Coast Chronicles: Peninsula Wild Care is in the healing business
Published 11:08 am Sunday, September 21, 2025
Tucked away on the north end of the Peninsula about halfway between the bay and the sea, a small group of dedicated volunteers are working to rescue wild creatures in need. Baby possums, raccoons, squirrels, even a porcupine, are being tended, lovingly, safely and respectfully. Some have been abandoned too young; some have lost their parents to predators or human traffic; some were injured themselves in various ways; some were brought in as pets that now need to be “re-wilded.”
They all need a place to heal, and, Peninsula Wild Care helpers hope, returned to the woods to live out their lives. Here’s the Wild Care website for more info www.peninsulawildcare.org.
Conversation with Reva
I stopped by the other day to talk with executive director Reva Lipe to get an update on their efforts. I’ve followed their story over the years and was thrilled to see how much progress has been made since my last visit. Wild Care was able to purchase the one acre plot they started on years ago, and they have developed the property to include an intake cabin, feeding house, multiple separate cages for various types of mammals, a flight area, and pool for water birds. (They have passed with flying colors all the state and local organizational requirements and inspections; but they’re still waiting for the official certificate for sea birds from the federal government.)
Reva and I sat down for a moment to chat—a rare occasion for her because generally one of her two phones (one in each pocket!) is ringing to ask if they have room for another critter in need. She starts with the latest news, “We’re in the grant catalogue for the South Pacific County Community Foundation. We have a link there now. They’ve helped us a lot with training, and we’re glad to be included. What we need now is funds to complete a beaver and otter enclosure.” (More on this in below.)
“We have about twenty babies right now: all types of squirrels and chipmunks, Douglas and Grays, and bunnies and possums. It’s been crazy. Our fall seasons has been busier than our spring actually. We had about 15 baby raccoons in the spring—it was mainly raccoons. They’d been found alone—their parents are probably dead, hit by cars or attacked by dogs. We’ve released most of them, but we have four left and they’ll be ready for release at the end of the month. Those raccoon faces are so cute.”
“The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife came in July and approved our facility and said it was a great rehab center. They come in and sometimes find different things that need improvement, but they didn’t find anything for us. We wanted to be able to take in bats so we asked about that and they recommended a separate bat enclosure—so we purchased a ten-person tent—and now we can take in bats too. We have them on our permit now. And we just had a little brown bat come in last night. Often cats get them. They come in with their little wing bones broken or holes in their wings. We can rehab them if we can get them to eat. We have formula that we can feed them though they mostly eat mosquitoes in the wild. But it’s hard to get mosquitoes into their cage!” I’m sure that’s an understatement.
“We’ve had weasels, and porcupines and skunks—they have all been added to our permit. And the inspector took a picture of the one semi-aquatic enclosure that we’re going to be using for beavers.”
Current needs
It’s hard to imagine, if you’re not in the wild rescue business, how complicated this all is. In the feeding cabin there are schedules posted on the walls for all the animals that have come in, where they’re located, what they eat, and how often they need feeding. Some need round the clock feeding. Wild Care manages biosecurity for some of the animals; and they handle all the details of pick-up and transport for incoming and released critters. While I was visiting, long-time volunteer, Julie Hanenburg, was handling some of the feeding and came over and joined us. “I was just visiting the raccoon cage,” she said, “ visiting the juvies. They kept trying to climb up my leg, though we discourage that kind of interaction.”
Julie is one of about 16 volunteers, but she says, “We need more people to help. . .with feeding, cleaning, laundry.” Riva adds, “Yes, we need more folks, not everyone is available when we need them. We can train you on the job and then we’ll match you with another trained volunteer. If you’re interested, give me a call at 360-947-3188, or check out our website and fill out the application.”
On the donation side, the need is great. “It’s probably costing us about $1,500 a month for food, utilities, equipment, and . . . well, electricity has gone way up, so it might be closer to $1,800,” Reva says. “We’ve got three pools, and one outside our aviary, where water is circulating and heating for all the buildings. That’s why I’m grateful we’re in the Pacific County Foundation catalogue this year.”
While working to put this column to bed, I called Reva to check in again. She was at the Ilwaco Saturday market. She and her two board members—Liz Todd and Patrick Hogan—are juggling a lot these days. “Just last night we got in 11 baby possums and three the day before—they keep coming in!” she said. “I’m at the Ilwaco Saturday market right now—we have a booth and we’re talking to people, but I have two eyes-closed babies with me to feed. Their mommas were hit on the road but at least they were on her back when they got hit and not still in her pouch which makes it a lot harder. At least these babies can lick.”
I know and like possums—heck, my Facebook portrait is a possum! They get a bad rap, but they do a lot of good in the wild eating ticks, cockroaches, slugs, snails, rotting fruit, rodents and carrion. They’re the nighttime clean up crew and deserve our gratitude.
Here’s the bottom line: as rapacious humans, we are making it harder and harder for our wild neighbors to live. We’re destroying their habitats, encroaching on their traditional migration pathways, and human-caused climate change is affecting their food sources. Wild Care has a big job to do right here, and they’ve also begun getting more calls from other areas like Vancouver and Longview when those rehab facilities are full. “We really need more space,” says Reva. “We’ve built out our one acre. We’d love to be able to purchase adjacent property, but even something farther away would be helpful.”
So please keep Wild Care in mind as we roll into this season of giving. Consider giving of your time, your financial resources, or even your property to help sustain the beauty and wildness of where we live. South Pacific County Community Foundation’s giving catalog has made the process easy: spccf.org/nonprofit. And the Wild Care donation link is here: tinyurl.com/yux6cfak. The critters thank you.