the patio. 10 modules on what a window strike does inside a bird's skull, the dark-and-quiet shoebox, why water kills a concussed bird, the two-hour test flight, spotting spinal and coracoid fractures, the over-the-back grip, why a cat's touch means antibiotics within hours, stopping strikes with decals and netting, Salmonella and avian-flu hygiene, and why animal control can't help songbirds.

Corvid Crisis

The smartest bird on the block, grounded, with its whole family dive-bombing you. 10 modules on surviving the mob, crows vs. ravens, West Nile virus signs, the no-talking rule for birds that learn your voice, dissolving glue-trap adhesive with oil, why bread and salty snacks harm corvids, enrichment for a weekend hold, carriers a crow can't chew through, West Nile and sanitation safety, and the federal law that sends every corvid to a specialist.

Hummingbird Rescue Guide

Two grams of bird, a heart at 1,200 beats a minute, and a clock that runs out in hours. 10 modules on torpor vs. trauma, why hummingbirds starve so fast, the 4-to-1 sugar recipe (and why honey kills), the dropper trick that doesn't drown the bird, warming a chilled bird safely, guiding a trapped bird down from a skylight, broken beaks and moldy tongues, cleaning feeders, keeping cats and mites away, and why animal control can't take a hummer.

Pigeon and Dove Rescue Guide

The city's most ignored patient. 10 modules on the fright molt, PMV head-twisting vs. a broken neck, string-foot, canker, hidden hawk punctures and torn crops, the heat pad and towel donut, why pigeons drink differently and drown from droppers, reading a racing band to find the owner, psittacosis and the N95 rule, and the legal loophole that leaves feral pigeons without protection — and where to find a rescue that takes them.

Raptor Rescue Playbook

A grounded hawk is still a weapon. 10 modules on the 400-PSI locking grip, the blanket toss, plastic totes instead of wire, rat-poison symptoms, car strikes and why you never splint at home, West Nile and avian pox, the 'playing dead' flip that catches bare hands, extracting an owl from a chimney, parasites and fungi, and the federal law that puts every raptor in a licensed facility within hours.

Rescuing Beach Birds

A heron aims for your eyes; a pelican bites hard; a gull you chase drowns. 10 modules on the heron's spear and controlling the bill first, torn pelican pouches and fishing line, red-tide poisoning, the towel trick for gulls, swaddling a long neck, warming cold-stunned birds slowly, why you never pull a fish hook, why oiled birds aren't washed at home, Vibrio and botulism safety, and finding a marine rescue with saltwater pools.

The Clinging Bird Rescue Guide

Birds that can't stand on a flat floor. 10 modules on the clinging foot and why a shoebox fails, chimney swifts that can never touch the ground, the vertical towel-lined box, woodpecker concussions, cleaning melted suet off feathers, freeing birds from siding and netting, protecting the stiff tail in transit, why a swift must never be given water, bird mites, and the insect-specialist rehabbers these birds need.

Waterfowl Rescues

A goose wing can break your wrist. 10 modules on wing-slaps and bill-strikes, catching large birds without a chase, fishing line and hooks, lead poisoning (green diarrhea, drooping wings), angel wing from park bread, winter ice rescues and when a duck is just resting, large padded dark crates, why an injured duck drowns in a bathtub, avian flu and pond bacteria, and why municipal shelters can't take waterfowl.

Adult Deer Rescues

A deer down on the road or hung on a fence, and every instinct says help. 10 modules on what a hoof can do to your face, capture myopathy (why stress kills deer faster than the injury), why you never pull a deer off a fence, the blanket-over-the-eyes trick, bucks in the rut, why water drowns a downed deer, Chronic Wasting Disease, the hard call to police for field euthanasia, ticks and alpha-gal, and why adult deer are always a game-warden job.

Predator Triage

The hairless fox in the yard, the coyote dragging its back legs on the shoulder. 10 modules on sarcoptic mange (curable, if a vet gets it), secondary rodenticide poisoning, broken pelvises, distemper twitching, the blanket-and-tote containment that keeps teeth off you, why feeding a fox sentences it to death, the 50-foot rule, illegal snares, mange mites that jump to your dog, and finding an RVS-permitted rehabber before the shelter euthanizes.

