From Werling Wildlife Rehab Center

It's "turn over the baby you have been illegally raising" season, where people who have been raising wildlife babies illegally all summer are now realizing they have no idea what to do with this wild animal who can't stay in their house any longer but also has no wild friends or life skills.

We get it.

There are not enough wildlife rehabbers to meet the need. Maybe you were frustrated that all of us were full. Maybe you didn't know it was illegal. Maybe you just wanted that magical Disney moment for the summer and figured it would all work out in the end.

We get it - our founder Kristen started much the same way. But now's the time to get those animals back on track for the wild.

This is our annual call for people to turn over the animals they have been raising that now need somewhere to go. No matter what has happened thus far, you have the opportunity to be responsible right now.

The raccoon pictured here was raised by a group of teenage boys this summer, but when school started back up, they needed somewhere for him to go. Rather than bring him to us, they dumped him in a park. He's still a baby and had no understanding of what to do. He tried to climb people's legs, was crying loudly... and that's not humane. Worse, his whiskers had been cut off with a pair of scissors, his legs had multiple wounds of what looked like cigarette burns, and he was covered in fleas.

Was that the best case scenario for him, to be dumped in a park, still a baby, after only knowing a life with human teenagers, where it appears he was abused?

Thankfully, some kind people saw this happen and scooped him up and brought him. Now he's adjusting to his new raccoon friends, learning life skills, and may be released this fall.

We would rather get those animals now while we have the space and the animals have the time to adjust to wild life before winter. We have a very high success rate for wilding up squirrels, raccoons, and turtles. When wilding up doesn't happen, we also have an excellent success rate with placing imprinted opossums as educational ambassadors (they don't "wild up" quite as well).

We would rather get them before they cause destruction to your house. We would rather get them before they are dumped somewhere without any life skills.

If you have an animal you have been raising this summer: thank you for caring about them and trying your best. We'd like to finish their rehab journey (or be their permanent placement home).