Cottontail Cottage Wildlife Rehab, Port Chester, NY (2025)

07/12/2025

I built Cottontail Cottage from nothing.

Just a dark, dingy walk in basement that no one had used in 100 years. The floors were cracked, the air was stale, and it wasn’t much to look at. But I saw what it could be. I sold my business and poured everything I had into this space, every dollar, every ounce of energy, every hope that it could one day become something meaningful.

And it did.

Thanks to you, your belief, your support it grew into something far more beautiful than I ever imagined. A little sanctuary for the animals who have nowhere else to go. A place where second chances begin.

Like the tiny life that came through our doors this week.

She was lying beneath a mailbox on a scorching hot day. Alone, a baby southern flying squirrel, just a few inches long, too young to be on her own. Her eye was injured, her ear bruised. There was no nest in sight. No tree. No mother.

But someone saw her.
And now… she’s here. Safe. Warm. Breathing soft little breaths beneath layers of fleece.

This is why I keep going.

The days are long right now, early mornings that bleed into late nights, seven days a week. Wildlife rehab doesn’t come with shifts or weekends off. It’s just… always. And I’ll be honest: by this time in the season, most of us are feeling it. Worn thin. A little hollowed out. But also deeply full, because this work still matters.

There’s beauty in it.
In the feeding, the healing, the holding on.
In the quiet knowing that a life was saved because someone chose to care.

And I’m not doing it alone anymore. I have the most amazing volunteers, people who transport animals across hours of highway, who wash dishes and clean enclosures and do the unglamorous things that keep this place standing. Their kindness holds Cottontail Cottage together, even when I feel like I’m unraveling.

We’re dreaming bigger these days searching for land, planning soft release enclosures, trying to build something more permanent for the future. It’s exciting… and a little daunting.

One of the hardest parts of being the founder and director of Cottontail Cottage is this:
I really hate asking for things.

I hate asking for help. I hate asking for money. It makes me uncomfortable every single time. But I do it anyway because this isn’t about me. It’s about them.

Every single dollar we receive goes directly to the animals in our care. Not to salaries. Not to overhead. Just to food, treatment, supplies, and the work of giving these wild lives a second chance.

If you’ve ever thought about supporting us long-term, becoming a monthly donor, even at a small amount, makes a bigger difference than you’d think.

Monthly donors give us the baseline we need to plan ahead.
To dream a little bigger.
To build what these animals deserve.

They’re the reason we can start looking for land. Start designing soft release enclosures. Start turning the idea of a full wildlife center into something real.

It’s about creating something lasting.
For every baby that ends up under a mailbox, waiting for help.
For every life that still needs saving.

And as long as I’m here, I’ll keep showing up. 🤍

https://givebutter.com/cottontail-cottage-wildlife-rehab

07/09/2025

Let’s talk about entitlement in 2025.
Because wow… it’s really having a moment.

This year, more than ever, we’ve seen people treating wildlife rehab like it’s free pest control.
Calls demanding we drive hours to them, immediately.

No offer to donate. No willingness to help. Not even a “thank you.”
Just a whole lot of “fix this for me, now.”

One of the many recent gems?
A message to our hotline that said:
“Get rid of them by Saturday.”
They were talking about two coyotes with mange, thin, sick, and simply trying to survive.

I responded with compassion. I explained how to haze humanely, how to remove pet food, and how to help the coyotes move along safely.
I even offered to treat the mange, at no cost to them.

But that wasn’t what they wanted.
What they wanted was for someone else to erase the situation.
And when I didn’t comply?
“I’m a taxpayer. I have rights.”

It’s wild, literally.
Because mange is treatable.
Coyotes are protected by law.
And no, paying taxes does not make you licensed to kill wildlife you find inconvenient.

But it’s not just coyotes.
We get calls like this about foxes, skunks, groundhogs, all blamed for problems people created by leaving out food, failing to cover window wells, refusing to haze, or ignoring basic prevention.