Raccoon Rescues

The raccoon with its head in a jar, the one wandering the yard at noon, the one hit in front of your house. 10 modules on why moving a raccoon can get it killed, distemper vs. rabies, trap-and-cover containment, jar and dumpster rescues, car-strike scenes, the sideways strike you didn't see coming, the no-touch transport rule, poison vs. disease, roundworm eggs that bleach can't kill, and why a shelter drop-off ends in a rabies test.

Skunk Encounters

Stomping, handstands, the U-turn: the skunk is telling you something. 10 modules on reading the warnings, the low-and-slow blanket approach, cutting a yogurt cup off a stuck head, the cardboard box drop, car strikes and spinal trauma, daytime wandering and distemper, the peroxide-and-baking-soda recipe that actually works, keeping the carrier quiet so it doesn't spray again, skunk rabies and your dog, and why a shelter drop-off means a rabies test.

The Adult Squirrel Rescue Guide

The squirrel that fell off the transformer, the one dragging its legs, the one that just sits there. 10 modules on bone-crushing incisors, electrocution burns and the fall after, spinal injuries, the leather-glove-and-blanket capture, why cardboard lasts minutes, overgrown tusk teeth, rodenticide poisoning signs, the leave-it-alone rule for concussed squirrels, mange and ticks headed for your pets, and getting it to a licensed small-mammal rehabber.

The Grounded Bat Rescue Guide

A bat on the ground is a bat in trouble, and a bat in your hand is a trip to the doctor. 10 modules on why healthy bats never touch the floor, the absolute no-bare-hands rule, the slide-and-flip Tupperware capture, White-Nose Syndrome, wind-turbine barotrauma, winter eviction cruelty, the vertical cloth that calms a bat in a box, getting a bat out of your living room, micro-bites you'll never feel, and when the health department has to test instead of rehab.

The Opossum Rescue Guide

Fifty teeth, a hiss, and a dead faint: the opossum is all bluff. 10 modules on playing possum vs. actually dead, checking a dead mother's pouch for live joeys, black frostbitten ears and tails, dog-bite punctures that turn septic, Metabolic Bone Disease from the wrong kindness, the scoop (never the tail), darkness and heat for shock, reading the hiss, fleas and the surprisingly low rabies risk, and finding a marsupial-savvy rehabber.

Wild Rabbits & Hares

You can rescue a wild rabbit perfectly and still kill it with your voice. 10 modules on stress-induced heart failure, the absolute silence rule in the car, the cat bite you can't see, why carrots are fatal, the too-tame rabbit with tularemia, cardboard only (wire cages break faces), concussed rabbits by the road, cutting them out of soccer nets, gloves and tick checks, and why every minute before the hand-off counts.

The Armored Rescue Guide

Thirty thousand quills, chisel teeth, and a shell that jumps. 10 modules on handling a porcupine without wearing it, what to do when your dog loses that argument, groundhog jaws, armadillos that leap into bumpers, cutting burrowers out of chain-link, mange in groundhogs, carriers they can't chew through, why relocating a groundhog usually kills it, leprosy and tetanus, and the sanctuaries equipped for heavy, armored patients.

The Snake Rescue Guide

The snake on the glue board, in the garden net, on the warm road at dusk. 10 modules on venomous vs. harmless (and the one rule: if it might be venomous, you don't rescue it, you call), dissolving glue traps with cooking oil, cutting netting without cutting scales, herding basking snakes off asphalt, mower wounds, the pillowcase-and-bucket, hooks and brooms instead of hands, snakes dug up in winter, Salmonella, and finding a reptile rehabber.

Turtle Triage

The turtle in the road, the shell that cracked, the snapper nobody wants to pick up. 10 modules on the direction-of-travel rule, the snapping turtle's neck, the wheelbarrow grip, cracked shells (living bone, keep it dry), why superglue and epoxy destroy shells, the dry-dock protocol, swallowed fish hooks, turtles in swimming pools, Salmonella, and the reptile vets who wire shells back together.

Frogs, Toads, and Salamanders

Skin that drinks, and drinks whatever is on your hands. 10 modules on why lotion and bug spray kill amphibians, window-well rescues, flushing pool chlorine, Frog Logs that stop drownings, toad toxins and your eyes, reviving a shriveled frog with spring water, mower injuries, why you never move a frog to a new pond (chytrid), what to do when your dog mouths a toad, and finding an amphibian-savvy rescue.

