Each year, tens of thousands of wildlife animals are cared for by dedicated rehabilitation facilities all over the country.
Staff members work to provide temporary care for injured, orphaned, or terribly distressed wild animals, with the goal of releasing them safely and confidently back into nature.
Before the animals can learn to live on their own again, however, many steps need to be taken to ensure that they're nursed back to the strongest, healthiest possible state.
Over the past three years, Wildlife Rescue Nests, a volunteer network started by animal lover Katie Deline-Ray, has set the trend for a most adorable rescue effort.
More than 800 volunteers all over the world work in their spare time to crochet tiny, colorful nests for the little baby rescue animals.
Just like this incredible couple who started an animal rescue for hamsters, Wildlife Rescue Nests caters even to the funniest wild creatures out there!
Scroll down to see the beautiful little nests for baby animals, and to see how you can help them out. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
[H/T: The Dodo]
Two years ago, Katie Deline-Ray, from Ontario, Canada, fell on ice during the winter and broke her right hand.
She was stuck at home for a good while, but used that time to browse the internet.
She stumbled upon a community chat, where a woman in the U.S. recommended building nests for local wildlife rescue animals.
“I thought it was a brilliant idea and wondered if there was anything of that sort of setup for wildlife rescues here in Canada,” she told the Dodo.
When she found out that there wasn’t, she began looking for patterns online to start constructing her own crocheted nest.
That’s how she started her global knitting project, Wildlife Rescue Nests.
After failing to find a suitable crochet pattern that “had a flat enough bottom,” Katie began to design her own.
In the beginning, Katie gave away her handmade nests to local animal rescues in Ontario.
Over time, rescue organizations all over Canada and the U.S. had reached out to her, requesting her to supply more crochet nests.
She has even made a Facebook page to showcase the nests, and to attract volunteers.
Today, Katie has a network of over 800 volunteers from all over the world.
Together, they have donated crochet nests to over 240 wildlife rehabilitation centers, who are constantly looking for innovative ways to keep the animals safe, comfortable, and stress-free throughout their healing process.
“The nests offer security and warmth, which is essential in rehabilitating wildlife,” said Katie.
At first, the nests were made especially for rescued birds and small animals, like squirrels, raccoons, skunks, and bunnies.
But over time, Katie and her volunteer crew have expanded their sights and have made nests for more peculiar animals, including bats, bush babies, wallabies, possums, and hedgehogs.
“[They are] surprisingly versatile, especially since we have added the new cave nest designed for cavity and burrow-dwelling animals,” she said.
“I am hoping to make my 2,000th nest sometime this year,” said Katie, who is incredibly ecstatic that the project has grown to have a remarkable presence — all thanks to the dedicated, wonderful volunteers.
To learn how to crochet your own wildlife nest, be sure to watch the video below!
To support Wildlife Rescue Nests, be sure to check out their Facebook page and website.
And if you can't crochet, but you'd still like to support their amazing efforts, you can donate some yarn by visiting the group's GoFundMe page.
Please SHARE if you think every little animal deserves a warm home and a healthy life!
