I didn’t get the time I wanted to reply to this earlier, but it’s a great help! I am in the US, and I guess in my head I thought it might be like charities, which often are opaque or are good at hiding their misuse of donations (perhaps that’s too cynical a take, lol). It sounds like as long as a center is active and licensed, it’s a pretty safe bet to donate to them which is great because it takes a great deal of decision paralysis away from me.
I indeed don’t have Facebook (or anything but Lemmy really) but I checked out that list and it looks like most of the centers around me have full volunteer rosters, which is of course great but I was also hoping to see about also helping out - guess I’ll just have to be patient!
Thanks again, this has been very useful for me and hopefully anyone else who comes across this looking for ways to help out!
Great picture, and don’t be sorry one bit, this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for and I greatly appreciate it!
I’d wager nobody can fault you for donating to your own outfit, and at the end of the day it’s a win if animals in need are getting help! These really are services that should receive more (read: any) public funding, but… that’s a whole other conversation I suppose.
Sorry to keep asking questions - do you have any advice for vetting local centers for prospective donors? Are there any good ways to make sure the centers are being run in a responsible way, and that the wildlife in their care are being treated well and handled ethically?
You feature Raven Ridge frequently in your posts and seeing as you’re very knowledgeable, do you feel that they’re a responsible and trustworthy wildlife rehab center to donate to? Thank you!
I think we can skip the “loving” part and leave the rest…
Thank you, I very much appreciate the info! I did a few searches and was able to find a state-sponsored program for exactly this in their area, so that’s perfect - I can’t believe I never thought of that before, but I guess it’s not something I would have expected to exist.
I’ve always been a fan of birds, with crows and owls being tied for favorite for me. I’ve been looking for something to spend my free time on that isn’t doomscrolling, so maybe I can find a conservation organization near me to volunteer at.
I have family with a farm where rats/rodents are an issue. I’m sure they’d love a natural, non-poison solution that also benefits our feathery friends. Would you happen to have any information on programs like this they could look into, or generally what they could search up to find resources for this? I’ve been a fan of this community and your owl posts for a while now, so thank you!
Trust me, it’s more of a nightmare than a dream.
Ah, then it must have been my relevant experience that was lacking (I knew it was one of the two, lol).
This is amazing, thanks for sharing!
Well I’m not gonna lie, I envy your firsthand experience, lol. I’ve looked at jobs they have open from time to time, but alas, they generally either don’t fit my experience or are more aimed at candidates from Europe.
Honestly I’d love if more companies could adopt their payment model. Phreeli looks like a solid cellular provider and I’m sure their double-blind armadillo thing is legit, but if I could just mail them an unmarked envelope with nothing but a numeric account identifier and some cash I’d like it way more. Same with Tuta. But I understand there’s some possibility for logistical concerns there (what happens if the user loses their account identifier? Too many banks still use SMS 2FA, etc. etc.).
I will be for sure! I’ve been trying out the different Fediverse “reddit clones” (for lack of better terminology) to see which one I liked the most (I started with just Lemmy) before I settled on which one I was going to support, but I’m pretty confident Piefed is the winner.
What I pay for:
What I “pay” for (through donations, if that counts):
I don’t really subscribe to much, but I’m definitely looking to expand the latter list, so I’ll probably start donating to the maintainers of ad blocker filter lists and seek out more organizations fighting the good fight.
