Home » Letter to the Editor: Mercer County Executive Thanks Wildlife Center

Letter to the Editor: Mercer County Executive Thanks Wildlife Center

by Community Contributor

I’d like to take a moment to thank the Greater Mercer County community for generously supporting the Mercer County Wildlife Center. Most recently, community support enabled our Wildlife Center to care for five baby birds that survived an act of vandalism to one of the purple martin colony structures at D&R Greenway Land Trust’s St. Michael’s Farm Preserve in Hopewell Township in early July.

The injured baby birds were taken to the Wildlife Center on Route 29, where they were cared for over the past month. That care included feeding each of these birds 60 meal worms an hour for 12 hours a day.

Baby Birds Survive Arson, Close to Release Date

Once word of the vandalism became public, the Wildlife Center and nonprofit Wildlife Center Friends received an outpouring of support. In fact, the Friends group accepted more than $6,000 in donations. Not only did the surviving purple martins have plenty of mealworms for their recovery, but hundreds of other birds and bats in our care also will have enough food for the rest of the season.

On Aug. 8, three of the young martins were healthy enough to be safely released back into the wild near an active purple martin colony. One of the martins is still being cared for at the Wildlife Center and, unfortunately, one did not survive its injuries.

Our Wildlife Center tends to about 2,200 injured, ill and displaced animals a year and has about 150 trained and dedicated volunteers. The center provides these animals with medical treatment and a temporary refuge before releasing them back into an appropriate wild habitat. We depend on the generosity of volunteers and on donations to make that happen.

Again, thank you for supporting the Mercer County Wildlife Center. We could not do the work that we do without your help.

Brian M. Hughes, Mercer County Executive

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