WES presents at NWRA

Rebecca Dmytryk, founder and CEO of Wildlife Emergency Services helped to organize a block of presentations on wildlife capture for the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association symposium which was held last week in Princeton, New Jersey.

She opened the session with a talk on the basic principles of wildlife search and rescue, sharing her vast experience and knowledge in the field. 

Her talk was followed by Wildlife Capture Strategies, presented by Peggy Hentz, another of the country's experts in wildlife emergency response.

One of the highlights of Peggy's talk was her demonstration of a net she devised. It collapses to fit through small openings, like storm drain grates, then springs open to collect entrapped animals, like baby ducks.

Peggy's talk was followed by Kris Tamburello, Flight Safety Officer with the US Coast Guard, who volunteered his time and travel to present on Operational Risk Management - a useful tool for first responders.

Dmytryk followed Kris with Tips For Capturing Flighted Birds, followed by Michelle Goodman and husband Ian Gereg who presented a talk on waterfowl rescues.

The series ended with a demonstration of various pieces of capture equipment.

The turnout for this block of talks was, at one point, over 140, which shows there is great interest in the subject of capture. This is excellent, as a majority of wildlife hospitals do not provide rescue and transport, but rely on the finder or other entities.