New animal response group fills gap in the region

Founder Kurt Vondercrone started Simcoe County Emergency Animal Response takes emergency calls.

A new organization to help injured wildlife in Simcoe County acts as a bridge between the people who find them and rescue groups.

It was a gap one Simcoe County man saw in the region that he was looking to fill after his own experience of a scare he had with his dog.

Simcoe County Emergency Animal Response (SCEAR) launched at the beginning of the year and since then have answered 50 calls of animals in distress.

The founder of SCEAR, Kurt Vondercrone, says he started the group because he was seeing gaps in the wildlife rescue system in the region. While there are plenty of rescue groups, there wasn’t a group to contain and transfer the animal to a rescue organization.

That’s where SCEAR comes in.

The way it works is members of the community might happen upon an animal in distress out in the wild. That person would then contact SCEAR where a volunteer would triage the call, go pick up the animal and transport it to a rehabilitation centre.

For example, Vondercrone recalls a baby deer stuck on a floating piece of ice in the winter that his team responded to. With the help of other resources, the deer managed to get to safety, but those are the kinds of gaps he says are happening.

A next step, he says, would be specialized training in responding to a call like that.

“Like any new organization, every day is new experiences,” says Vondercrone. “Every rescue is a new experience in one way or another. No two animals act the same or are the same. And it’s been great to gain new knowledge every single day. And we’ve had a lot of support from the community. If it’s wildlife and no one else wants to deal with it, we want to fill that gap because we don’t think the animal should just be left there to suffer on their own.”

The group is made up of all volunteers who have a passion for helping animals.

“We do this because the animals can’t speak for themselves,” says Vondercrone.

He says the group really relies on the community to not turn a blind eye to animals showing unusual behaviour and to report it to SCEAR.

“The more people who call, the better,” says Vondercrone.

SCEAR is currently partnering with Procyon Wildlife in Beeton.

Debra Spilar, executive director and custodian, says the rescue group doesn’t have the funds or the volunteers to pick up the animals, so it works out well that SCEAR does that part of the rescue process.

“We rescue, rehabilitate and release all injured, orphaned, distressed and abandoned animals that need help,” Spilar says.

A raccoon named Delilah that the two groups worked to rescue together is ready to be released.

SCEAR picked her up from a snowbank, frostbitten and injured, SCEAR called Procyon who took her in, gave her medication and treatment. She’s now ready to head back to her home in the wild.

The wildlife centre is also looking for volunteers. More information can be found on the website. Spilar says it’s certainly a unique opportunity.

“Who gets to work with a skunk or a porcupine? Most people get to see just roadkill,” says Spilar.