It takes a lot to feed the roughly 1,300 animals Wild Instincts treats and cares for each year.
The Rhinelander non-profit depends entirely on donations for its work.
“In a normal year, we probably go through between 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of venison. Between foxes, coyotes, bobcats, eagles, different things like that, we go through quite a bit of it every year,” said Director of Rehabilitation Mark Naniot.
Hunters can help feed those animals.
Naniot says Wild Instincts won’t take carcasses, but they will take scraps, deer hearts, or even last year’s venison that’s been sitting in the back of the freezer.
There’s a cooler out front of its center at 4621 Apperson Drive, Rhinelander for hunters to drop off donations.
The main thing Naniot says they need to know is what was used to kill the deer.
“If people can kind of let us know what it was that they shot it with, so that way, if it was lead that they shot it with, we can kind of prepare for that, to know that there's certain animals we won't give it to,” said Naniot.
Every year, Wild Instincts sees a spike in bald eagles with lead poisoning following the 9-day gun deer season.
“If somebody shoots a deer with a lead bullet and they don't find it, then the eagles do. They will eat the carcass and get the lead particles as well from the bullets,” said Naniot. “Even the gut piles, you know, the lungs, the liver, the heart, a lot of times that people, when they gut out the deer, they don't eat those parts and a lot of those parts are contaminated with lead as well.”
Naniot says its not unusual for them to take in 7 to 10 eagles within a week of the gun season that have lead poisoning.
He encourages hunters to use lead-free alternatives like copper ammunition.
The 9-day gun deer season starts Saturday.
