If we are unable to purchase the land next door, and have to look for a bigger space to move the sanctuary further away, we’ll be leaving behind some friends who can’t come with us.
Peepers was a young hawk who became injured and showed up at the sanctuary a couple years ago, needing help. She was weak and exhausted and we knew something had to be done, but despite exhaustion, we were unable to catch her to get her to licensed rehab.
Because a couple years ago we had a much larger rat population before our Contra Pest birth control program, we frequently had natural or accidental fatalities that gave us a supply of food we could stash in high places for her to find. We knew it was difficult to hunt with one eye, and it being a cold winter, she needed calories to stay warm and give her eye time to heal.
She began showing up daily, hoping we had food. When we occasionally didn’t, she’d hang around a while watching us. She started to try hunting and with new found strength, she began to be successful. And then, getting her bearings, she started to need us less and less. But her gratitude was ever apparent, remaining free but never alone, never hopeless.
By spring, it seemed she found a mate who visited with her, and then she stopped showing up. We worried but hoped she was off starting a family and being her hawk self. Thankfully, she flew in a couple months later, to give us the nod and let us know she’s okay, and continues to make a quick appearance every few months, recognizable by a scar near her eye. She knows any time she’s in trouble, we are here to help.
We have many wild friends who know this sanctuary is a safe place, from birds who’ve been released here to prairie dogs and ground nesting birds called killdeer, who may not have this safe place if this land became developed.
It’s clear the animals need more space and we need the room to fix the our current property after a year of disastrous flooding. We don’t want to leave this magical place for bigger spaces hours away. But we can’t do this without you, and we are so close!!
We’ve managed to raise almost half of the $150k needed, but we need to keep going.
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