Yesterday we celebrated our volunteers.  I am at a loss to find the perfect word to describe them…amazing, dedicated, compassionate, hard-working, dependable, delightful, brilliant, organized, thoughtful, and the list goes on.  Deserving of recognition and selfless has to be among the necessary descriptors, however.

Our annual Volunteer Appreciation picnic was yesterday.  It was extremely well attended, and as always, the food was off the charts. Among many other things was the anticipated  Greek salad (thank you, John), the baked ham, the chilis (vegan, vegetarian, and regular with chicken or beef), pulled pork and the fixings, Italian meatballs, and the plethora of side dishes and hors d’oeurves..  Then, there were the desserts…an entire roomful!  Each year it gets better and is better attended.

The group was thanked for the over 9200 animals assisted this year, the over 850 educational experiences provided, and the more than 4000 orders filled over the years through the Non-Eagle Feather Repository.  This group is responsible for a lot of hard work and soaring compassion and the place wouldn’t run without them….so much gratitude from the staff and the critters (they told me so…) for this stalwart group of individuals from all walks of life.

On top of this incredible accomplishment, Liberty Wildlife not only provides the state with solutions to individual issues with negative impacts on native wildlife, we are also looking for solutions to global problems that cause wild animals to be brought in for care.

One solution is being explored by Purdue University and Liberty Wildlife in an effort to mitigate for negative impacts between wind towers and eagles.  I won’t go into details, but it is a definite feather in our cap to be a part of the study.  Another solution deals with negative impact with raptors and power equipment in an effort to recognize the causes and create solutions to electric incidents involving raptors.  Solutions involving pole construction and equipment configuration could be a global solution to an age-old problem.  We have signed on with The Peregrine Fund to be part of a group of experts who promote a better understanding of the beauty and benefits of raptors around the world.  Another joint effort we are a part of deals with finding solutions to the issues surrounding lead poison in birds of prey.  There are many other local issues that we are involved with that would lead to solving a number of consistent wildlife threats.  More on that will follow.

All of these efforts are furthered by the determined, diligent, and compassionate engagement by the Liberty Wildlife Volunteer contention.  If you know a Liberty Wildlife volunteer, thank them.  If you don’t know a volunteer now would be a great time to meet one…or two.  They are all around the state doing rescues, releases, educational programs or working to solve any problems you have with native wildlife.  This state would be lesser without them.

My personal thank you goes out to each and every one of you…those I see regularly and those who work quietly behind the scenes to make Arizona and this world a much better place.