J&T's Critter Care & Wildlife Education Center
Rescue, Rehabilitate, Release, Educate
Welcome to J&T's Critters
*** WARNING!! This website may contain photos that "bother" or "upset" you. Please use your own discretion. Thank you. (Injured or deceased animals may be shown for educational purposes).
The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.
— Native American Proverb
This is OUR space on the web!;)
(A wild happy squirrel snitching from the birdfeeders:)
Hi! My name is Tara. This here is our Critter Corner. I had a seperate site for Education, but then purchased a domain & a web-hosting page, as of October 6th, 2006! You can view my Profile. Please be sure to sign our guestbook. We like you to sign everytime you visit, so we know when you have stopped by:)
I have recently (May 20th '07 - currently) have been working on adding a few new animal pages, as well as some updates. Please check them out & come back soon to see the updates I am still working on. One of the updates I have added is updates on my Center page, about property, etc. Please check out all pages;) Thanks - I know there is a lot!!
****OCT 2007 - PLEASE NOTE: we are up for renewal this month!!! If you like our site, please consider helping to keep it going:) even a couple dollars helps!! A mailed donation is preferred at this time :)
You can visit my BLOG - there I write a lot about rehab, but does contain other stuff;) LOL I have several blogs going at this time, including a mis. one that includes the rehab updates & stuff, a nature one that is more flower/plants, wild animals (outside of rehab), one that focus' on the kids, and another that is supposed to be a photo of the day blog.
On my site you will find various Indian quotes. They have significant & special meaning. We should all heed words of wisdom:) I also include other quotes that are fitting - Indian or otherwise;)
Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I'll understand.
— Native American Proverb
You can check out our auctions - $$ goes to help care for wildlife in care.
I am an extreme animal lover 
It is important to me to have animals in my life & I feel it is very important for children to be exposed to animals (not wild animals necessarily - but PETS 
(You can find links to our pet pages below
It's my opinion, that in order for people - easpecially growing, learning children (they are sponges!!!) to understand, appreciate & have a love of nature, they must be taught why it is important to our environment for these creatures to have existance too. They must be taught respect for animals. Not everyone is born with that "love" of nature. In order for our children to understand that we should enjoy nature from afar, but also do things like, cover our garbage cans securely, be careful not to leave out oil or antifreeze, etc., they must be taught WHY we need them in our environment. What do they DO? Why are they important? My whole goal in obtaining a license for the purpose of Educational exhibition, is to help grow that love in our children (and others I will be HOPEFULLY acquiring several animals for my educational purposes. I will be looking to "adopt" either home-born/raised animals, or animals that are already waiting somewhere that can not be released & need a home. I have been interested in animals (more specifically, wild animals) I have been studying & have been interested for a very long time. August 3rd, 2007 ~ I had my first call about a possible "educational" animal! A lady (fellow rehabber) contacted me about a woodchuck. I have not cared for a woodchuck yet, but I contacted many of my friends in regards to their care, etc. I have had a couple friends who have had long-term care woodchucks, or non-releasables share some info with me! I am greatly appreciative to their help in my hopefully acquiring my first non-releasable!!! I will keep you updated on my adventure! (Everything around here is an adventure! LOL) Sep 21st, 2007 ~ We have acquired a license for our very first educational animal!! (spoken of above on Aug 3rd, 2007)!! Yea!! Being a wildlife rehabilitator is not something to be taken lightly. It is time-consuming, can be very expensive, and you do not get funds for this. You rely on your own money or donations from the public. Being a rehabilitator, for me, is a WAY of life. Some people ask why I do this when I don't GET anything but have to GIVE a lot (time, foods, meds, travel maybe, etc.) . . . . . . well this little story pretty much says it all;) The Original Starfish Story found in ”Star Thrower,” a collection of essays by the naturalist and writer Loren Eiseley 1978 ).
“One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, ‘What are you doing?’
The youth replied, ‘Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.’
‘ Son,’ the man said, ‘don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!’
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…‘I made a difference for that one.’”
It is best to keep in mind that having wildlife in your possession without the proper permits is against the law and you are subject to serious fines. It is always best to call someone for help. There are many things that can injure the wildlife more by well-meaning help.
J&T's Critters has many Educational Animal pages here. Mostly they will contain species that are Native to NY, or USED to be. We do have 2 species that will be covered here that are not in NY any longer. They have been extripated. Personally, I am all for having them be brought back. These animals are extripated mainly do to "overhunting" by humans. This includes just shooting because people did not want them around. You can read more about that on the animals' pages. Those 2 species are the Gray Wolf (Timber Wolf) & the Cougar. I have seen reports that some say they have "seen" Cougar in NY, but to my knowledge as of yet, there are no confirmed "wild" cougar sightings in NY. Other animal pages you will find here are Squirrels, Skunks, Woodchucks, Chipmunks, Porcupines, Opossum, Black Bear, Raptors, etc.
It is very important to me to help educate the public about these animals. Yes, I will help ANY of these animals that need me. If I do not rehabilitate a particular species myself, I have access to many others who do. Mostly it is birds right now. Nearly of NY's birds fall under the Federal Migratory laws. They need Federal licensing for Rehabilitation. I have not "gone there" yet. Most likely I will.
I hope that you find this site informative.
I also do school educational programs. You can contact me for more information on that. While I do NOT have a set charge for these presentations at this time, DONATIONS to wildlife care are GREATLY appreciated!!! Visit my educational programs page.
I plan to have non-releasables & captive borns for wildlife education. I also hope to expand into being able to provide seminars once I have my Center going.
Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
Flat-Iron (Maza Blaska Oglala Sioux Chief
From Wakan-Tanka, the Great Mystery, comes all power. It is from Wakan-Tanka that the holy man has wisdom and the power to heal and make holy charms. Man knows that all healing plants are given by Wakan-Tanka, therefore they are holy. So too is the buffalo holy, because it is the gift of Wakan-Tanka.
Links to our pets:
Our Cats
Our Sugar Gliders
Our Chickens
Our Iguana
“A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is a bad as an act of cruelty to a human being.”—Prophet Mohammed
