Hope for Wildlife works to rebuild following storm

Work is now underway to repair damage at Hope for Wildlife, a week after freezing rain and heavy winds hit the rehabilitation centre in Seaforth, N.S.

READ MORE: Hope for Wildlife animal enclosures damaged by storm

Owner Hope Swinimer said the centre, which has provided food, shelter and medical care for more than 20,000 animals since 1997, saw varying levels of damage from the storm.

“We had a lot of little damage like broken windows, smaller units were broken, roof shingles came off,” Swinimer said.

“The worst damage was when we came up to our white tail deer unit and our flight cages. Unfortunately, they’re getting older and they just couldn’t withstand the forces.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The worst damage was when we came up to our white tail deer unit and our flight cages. Unfortunately, they're getting older and they just couldn't withstand the forces."

Swinimer said fortunately there were no deer in the unit when the storm struck, otherwise they would have likely escaped.

There were several birds in the adjacent flight cage, which was also damaged, but they too were uninjured.

Public plea leads to help for rehab

Hope for Wildlife put out a public plea on Facebook for help repairing the damage earlier this week and on Wednesday, several volunteers showed up at the animal sanctuary to help with repairs at the rehab centre.

Among those who offered their time was Markus Kasper, who formerly worked in construction, along with his wife Renee and their four children.

“Why did we choose to bring the kids? Because I figure it’s always good to teach your kids to help out when needed,” Markus said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Why did we choose to bring the kids? Because I figure it's always good to teach your kids to help out when needed," Markus said.

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“Actually, the little guys were supposed to do a field trip today in school but that was cancelled due to some politics, so we decided to do our own field trip.”

Renee said she and her family are fans of the show Hope for Wildlife and knew the kids would like to spend some time at the rehab.

“We’ve always done volunteer work and we moved back east about a year ago, so we love the wildlife. So we figured we’d come help out,” she said.

WATCH: Film credit cuts could hurt us too: Hope for Wildlife

Volunteer manpower ‘as good as dollars’

According to Swinimer, volunteers like the Kasper family are crucial for the non-profit organization.

The cost for replacing the deer enclosure itself was pegged at $30,000, in addition to the other damage that will need to gradually be fixed up around the property.

With volunteers working to take the fence down, Swinimer said they will be able to reuse the old wire for the new enclosure. They have also arranged with Eastern Fence to build the new enclosure for the deer at half the cost.

“Every bit that we can get done through volunteers is less money that we have to fund raise, so manpower’s as good as dollars and cents,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Every bit that we can get done through volunteers is less money that we have to fund raise, so manpower's as good as dollars and cents," she said.

It will still take a few days to get the old enclosure down, so volunteers are welcome this week.

WATCH: Hope for Wildlife open house draws thousands from across North America

2:21 Hope for Wildlife open house draws thousands from across North America

When the new one is constructed, it will be bigger than the last, Swinimer said, and hopefully withstand the conditions better. The old enclosure was built using hemlock posts, which were starting to show their age, while the new enclosure will use steel posts instead.

“We built it with hemlock, thinking it would last the test of time but in Seaforth we have horrible winds and lots of salt water and we’re right on the ocean, so it really only lasted about 10 years, which surprised everybody,” Swinimer said.

Swinimer is hoping that with enough volunteers, they can have the old enclosure down and the new one up before the weather changes and the region is hit with another storm.

Follow @NatashaPace