Funding woes threaten future of Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation

Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation (LSWR) has been providing animal services since 2010.

But as the not-for-profit organization approaches its 15th anniversary the future of the facility could be in question.

LSWR operates solely on fundraising, donations and the occasional grant.

They rely on the Canada Summer Jobs grant which helps the organization pay their summer student workers, but LSWR hasn’t received the grant for four straight years.

“For the last few years we have struggled to be able to pay for our summer students who work incredibly long hours,” said Jan Shadick, Executive Director of Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation.

“We have not gotten our Canada Summer Job grant for the last four years so our finances have taken a bit of a hit.”

An owl at Living Skies Wildlife Rehabilitation. (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

The grant is a federal grant that the organization has historically been accepted for.

Shadick said not receiving this grant has left her concerned about the future.

“I’m extremely worried about not receiving this grant,” said Shadick. “Four years of not receiving this grant is well over $200,000 that we are now short.”

LSWR takes in over 2000 animals a year, with nearly 70% of them getting released.

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Shadick said they take in any kind of bird that gets brought in, and so do small mammals, squirrels, skunks and porcupines.

Recently the facility was housing otters which caused them to start a GoFundMe because of how expensive they were.
“We realized we are going to continue to get them (otters), we’re trying to also fund the building of an aquatic mammal pen,” said Shadick. “It is going to be incredibly expensive to build a pool for these animals with a very intense filter system to keep the water clean.”

LSWR operates on a yearly budget of $350,000.

“Which is very little when you think about the fact I hire 15-20 people every summer,” said Shadick.

Shadick started Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation because it was her passion.

Living Skies Wildlife Rehabilitation takes in around 2,000 animals a year. (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

With files from 650 CKOM’s Mia Holowaychuk.