Bucksport Wildlife Rehab Center Working To Help Maine Animals From Bar Harbor To Fort Kent

5 years ago, retired New York Special Ed Biology teacher, Susan Wotton, decided she wanted a change of pace. Her family owned property in Maine, and having always loved animals, she moved to the Pine Tree state in the hopes of hooking up with a wildlife rehab where she could volunteer.

"I got here, and there really wasn't anywhere. So I found Acadia Wildlife in Bar Harbor and went down there to volunteer and realized that there was no one north of Bar Harbor as a rehabber, so I said, 'This is what I'm gonna do.' "

She trained at Acadia Wildlife Center for a year and a half, and then started her own wildlife rehab center, Critterville Wildlife Rehabilitation in Brooklin, Maine.

This past June, in need of bigger digs, she started the process of moving things from Brooklin to Bucksport.

They're a state-licensed 501(c)(3) Nonprofit. And Critterville is one of 3 wildlife rehabs licensed to take care of fawns.

"There was a great need for wildlife rehabilitation in this area. We take small, medium, and large mammals, excluding bears."

"We take birds, mostly the large birds like raptors, some gulls. We don't really do songbirds. But we take all kinds of mammals."

"Reptiles, we do turtles, snakes. We do just about everything."

"I have a team of volunteers that rotate. Some come during the week, some come after school. Some come on the weekends."

Wotton also works with the local Key Clubs in the High School, allowing them to complete their community service volunteer hours by volunteering at the center.

Servicing communities from Bar Harbor north to Aroostook County, she also has an extensive network of volunteer drivers and transporters.

If an animal from afar needs to get to her place, there are folks who will act as transportation relays, making sure the critter gets to her for the help it needs.

At the moment, Wotton has set up a temporary center in the barn on her property in Bucksport.

She says while it's a great setup, it's nowhere near large enough for the work they need to do. She says the move was made from a 14-acre plot of land to a 180-acre space that they'd like to make the most of, for the animals.

"We've got a lot more to work with; more space for more animals. We'll be able to really increase our capacity by being here. It's also more centrally located."

But to do that, they're going to have to line up some helping hands.

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There's a need for people to donate their time and skills, if they have them and want to help, as they're in the process of moving the building they had at their old spot in Brooklin to their new spot in Bucksport.

And they're hoping to get this all done before the snow flies.

"So we'll need an electrician. We have to get a line going from the well to the building. We're putting in a slab for the building to sit on, building materials...things like that are most important right now."

Aside from the need for labor and supplies to build, there's also a need for supplies for the wildlife for the coming winter and the coming year.

"We're going to be needing leaves, pine needles, acorns, and black walnuts. We get a year's supply in the fall, and that has to last us all the way up until the next fall. We use those in all of our cages and enclosures for our natural environment."

Wotton says they have both an Amazon wish list and a Walmart baby registry (for the baby animals) that you can check out. But they'll also take other stuff.

"We always need cleaning supplies, baby wipes, Clorox wipes, paper towels, and bleach."

If you'd like more information on how to help the critters at Critterville, or how to get an animal who needs help to Critterville, you can reach out to Wotton by phone at (845) 549-2407 or by emailing her at crittervillewildlife@proton.me.

Critterville Wildlife Rehabilitation is located at 1198 River Road in Bucksport, ME.