Caring for Critters: One Year at a Wildlife Rescue Centre

by Nicholas Read

Overview

A colourful, engaging, and educational profile of a well-established wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre, highlighting the heartwarming stories of animals and the people who care for them.

Critter Care is a cute name for a life-saving organization. For over three decades, the wildlife rehabilitation centre in Langley, BC, has rescued and cared for more than 50,000 sick, injured, and orphaned animals—from bears to beavers, coyotes to cougars, rabbits to river otters, and skunks to squirrels. Author and journalist Nicholas Read spent one year volunteering at Critter Care, helping to take care of the animals and recording the stories of every furry friend who walked, hopped, or crept through their doors.

Full of information, compassion, and a strong dose of social awareness, Caring for Critters is a month-by-month account of Read’s experience. Through adorable photos and true stories—some uplifting, others sad—the book teaches children and young adults about the dangers that animals face as humans destroy the environment and invade natural habitats, and encourages kids to get involved in animal welfare and conservation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772033885
Publisher:	Heritage House
Publication date:	10/15/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	72 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Nicholas Read is a retired journalist who worked at the Vancouver Sun for most of his career, and a journalism instructor who taught at Langara College for ten years. He is the author of A Home Away from Home: True Stories of Wild Animal Sanctuaries, as well as several books with photographer Ian McAllister, including Wolf Island, The Seal Garden, A Whale’s World, The Great Bear Sea, and The Salmon Bears.

Editorial Reviews

2021-09-01
Documents a calendar year in the life of Critter Care—a wildlife rehabilitation center in southern British Columbia that specializes in mammals.

At first glance a journal-style overview and a tribute to founder Gail Martin, this work is in fact much more. Readers will get the expected tales both tragic and amusing, as dedicated workers—including international interns—do everything from hourly overnight nursing of infant moles to teaching otter pups how to swim to releasing charges back into the wild. All these stories—told with accessible language and wry humor—are interspersed with fascinating facts about the habits and behaviors of beavers, skunks, raccoons, and more. From the beginning, the text is also clear about the tension between Critter Care and the philosophy and practice of British Columbia’s Conservation Officer Service, which often resorts to shooting rather than relocating animals. The text emphasizes the ever increasing number of orphaned bear cubs, often caused by officers legally killing mother bears foraging in human settlements. Other serious issues woven into the text are euthanasia, habitat loss, unintentional killing of wildlife, and leghold traps. Nor does the text gloss over the fighting and death that are an inherent part of nature, including a note that rabbits are such popular prey they are sometimes called “nature’s granola.” Nevertheless, a tone of optimism prevails. Abundant, eye- and-heart-arresting color photographs and excellent layout complement the text’s call to action.

Inspiring. (index, sources, recommended reading) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews