07/12/2025
So true❤️
🦝💔 Compassion Fatigue Is Real 💔🦝
Wildlife rehabilitation is full of love, purpose, and heartwarming moments… but behind the scenes, it can also be emotionally draining.
When you’re bottle-feeding orphaned babies around the clock, cleaning cages nonstop, washing endless loads of laundry, making life-or-death decisions daily, and trying your very best with limited resources—something begins to wear down, no matter how strong your heart is.
This is called compassion fatigue. It’s what happens when your empathy runs dry from giving so much of yourself. And it’s okay to admit it.
Rehabbers are not superheroes—we’re humans who feel deeply. We cry over losses, we carry guilt over the “what-ifs,” and sometimes, we’re just tired.
🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿
A few days ago, a fellow rehabber, Elizabeth, of Little Bit Wildlife Rescue, (who I’ve greatly respected & admired for years), made a post regarding this same subject. Some of her words couldn’t have been more spot on than if I had spoken them myself:
“Wildlife rehab isn’t just bottle feeding cute babies. It’s heartbreak, grief, stress, and exhaustion wrapped in the love we have for every animal that comes through our doors. It’s watching some fight to survive and not make it. It’s delivering sad news to a finder who was hoping for a miracle. It’s the guilt we feel when we have to say “no” because there’s no more space, no more hours in the day, no more left to give.
We lose sleep. We skip meals. We miss holidays, birthdays, and sometimes even moments with our own families. Not because we’re martyrs—because these lives matter to us.”
(Thank you Elizabeth ❤️)
🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿
We all start rehabbing for the same reason- because of our love for the animals. The reasons we continue usually vary. I know they need me, but in all honesty, I need them more. They complete my life in a way I can’t truly put into words… I just “know” this is my role in this lifetime.
To those in the rehab community:
❤️ You are enough.
❤️ Your care does matter.
❤️ You’re allowed to rest without guilt.
To my supporters:
Thank you for lifting me up when I feel empty. Your words, donations, and kindness mean more than you know. Sometimes the best medicine for compassion fatigue… is compassion itself 💞
– Sharon
