This tiny squirrel named Darcy is one of the five southern flying squirrels currently being cared for by Hancock Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Fortville.
Submitted photo
WILKINSON — When Jennifer Hancock decided to throw herself a wildlife-themed baby shower, she wasn’t sure if anybody would come, but her party ended up being a hit this past weekend.
The Fortville-area animal rehab specialist was thrilled to see more than 150 people turn up Saturday, March 9 for her shower, held at Youngblood Natural Animal Care Center and Massage in Wilkinson.
Roughly $1,000 in gifts and donations were bestowed upon Hancock’s nonprofit wildlife rescue, Hancock Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation.
“I didn’t know if 10 people or 200 people would show up, so it was really great to see so many come out to support us,” said Hancock, who started the local rehab center from her home in September 2022.
Since then, the nonprofit has grown beyond her wildest dreams, having served more than 500 squirrels, bats, raccoons, possums and groundhogs over the past 18 months.
Like any good baby shower, Saturday’s event featured door prizes, games and snacks as well as educational activities and a silent auction. Guests were encouraged to bring a cash donation or an item from the rescue’s online baby registry, which featured items like feeding bottles and fleece-lined sleeping hammocks, as well as blenders for pureeing food.
Visitors got to play games like Pin the Tail on Cleo, which featured an illustration of one of Hancock’s educational ambassadors, a possum named Cleo.
They also learned wildlife tips and tricks, like how to mark a bunny’s nest to tell if the mom is coming back or not.
Hancock commended the owners of Youngblood Natural Animal Care Center and Massage for their willingness to not only host the baby shower but to support her animal rescue all year long, with a permanent display and donation jar in their shop.
“They’re amazing,” Hancock said of the owners, Kim Youngblood and her daughter, Samantha Youngblood.
“I would encourage everybody to go check out their store,” said Hancock, who is a proponent of the holistic animal therapies they provide.
“I think a lot of holistic therapy is very underrated, and I think it provides far more benefits than people even know. It’s always nice to get these animals some healthcare and treatment for their medical issues without giving them a bunch of medication,” Hancock said.
The rehab specialist said she was inspired to host Saturday’s baby shower to help prepare for the influx of baby animals which inevitably come into her care each spring, either through illness, abandonment or injury, or through baby animals becoming orphaned when their mothers are relocated or killed.
“Right now, we’ve had several trees cut down that orphaned a bunch of baby squirrels, so we have several squirrels right now,” she said.
She cautions against trapping and relocating wildlife like raccoons in the springtime because they could be mothers of young offspring who can’t survive on their own.
As a wildlife rehabilitation expert, it’s Hancock’s mission to nurse sick or injured animals back to health before releasing them back into the wild.
As her rescue has grown, she’s solicited the help of a growing number of volunteers who foster some animals in their homes. She’s currently overseeing care for 35 animals in her home and four foster homes.
In order to become a foster care provider through Hancock, volunteers must first fill out an application at HancockWildlife.net and undergo training before taking an animal home.
“Most of them are babies that will require feedings multiple times per day. The squirrels we have right now need to be fed every three to four hours around the clock,” she said.
Hancock, who works full time as an environmental scientist for the Indiana Department of Health, said she never would have dreamed her home-based rehab center would grow so much over the past year and a half.
“I never planned on this being this big, but I see all the good it’s doing so I’m happy with how it’s turning out,” said Hancock, as a foster mom dropped off a baby squirrel at her door Monday morning.
“It’s very rewarding work,” she said.
