OUR STORY

The Problem Wildlife Finders and Rehabbers Face

Every year, people across New York State - including throughout the Finger Lakes region and beyond - encounter injured or orphaned wildlife and simply don’t know who to call. Or when they do find a rehabilitator’s number, they’re often bounced from one person to the next. That’s because not all licensed wildlife rehabilitators work with every species. In fact, many of the most experienced rehabbers specialize in a small group of animals, focusing their time and resources on the species they are best equipped to care for.

The Finger Lakes Wildlife Hotline was created to bridge that gap by providing a faster, more efficient way to connect finders with licensed rehabilitators who have the training, permits, and species expertise needed to help the species of animal they’ve found. Finders can call 1-585-880-0168 to reach the automated hotline system.

The Vision

When asked how the hotline started, Founder Kimberly DeFisher of Arctic Fox Daily Wildlife Rescue explains that the idea came directly from her day-to-day experience running a wildlife rescue.

“Phone calls were easily one of the most stressful and time-consuming parts of my day,” she says. “I eventually realized that well over half of the calls I received never actually resulted in an intake. Most of them were simply me referring callers with species I don’t work with to other rehabilitators who might be able to help.”

Like many wildlife rehabilitators, DeFisher found herself spending a significant amount of time having the same conversations repeatedly, while already juggling hands-on animal care, an outside career, a family, and daily responsibilities - the same song and dance most volunteer rehabilitators know all too well.

"I finally started opening up to a few other rehabbers about how exhausting that part of the work had become,” she says. “I was honestly worried it might sound like I was trying to play the victim. But instead, I realized that so many other rehabbers felt the exact same way. For many of us, the phone itself has become a source of constant anxiety, stress, and frustration."

That shared experience sparked the idea for a more coordinated system.

“I thought that maybe - just maybe - if I could get even half a dozen rehabbers in my surrounding area to try this idea with me, we could create a really solid network that would ultimately save everyone time,” she explains. “I envisioned getting to the point where we (as rehabbers) could advertise one central call-in number instead of everyone using their personal cell phones - if they wanted to, of course - so calls would only come through to you when you're actually the right fit.”

“The goal is to shorten the endless cycle of phone calls and messages so rehabilitators can spend more time hands-on with animals, concerned finders can get help faster for the animal they’re staring at, and the animals themselves receive the care they need as quickly as possible.”

A modest-sized startup group of rehabilitators - just over a dozen or so - believed in the mission and agreed to be a part of this network to help launch the idea, many of them located in the Finger Lakes and neighboring regions, which ultimately inspired the hotline’s name.

“I envision this like any community-led movement, it takes a village,” DeFisher says. “But once something like this gets rolling and people believe in the mission enough that they want to be a part of it, it has the potential to make wildlife rescue coordination much smoother for all parties involved.”

Launched in March 2025,

by the end of the 2025 calendar year - just nine months after its go-live date - the hotline had already helped direct and transfer well over 1,000 calls from finders. As more rehabilitators volunteer to be part of this network, the hotline will be able to add more species assisted to the directory, increase coverage and counties served for callers, and hopefully see its reach expand across the state:

Our hope is to build strong rehabber coverage from Western New York, through the Finger Lakes, and across into the Capital District regions. We absolutely welcome interest in joining our network from rehabilitators located anywhere in the state, though areas like New York City and the North Country already have well-established wildlife rehab networks in place.

Because wildlife rehabilitation coverage varies widely, the hotline does not yet have a direct transfer option for every species or every county. Since a direct connection isn’t yet available for every caller's situation, additional rehabber search databases and emergency resources are linked at

www.fingerlakeswildlifehotline.org/findarehabber

Operating the hotline requires phone infrastructure, network plans, app subscriptions, and coordination with rehabilitators across the region.

Please consider donating to support our Finger Lakes Wildlife Hotline general operating fund.

For tax reporting purposes, please note that your donations are made to Arctic Fox Daily Wildlife Rescue, Inc., the parent nonprofit organization of Finger Lakes Wildlife Hotline, and are tax-deductible under Arctic Fox Daily's 501(c)(3) status.

Finger Lakes Wildlife Hotline

A volunteer-powered hotline connecting people who find orphaned or injured wildlife with licensed rehabilitators across the Finger Lakes and surrounding regions of New York State.