Injured, Sick or Dead Bird or Wildlife?

Serving the greater western Puget Sound Region (206) 855-9057
Hours: 9 am - 5 pm, 7 days a week excluding Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day
Early closures will be announced on Facebook.

Accepts all injured, sick and orphaned wildlife species except seals, bear and cougar. Provides non lethal advice for nuisance/problem wild animals. Can help with questions on wildlife natural history information and identification

From Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife: “Many wild animals do not need to be "rescued" and there is almost NEVER a time when you should remove a baby wild animal from its natural environment – even if it appears abandoned. More often than not, just leaving a young animal alone affords it the best chance for survival. Every year hundreds of young wild animals such as fawns, baby seals, and baby birds are needlessly "rescued" and referred to wildlife rehabilitators. This is extremely detrimental and harmful to the young animal, as well as disruptive and costly to wildlife rehabilitators when they most need to concentrate limited resources on truly orphaned or injured wildlife. Unless the animal is showing obvious signs of illness or injury such as bleeding, vomiting, panting, shivering, lethargy, ruffled feathers or fur, attack by cat/dog, leave them there. You can help by always consulting a licensed wildlife rehabilitator prior to collecting the animal, thereby preventing its handling.

Why these babies do not need rescuing. Young animals are often left alone for hours while their parents gather food. They are being tended by their parents in ways best for their survival and appropriate for that species, ensuring that they retain natural wild behaviors. It is normal and typical for a deer fawn to be left alone hiding in a bed. It is also common for young birds to leave the nest before they are fully feathered or flight-ready. They will be fed on the ground for a day or two by the parents until they are able to fly. Careful observation before distressing and collecting these animals should help you make a correct decision whether or not they are truly orphaned or injured and need help.”

Report Dead Migratory Birds. If you do find a dead bird, you can contact WA Fish & Wildlife at 1-800-606-8768

dBird is an online crowd-sourced data collection tool that provides a way for the public to report incidents of dead and injured birds, helping to contextualize and guide research and advocacy efforts that aim to reduce human-caused hazards to birds.

dBird was launched in 2014 by NYC Bird Alliance (formerly NYC Audubon) to complement data collected from Project Safe Flight volunteer collision monitoring, which has been in place since 1997. dBird and Project Safe Flight help conservationists understand the dynamics and drivers of collisions to develop policies and technologies that prevent collisions from occurring.

To make dBird accessible to all of North America, in 2020, Jim and Birte Falconer funded an update and expansion to dBird as part of Birds Connect Seattle’s Bird-safe Cities program. Thanks to their generosity, bird conservation organizations across North America can now manage and download bird mortality data within their own regions.