Every Yard, Every Rescue

Weekend toolkits and backyard guides that apply to every animal — 10 courses

The Dark, Quiet, and Warm Protocol

The three words that keep almost any stunned wild animal alive until a rehabber can take it. 10 modules on why warmth is the first medicine, building the triage box, the half-on half-off heating pad rule, why food and water bowls kill shocked animals, the do-not-peek rule, banning dogs, kids and radios, reading life signs without touching, the no-contact quarantine zone, and the hand-off (call the hotline Saturday, not just Monday).

The Pavement Rescue Playbook

You first, then the animal. 10 modules on vests, flares and smart stops, parking your car as a shield, reading whether an animal is dead or stunned, the blanket toss, drag vs. lift for broken spines, the opossum pouch check, improvised backboards, keeping your fingers out of the bite zone, double-gloving against blood, and when to call troopers instead of a rehabber.

Surviving Mother Nature's Worst

Cold snaps, heat waves, floods, hurricanes, droughts, wildfires and ice storms, and the wildlife they leave on your lawn. 10 modules on warming cold-stunned reptiles slowly, bird heat stroke, flooded burrows, blown-in seabirds, safe drought water stations, smoke and burns, why rapid re-warming stops hearts, birds frozen to metal, biosecurity when everything arrives at once, and working with the agencies that run a disaster.

Entanglement Rescues

Line, mesh, rings and jars, and an animal that will bite the second you cut. 10 modules on securing the head before the scissors, the invisible tourniquet, the never-pull rule for line from a mouth, six-pack rings and jars, birds and bucks in athletic nets, why bandage scissors save skin, release or rehab, flushing abrasions with saline, panic bites, and when a limb can't be saved.

The Wildlife Rescuer's Handbook

The rules nobody tells you until you've broken one. 10 modules on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (yes, even the feather), rabies-vector laws and state lines, the 24-hour holding rule, accidental kidnapping of fledglings and fawns, when euthanasia is the kind choice, reporting endangered species strikes, building your speed-dial list, documenting GPS and photos, what a bite does legally, and transporting wildlife without breaking the law.

Backyard Bird Feeder & Bath Biosecurity

A feeder is a crowded diner, and crowded diners spread disease. 10 modules on why concentration equals contamination, spotting pox and conjunctivitis, the weekly 10% bleach scrub, raking hulls to stop deadly mold, shallow safe baths, Bti dunks that kill mosquito larvae and nothing else, when to take the feeders down (and for how long), rodent-proof seed storage, Salmonella hygiene, and reporting outbreaks to your wildlife agency.

Build Your Own Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary

The best rescue is the one that never has to happen. 10 modules on moving water that pulls in migrants, native berry shrubs, baffles that beat raccoons and snakes, catios that keep cats and songbirds alive, dead trees as woodpecker real estate, toad houses, nest boxes with the right hole sizes, pulling invasive plants, coexisting without hand-feeding, and getting your yard certified.

The Humane Home Protection Guide

You can keep mice out of the house without poisoning the hawk down the street. 10 modules on why glue boards are agony, how rat poison kills owls and foxes, steel-wool exclusion, why a snap trap is the humane lethal option, the relocation myth, peppermint and capsaicin, trash and compost discipline, deer fencing, the wet cleanup that protects you from hantavirus, and why rehabbers fight poisons.

Wild Lawns & Pollinator Havens

The perfect green lawn is a food desert. 10 modules on why chemical turf starves the food chain, dandelions as spring's first meal, clover that fertilizes itself, how weed killers poison songbirds, native plant beds, leaving the leaves for fireflies, brush piles, No Mow May, managing ticks without spraying, and yards that stop rescues before they start.

The Invisible Barrier Blueprint

Up to a billion birds a year die on glass, and most of the fixes people try don't work. 10 modules on why birds see sky in a window, the 2x4 rule for dots and decals, paracord Zen curtains, UV tapes and liquids, moving the houseplants, lights out during migration, the 3-foot-or-30-foot feeder rule, angled and patterned glass, handling a dead bird safely and legally, and logging strikes for science.