07/17/2026
Well said!!!
I keep reading comments that say I’m “overdramatic,” that I have a “tone,” or that I should just be grateful because “at least they cared.”
Do you know what gives me that tone?
Graves.
Yes this dirty pad was intentional , I’m waiting to see who’s gonna miss the message and be angry that the pads not changed.
I don’t become emotional over a bottle of formula. I become emotional because I’ve stood over far too many tiny graves that never should have existed.
This wasn’t a situation where no one knew better.
For two weeks, I was in contact with the finder of this fawn. For two weeks, I educated. I explained why human infant formula was dangerous. I explained what needed to happen. I offered help. I asked for the fawn to be brought to me.
For two weeks, I was told they couldn’t get her here.
For two weeks, she continued to receive human infant formula.
Eventually, she was confiscated and brought to me. By then, the damage had already been done.
The worst part, this fawn didn’t even need to be rehabbed.
She kidnapped it out of the wild and took it home.
A few days ago, I celebrated because the diarrhea had finally stopped. It looked like we had won a small battle.
Tonight, it came back.
Now we’re starting over. Medications. Gut flushes. Slowly rebuilding a digestive system that was never meant to process what it was given. Despite treatment and vaccination, I’m now concerned about progressive Clostridium overgrowth. I don’t know if she’ll survive.
So when people tell me to “be nicer,” understand what you’re really asking.
You’re asking someone who watches animals die from preventable mistakes to soften the warning because it makes people uncomfortable.
Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable.
I don’t raise my voice because I’m angry.
I raise it because I’ve whispered over enough little bodies.
Every animal that comes here is someone’s mistake to fix. Hit by a car. Attacked by dogs. Fed the wrong thing. Kept too long. Loved with good intentions but without the right information.
And when they arrive, they don’t tell me, “They meant well.”
Their bodies tell me.
I appreciate every person who genuinely wants to help wildlife. I truly do. But caring isn’t always enough. Good intentions cannot reverse medical damage.
When a licensed wildlife rehabilitator tells you not to feed something, it isn’t because we’re trying to control the situation. It isn’t because we’re being rude. It isn’t because we think you’re incapable.
It’s because we’ve already seen how the story ends.
Please… don’t become a keyboard rehabber because you watched a short video.
Trust the people who have spent years cleaning up the aftermath.
I don’t get dramatic over formula.
I get dramatic over graves.
And if sounding urgent saves even one animal from becoming the next one I have to bury… then I’ll keep having a “tone.”
