Kelowna city council approves rehab facility for small mammals and songbirds

Kelowna, B.C., city council gave its stamp of approval to build a wildlife rehabilitation centre for small mammals and birds within city limits.

Wild Things Rehabilitation Society, which will be at 2605 O’Reilly Rd., will be the first facility of its kind in Kelowna and will treat orphaned squirrels, marmots, chipmunks and a variety of local songbirds. Once they are rehabilitated they’d be returned to the wild, per environmental standards.

“There is no organization in Kelowna that treats injured or orphaned wildlife,” founder Sydney Platz said to council Monday.

“Currently, they are euthanized regardless of their condition or ability to be rehabilitated, due to these lack of resources. Wild Things will end this unnecessary loss.”

The proposal, which would see the facility built with temporary structures on land owned by Trent and Maria Kitsch, and provided free of charge to the society for five years, won over council, despite concerns from city staff.

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In a report, staff raised concerns about the orientation of the proposed building on the lot and its impact on what was deemed a highly sensitive environmental area.  Those concerns were addressed by Platz.

“We want to note and stress that we will not be open to the public, and that we’ll only have one to three people on site at any given time,” she said.

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“We do not feel this will noticeably increase traffic to the area. We will be focusing on small mammals and songbirds native to Kelowna, so no large mammals or predators will be rehabilitated on site.”

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She said some interventions may be done off-site and dropping off injured creatures will not be encouraged or allowed.

The size of the facility and staff required is much smaller than a rural major animal clinic typically would require. She also assured concerns about the location and scope of the facility.

Coun. Charlie Hodge noted that there was no such facility within the Central Okanagan at large and that in itself is a tragedy.

“I wish you all the success in the world,” he said.