And instead of taking accountability, they call us demanding we remove wildlife from… forests.

Yes, that really happened.
Someone once asked me to “get rid of all the deer and turkeys from Purchase.”
When I explained that’s not legal, ethical, or remotely possible, they actually reported me to the DEC.
(Who, shocker, backed me up.)

Here’s the thing:
As wildlife rehabbers, we do this work out of love.
We don’t get paid for hotline calls. We don’t charge for rescues.
But people have learned that caring makes us vulnerable and some try to take full advantage of that.

But I don’t play that game.
I don’t fold to threats.
And I won’t bend for someone who sees wild animals as disposable.

These conversations are exhausting.
But I will always show up for the animals.
Because they’re not the problem. We are.

No, the coyotes weren’t killed.
They’re still out there. Still surviving.
And as long as I’m here, I’ll keep showing up for them.

Wildlife deserves better than fear, entitlement, and ultimatums.
They deserve space. They deserve respect.
And frankly, so do we.

06/26/2025

I will spend the rest of my life loving what the world tells us to forget.

Not because it’s easy.
Not because it makes sense on paper.
But because I know what happens when no one shows up for them.

Every day, animals are born into a world that sees them as disposable. A rabbit nest in a backyard becomes a nuisance. An opossum on the porch is called a pest. A squirrel in the attic is someone’s problem. These animals who are vital to our ecosystems, who quietly hold this planet together are treated like they don’t belong.

But they do.

And I’ve made it my life’s work to remind people of that.

At Cottontail Cottage, we care for the ones no one else will. We hold space for the animals who are never chosen. And what we’ve found is simple but powerful: the moment you look closely, everything changes.

You notice the way a rabbit relaxes when she finally feels safe.
You hear the tiny clicks of an opossum saying hello.
You watch a squirrel wrap herself in a blanket and know, this is someone.

And people see it too. They message me saying, “I never thought I’d love an opossum,” or “I didn’t know rabbits had such big personalities.”

But they do, of course they do.

The truth is, we’ve been trained to only value what’s cute, shocking, or convenient. We’re taught to love animals that sit in our laps or pose for selfies, and to overlook the ones who live in the shadows, clean up our waste, aerate our soil, and pollinate our plants.

But I believe that a life doesn’t need to be pretty to be precious.
It doesn’t need to be tame to be worthy.
It doesn’t need to be profitable to be protected.

Wild animals matter, just as they are.

So I’ll keep doing this work. For the rabbits mistaken for lawn pests, for the opossums hit by cars and never looked at twice, for every animal who’s been overlooked, unloved, unwanted.

This is my mission.
This is my promise.
And I will spend the rest of my life keeping it. 🤍

06/24/2025

Some people think doing this work means you get used to loss. But the truth is, you never do. And this one hurts in a different way.

I didn’t know Mikayla Raines well. We followed each other, exchanged a few kind words here and there. But I knew of her, the way many of us in this world of wildlife do. She was brave, she showed up. Not just for the animals in her care, but for the people who watched and learned from her.

And this week, we learned that she’s gone.
From what we know, relentless online bullying played a part in that loss.

She had a husband, a young daughter, a life, a purpose. And even all of that wasn’t enough to shield her from the cruelty of people who will never understand the cost of what we do or the damage their words can cause.

I don’t show my face online very often and honestly, it’s on purpose. It creates just enough distance to make the hate easier to delete. People don’t know me by name, they just know the work. That small boundary makes it easier to breathe sometimes.

But Mikayla showed up fully with her face, her voice, her heart. And for that, she was met with the kind of cruelty that can break even the strongest soul.

If you’ve never been on the receiving end of that kind of online hate, I hope you never are.
If you have then you already know the tightness it puts in your chest, the way it lingers long after the screen goes dark.

We are human, we are trying.
And when you write something cruel under someone’s post, we see it, we feel it. It doesn’t disappear when you close the app.

