With baby animals in need, Wildlife Rescue Center opens its doors to the public

By Avery Lea Rogers

Published September 9, 2022 at 3:04 PM CDT

1 of 5 — A volunteer is holding a baby possum, feeding it formula through a tube.

Volunteer Bonnie Abdelhamid spends much of her free time feeding baby opossums at Wildlife Rescue Center.

Avery Lea Rogers

A young squirrel wears a small cone around its head to protect its injuries on the lower half of its body. The squirrel sits inside a blue fleece hammock hanging across the top of their cage.

2 of 5 — A young squirrel wears a small cone around its head to protect its injuries on the lower half of its body. The squirrel sits inside a blue fleece hammock hanging across the top of their cage.

Baby squirrels are kept in glass aquarium style enclosures. When they mature, they are moved to cages with hammocks. Executive director Kim Rutledge said that squirrels like to climb the sides of their cages and spend time in their hammocks because it serves their natural instincts. Giving them the ability to be above ground reduces stress. This squirrel is wearing a cone so it does not lick or bite at injuries on the lower half of its body.

Avery Lea Rogers

3 of 5 — An injured turtle is sitting in a plastic tray of shallow water with bandages on its shell.

Turtles with shell injuries are treated with bandages in the same way that humans are treated for skin wounds.

Avery Lea Rogers

Staff member Kelsey Swan is holding a baby squirrel around its middle in her right hand. Her left hand feeds the squirrel formula through a very small syringe.

4 of 5 — Staff member Kelsey Swan is holding a baby squirrel around its middle in her right hand. Her left hand feeds the squirrel formula through a very small syringe.

Baby squirrels need to be gently handled in order to be fed by humans. They also need assistance going to the bathroom before their feeding time. Seasonal staff member Kelsey Swan feeds this young squirrel formula through a small syringe.

Avery Lea Rogers

A red fox stands in its outdoor enclosure behind chain link fencing. Several large branches are on the concrete floor in front of the fox, as well as a large natural log.

5 of 5 — A red fox stands in its outdoor enclosure behind chain link fencing. Several large branches are on the concrete floor in front of the fox, as well as a large natural log.

Red foxes are native to Missouri. This red fox is fully rehabilitated and ready to be released back into the wild.

Avery Lea Rogers

The Wildlife Rescue Center in Ballwin is opening its doors to the public for the first time in three years. The center's annual open houses were suspended, along with other public events, at the end of 2019 due to stormwater damage to the building that required extensive repairs.

“We had a very serious storm, one of these once-in-1,000-years type of situations,” Executive Director Kim Rutledge told St. Louis on the Air. “Our volunteers came in and found about three inches of water in the lobby, office building and classroom. We decided to forego our usual fall event in 2019, thinking that we would be able to have our spring event in 2020.”

Of course, due to the coronavirus pandemic, plans to resume public events in spring 2020 did not work out.

Two young squirrels climb the side of their cage, quite close to each other, and look directly into the camera. — These young squirrels are accustomed to being fed by humans. Executive Director Kim Rutledge said these squirrels climbed up the side of their cage expecting the photographer to offer them a snack.

Then, earlier this year, an outbreak of avian flu caused the rescue center to further postpone public events.

Kim Rutledge is the executive director of Wildlife Rescue Center in Ballwin. She is standing in a painted cinderblock rehabilitation room with squirrel cages lining the perimeter. She feeds two squirrels formula through small syringes. The squirrels have climbed the side of their cage to be fed. — Kim Rutledge feeds two maturing squirrels in their cage. These squirrels have outgrown the need to be handled during feeding. When squirrels begin nesting in their enclosures, that is a sign that they are ready to be released into the wild.

“When [avian flu] first started, it was the very beginning of the busy baby season when our phone was just absolutely ringing off the hook,” Rutledge said. “Anytime someone would bring in a bird we had to put on full gear to keep ourselves protected and make sure that if they were sick, we were able to keep that contained. … We worked with the local USDA and Department of Conservation to come up with new protocols so that we could continue to take sick, injured and orphaned animals.”

Now that things have calmed down at the Wildlife Rescue Center, the public is invited to witness behind-the-scenes operations at an open house this Saturday. The goal is to bolster community outreach and revitalize fundraising efforts that took a hit over the past three years.

Visitors will be able to witness the rescue center’s operations, explore a nearby nature trail and visit with other local community organizations.

“[Visitors can] come into the building and see the lengths that we go through to help wild animals get back out into nature [after] the injuries and illnesses they encounter as a result of living around humans,” Rutledge said. “It's the impact that we make on their environment that causes them to get into trouble.”

Related Event
What: Annual open house
When: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 10 (registration required)
Where: 1128 New Ballwin Road, Ballwin 63021

“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski and Alex Heuer. Avery Rogers is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.