For millennia the waters and wetlands, woodlands and grasslands of New York were filled and overrun by a large diversity of fish, birds, deer, elk, moose, bison, black bear, fox, cougar, bobcat, and lynx. They lived in natural harmony with the early Americans who were living here at the time.
Yet, when entrepreneurial Europeans came over they hunted wild animals to extinction, clear-cut/drained the wetlands and plowed the New York grasslands. Then when new settlers moved in, wild animals were either killed or pushed out when the domesticated livestock were turned loose to graze and browse freely in fields, marshes, and woods. Many New York wild animals, fish and game birds declined so drastically that by the early eighteenth century the populace started to take a closer look into protections for land and wild animals in New York.
WEBSITES
RESCUE GROUPS
Erie County
- Messinger Woods – (Federal Migratory Birds) – 716-627-1018 / 716-572-2720 (cell)
- WNY Raptor and Wildlife Care – (Raptor and Wildlife Care) – 716-983-7315
Essex County
- Adirondack Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Center – 518-946-2428 / 914-715-7620
Clinton County
- Marcia Parent (baby raccoons only) – 518-314-1904; ceII 802-578-8733
Cortland County
- Suzanne Scheuring (Native turtles, reptiles and amphibians) – 607-753-0652
Greene County
- Friends of the Feathered & Furry Wildlife Center –
Madison County
- Safe Haven Wildlife Rehab – 315-454-2286 / 315-687-6962 (cell)
- PineShadow Rehab – 315-825-5410
Nassau County
- Squirrel Sanctuary, Inc.
New York County
- Geese Girls Nuisance Wildlife – 516-205-6846
Niagara County
- Wild Kritters of Niagara County, Inc. – 716-731-9334, 716-434-6924, 716-622-4870
Oswego County
- Deona’s Promises – 315-675-3296, 315-560-8409
Sulfolk County
- Virginia Frati Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptoms – 631-728-4200 / 631-725-5895
- Volunteers for Wildlife Inc. – 631-423-0982
- Elizabeth M. Santosus (Opossums Only) – 631-261-6895
Ulster County
- Hudson Valley Reptile & Rescue – 845-206-1689
- Critter Care (Fox’s and Raccoons) – 914-224-4156
Wayne County
- Caring for Cottontails Wildlife Rescue & Rehab – 585-410-3017
Westchester County
The Wild Thing, Inc. – 914-456-4844