If your only contribution to this world is cutting others down, I don’t know what to tell you, except this:
Kindness is free and so is silence. Pick one.

Mikayla should still be here, laughing with her daughter, caring for her animals, dreaming bigger.

Instead, she’s gone. And if that doesn’t make us all stop and think, I don’t know what will.

Please be kind. Please be better.
And if you do anything today, let it be in honor of someone who gave her life to kindness, only to be met with the opposite.

Rest in peace, Mikayla. I’m so sorry this world didn’t protect you. 🤍

06/24/2025

Heatwaves Are Deadly for Wildlife, Here’s What You Can Do…

Wild animals don’t have air conditioning. During heatwaves, even the most resilient animals, rabbits, birds, squirrels, opossums can suffer from dehydration, heatstroke, or death.

But here’s the thing: you can help, and it costs nothing.

🌿 Place shallow bowls of water outside
🌿 Add a few rocks or sticks so smaller animals and insects can drink safely
🌿 Refresh daily, and keep them in shady spots
🌿 Never add electrolytes, Gatorade, or sugar just clean, fresh water

A single bowl could save dozens of lives this week. And in a world that often feels overwhelming, this is one small thing we can do to make a difference.

Please share this tip. You never know who it might reach, or how many lives it might save. 🤍

06/21/2025

So a groundhog walks into a bar…

Well, not into exactly. More like… ends up in front of one in the middle of Manhattan.

This is a baby groundhog. Way too young to be on his own. He should’ve still been curled up in a den, next to his mom, not dodging taxis in front of a bar with no green space in sight.

We don’t know how he got there. Maybe his den was destroyed during construction. Maybe someone tried to raise him and let him go when it got hard. Maybe he just wandered, lost and scared. What we do know is that someone saw him, cared enough to stop, and called a friend who loved animals. That friend gathered him up and called our hotline.

Because that’s how wildlife rescue happens, not with big headlines or flashing lights, but with a few people doing the right thing when no one’s watching. A bartender. A friend. A rehabber. A whole invisible thread of compassion.

He made it to us safely, and soon he’ll be reunited with a group of baby groundhogs the “potato squad” who are about his size and already in care. They’ll grow up together, wild and free the way they’re meant to, then be released back into nature. No more bar hopping for this little guy.

Just earth beneath his feet, sunshine on his fur, and a second chance.

If you want to help us be there for the next lost little soul in need, you can support our work here: https://givebutter.com/cottontail-cottage-wildlife-rehab 🤍

06/17/2025

This might be the tiniest baby we’ve ever had and that’s really saying something.

He weighs just 15 grams. That’s less than a tablespoon of sugar. In the photo, you’ll see Sparkles curled up beside another bunny his age and that’s when you really feel just how small he is.

He was born right on the road. No nest. No cover. No chance. It happens more often than you’d think wild mothers following instinct in a world that isn’t always kind to it and when there’s no nest to return a baby to, we step in.

Despite his size, Sparkles has a huge appetite. He’s already showing the kind of quiet determination that makes you stop and think, this one wants to live.

At Cottontail Cottage, we specialize in neonate rabbits. These are the babies most people won’t even attempt to save. Too fragile, too risky. But we’ve learned that idea just isn’t true. They’re delicate, yes but they’re also incredibly resilient and they are absolutely worth trying for.

Wild rabbits, especially Eastern cottontails, are some of the most overlooked animals in our communities. Few people realize that several wild rabbit species, including our local New England cottontail, are now threatened. They face shrinking habitat, traffic, predators, and indifference. And still, they carry on.

Right now, every single enclosure here is full. Each one holds an animal with a story and a fight. And I’m doing everything I can to hold it all together, to keep things running at the highest level we can. Because that’s what they deserve.

That’s why I’m writing this at midnight and scheduling it for the morning because once the sun comes up, there’s no slowing down. The day belongs to them.

