Wildlife advocacy groups in Middlesex, Youngwood to benefit from calendar sales

The Pennsylvania Wildlife Samaritans calendar featuring photos of wildlife throughout the state will benefit a Butler County wildlife rehabber and other nonprofits.

The Wildlife Samaritans calendar is on sale for $26.99 ; 100% of the profits go to the featured wildlife rehabilitation nonprofits.

One of the beneficiaries is Wildbird Recovery, a licensed wildlife rehabilitation center at the Stormy Oaks Nature Conservancy in Middlesex Township. Other organizations include Wildlife Works of Youngwood.

Volunteers, including a licensed rehabber from Wildbird Recovery, helped rescue a duck with a fishing lure in its neck at Burrell Lake Park in Lower Burrell this fall.

The calendar fundraiser is an “opportunity for the public to make a direct impact toward the food and medical supplies of wild birds in our licensed care at Wildbird Recovery,” said Melissa McMaster-Brown, one of the center’s founders.

Wildbird Recovery is equipped to offer licensed care for songbirds, swifts, swallows and birds of prey. They also offer wildlife education programs including creating awareness of the native plants of Western Pennsylvania.

The calendar fundraiser is much needed for wildlife rehabilitation nonprofits that receive no government funding and have to rely on donations, said Kennerly Clay, founder of Give Pennsylvania Wildlife a Brake/End Roadkill Pennsylvania, a wildlife advocacy group in Chester County that provides pro bono marketing and fundraising for wildlife rehabs in the state.

Wildlife rehabbers care for injured or maimed wildlife hit by vehicles and impacted by habitat loss or damage, predation, hunting, poisoning and other challenges, Clay said. “Their almost-entirely volunteer work is intense and under-rewarded, financially and otherwise,” she said.

To order the calendar, go to CafePress.com/WildlifeCorridorStoreUnlimited.