New York wildlife rehabilitators struggle as demand outpaces growth

Despite doubling licenses since 2019 to 2,252 volunteers, experienced rehabilitators work longer hours with more rescue calls

By H. Rose Schneider, Times Union

At her home tucked into a state forest in the Albany County town of Berne, Kelly Martin fed baby house finches and other songbirds. A squirrel scrabbled in its cage while baby cottontail rabbits—injured by a lawnmower—rested following a regimen of pain relievers and anti-inflammatories. Martin was not sure they’d make it. Outside, a platter-sized snapping turtle soaked in a makeshift saltwater bath to treat its injuries.

For anyone who’s found a songbird injured by a window strike, a turtle hit by a car or a squirrel acting a little too friendly, one of the few—if not only—options is to contact a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator like Martin. While the number of registered rehabilitators has increased, likely due to the state moving from in-person to online exams after 2020, several say you’d never know it based on how many calls each continues to field. Among the reasons, observers say, is that new rehabilitators may not be handling an appreciable amount of work—which has only increased as more people have become aware of rehabilitators and are reaching out.

In 2019, New York had 1,407 licensed wildlife rehabilitators, with 382 licenses issued that year, according to data shared by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Five years later, 2,072 people were registered, with 594 licenses issued that year. Another 499 licenses have been issued in 2025; 2,252 people are currently licensed.

In New York, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator can care for most injured, sick or orphaned wild animals, with the exception of certain ones like moose, bears and white-tailed deer (which require additional licenses). Rehabilitators must pass a state exam at 80% or higher, interview with a state regional wildlife manager and fill out a form.

“DEC follows a rigorous review process before authorizing this license to accept or possess any wildlife for rehabilitation,” the agency said in a statement. “All the above steps must be completed prior to being issued a wildlife rehabilitator license to ensure human and wildlife health are protected.”

Randolph T. Duncan Jr. took the exam in 2015 at the DEC’s Region 4 office in Rotterdam. The 32-year-old wildlife rehabilitator from Colonie first learned about the practice when he brought a sick goose back to his dorm room while studying at SUNY Oswego. Campus police directed him to a nearby rehabilitator. He later interned under now-retired rehabilitators Eric and Linda Brown in Duanesburg. When a pandemic-era measure allowed applicants to take the exam online, Duncan believed this caused a spike in the number of new rehabilitators, just not ones necessarily ready to take on the work involved. “You can pass the test, ace the test and have never touched an animal,” Martin, 69, said.

The two-hour-long, multiple-choice exams were previously held every year in April and August with a DEC proctor supervising. In 2020, DEC canceled its April exam and moved the August exam online. Since then, exams are solely hosted online, made available between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. on the test date, with a link to virtual interviews sent to applicants upon passing. The DEC said it’s “proven to be very efficient and provides enhanced opportunity to the public.” A prospective rehabilitator no longer has to travel or worry about taking time off from work or school, the agency noted.

“It’s going to be really hard (to) fail that test,” Duncan said. “Because you have all the answers you’re going to need, essentially, and you have Google on your own computer or phone.” While Duncan described the exam as essentially open-book, the DEC refuted that. According to the agency, “the number of questions in the time allotted to complete the online exam helps minimize the potential for cheating.”

The DEC advises those interested to first work as an assistant to a wildlife rehabilitator, though it’s not required. So far this year, 179 people are registered as assistants, with another 32 as assistants to rehabilitators for rabies vector species (RVS) like bats, skunks and racoons (RVS rehabilitators have additional requirements including inspected facilities and a regimen of rabies shots). But assistants can only work under Class 2 rehabilitators. Of over 2,000 rehabilitators, 98 are Class 2, with another 29 Class 2 RVS rehabilitators.

The work can also be long, grueling and costly for a role that is strictly voluntary. State law requires rehabilitators not collect payment for their work, though they can accept donations.

Debbie Philp, who cares for reptiles and amphibians out of a renovated school bus near her Schroon Lake home, started her own nonprofit, Dancing Turtle Rescue and Education Program, Inc., to raise funds. Hours start early. Martin is feeding songbirds from sunrise to sunset and may check on mammals through the night. Philp may start her day around 4:30 a.m., changing wound dressings and applying medication to injured turtles. With rescues often occurring in the afternoon, her nights sometimes end around 11 p.m.

Learn tips for helping to get turtles across the road safely and what to do if a turtle needs medical care. Video by Izania Gonzalez

“It has been really good to see that there have been more and more rehabilitators,” Philp, 58, said. “But the other side of that is that there is more and more awareness of rehabilitators … so our intake has gone up.”

It’s not just phone calls. Rehabilitators might get a text, an email or a notification on social media. The DEC catalogues rehabilitators and their contact information online. Nonprofit North Country Wild Care offers an emergency hotline with a rehabilitator on call. Animal Help Now, a Colorado-based nonprofit, has an app connecting people nationwide to rehabilitators. Though the work is year-round, spring through early fall is generally the busiest time. While being interviewed by the Times Union, Duncan, who specializes in reptiles and amphibians, was interrupted twice by calls related to his work as a rehabilitator.

Once a rehabilitator has an animal, treating it could involve care at home or taking it to a wildlife veterinarian. Martin will meet someone in Oneonta who can take the animal the rest of the three-hour drive to the Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital at Cornell University. In an emergency, she makes the drive herself.

Then there’s the red tape. Licenses must be renewed every five years, and rehabilitators submit annual logs of every animal they’ve taken to the DEC.

Martin, a rehabilitator with around 40 years in the field, also serves as president of the New York State Wildlife Rehabilitation Council. The organization offers scholarships and grants to rehabilitators and assistants and hosts an annual conference. She noted those interested do not have to be as involved as she is. Prospective rehabilitators can volunteer, be assistants or specialize in certain animals.

“It does not have to be all or nothing,” she said.

While New York’s laws allow individual rehabilitators independence, Martin acknowledged a wildlife center would ease some of the burdens they face in trying to get veterinary care and other resources. One example of that, she said, is in Erie County.

In the 1990s, a worker at the SPCA serving Erie County started a wildlife department out of a closet at the organization, spokeswoman Gina LaTucca said. Today, the department has its own separate entrance at the West Seneca facility and separate veterinary staff. But the department also works with independent rehabilitators, directing calls about whitetail deer to an individual rehabilitator and collaborating with Erie County nonprofit Messinger Woods.

“We can do a lot of intensive care, a lot of the medical care for them,” wildlife rehabilitation manager Aaron Karpinski said, adding that, in turn, Messinger Woods often takes on “pre-release” rehabilitation.

But in the Capital Region, rehabilitators still find this work worth doing. Duncan sees it as a stepping stone to zoology and wildlife conservation (he’s currently the reptile keeper at VIA Aquarium in Rotterdam). Martin cannot see herself ever fully retiring. Philp finds satisfaction in changing minds about snapping turtles.

“And every time I get to release a turtle,” she said. “There’s so much joy on that release day.”

Photo at top: Wildlife rehabilitator Kelly Martin holds a groundhog, also known as a woodchuck at her home on July 29 in Berne. In New York, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator can care for most injured, sick or orphaned wild animals. Photo by Lori Van Buren/Times Union