Tiffany's Story Tiffany has been the BWR bird intake volunteer for three years until an unexpected turn of events. Read on to find out about her BWR experience!
My name is Tiffany and since I was a child I have loved animals. Growing up I wanted to be an equine vet or just a vet in general, anything where I could work with animals. I ended up starting a family instead and never pursued that dream, but I have always helped anywhere I could, volunteering at shelters and fostering. It never dawned on me to become a wildlife volunteer until 2018 when everything changed lol.
My daughter found an injured dove and at the time I didn't have much experience with birds, but when I called the Bidwell Wildlife Rehab hotline I was told that they didn't have enough volunteers to take it and the vet was closed for the weekend so I offered to keep it until Monday when the vet was available. Long story short I ended up keeping that dove for about 2 months nursing it back to health and then releasing it when it was ready and that's when I became a volunteer!
The bird intake person at the time helped me get the correct supplies and was always available if I had questions. She made it easy for me and I learned as much as I could about all the birds in this area from finches to Great horned owls.
In 2019 I came in full force. The current bird intake person was leaving for personal reasons and I offered to help. I became the bird intake person and with a team of a few dedicated volunteers we knocked out 2019. Then in March 2020, the pandemic hit and it suddenly became me and a couple of very dedicated people doing all the work. It slowly became just myself and 2 others doing all the birds in 5 counties!!
I have worked endless hours caring for hundreds of birds, driving thousands of miles to transport birds and mammals. I love doing this and had been the bird intake volunteer until this year when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and was forced to step away. We had a couple of people help for as long as they could, but for various reasons they had to step away and we suddenly had no intake person. We will be starting our form back up in the early months of next year and I can't wait to get back to it.
I love to train new people and educate the public. We can't do this alone and are always looking for dedicated volunteers wanting to help birds. We can't do this without the public's help. We hope you can join us and help pass along our message in 2022!!