But this quiet hour belongs to you and me.

And I just wanted to tell you what it feels like to hold something this impossibly small and believe, with everything you’ve got, that they’re going to make it. 🤍

06/16/2025

These two were born right on a busy road.

Most people don’t know this, but mother rabbits can’t move their babies. Once they give birth, that’s it. If they’re startled or caught off guard and deliver in the wrong spot, their babies are stuck there, completely exposed to the world.

Thankfully, someone noticed in time. And now these tiny ones are safe here at the Cottage, warm, cared for, and loved.

If you’re reading this, there’s actually something really simple you can do to help them and every animal we care for and it doesn’t cost a thing.

Facebook rewards pages like ours for engagement, which means every time you like, comment, share, or even just watch one of our videos, we actually earn money that goes directly toward food, medicine, and supplies for the animals.

It only takes a few seconds, but it makes a real difference.

Here’s how you can help:
✅ Like the post
✅ Leave a comment (four words or more helps the most!)
✅ Share it with your friends

It’s such a small thing, but it helps us do big things, like saying yes to sidewalk babies who never should have had to fight for a chance.

Thank you for being part of our little rehab with a big heart. You truly make this possible. 🤍

06/15/2025

I never thought we would be releasing bunnies that were raised under the watchful eyes of gorillas, but here we are.

These babies were born right inside the gorilla enclosure at the Bronx Zoo. One of the zookeepers accidentally uncovered their nest while raking. She gently covered them back up and hoped their mom would return. But the gorillas were curious. Really curious.

They kept uncovering the nest, not to harm them, just to quietly observe. They would sit around the babies, completely fascinated. It was strangely beautiful. This unspoken, peaceful moment between species.

But then the rain came. The babies were getting cold, and the gorillas kept unintentionally exposing the nest. As much as we try to leave nests alone whenever we can, this time, we had to step in.

We brought them to Cottontail Cottage, warmed them up, and raised them as wild as we could. And a few days ago, we released them back into the world, not far from where they were born.

It’s hard to explain what it feels like to watch them hop off after a beginning like that. All I know is, I’ll never forget this group or the way they came into our care.

To everyone who’s followed their journey, supported our work, or just sent good thoughts, thank you. Thank you for believing in our little rehab, I see your messages and they keep me going on the tough days.

If you want to help us say yes to the next surprise rescue (and let’s be honest, there’s always a next one), you can donate here https://linktr.ee/cottontailcottage. Your support makes stories like this possible.

06/13/2025

As a kid, I vividly remember sitting in an IMAX theater at the museum, completely in awe. Watching animals on that massive screen, it felt like I was right there with them. Those films were magical, and they sparked so much of my love for wildlife.

So when we were asked to submit footage for one of these documentaries, I couldn’t have been more excited. I haven’t seen the final film yet, so I don’t actually know if our clips made the cut… but just being part of something like this feels incredibly meaningful.

To have wildlife rehabilitation represented in a space like this, on giant screens, in museums, in front of families and kids who might be seeing it for the first time is a huge step forward. It helps show just how much this work matters. How every life saved, every second chance given, is worth it.

Whether our footage is in there or not, I’m just so proud to see rehabbers and the animals we care for getting a little more of the spotlight they deserve. 🤍

If you get the chance to see it, let us know what you think!

06/10/2025

You came in cold. I could hear the click in your lungs the second I picked you up. It’s the kind of sound you never forget, wet, weak breaths from milk that ended up in the wrong place. The people who had you were only a few miles from us. They were trying to help. They bought milk off Amazon and fed you with a syringe, thinking they were doing the right thing.

But they didn’t know how and because of that, the milk ended up in your lungs. I did everything I could to pull the fluid out. We gave you meds and the clicking started to fade a little. We put you in the incubator with other babies so you wouldn’t be alone. But truthfully, I don’t know if you’re going to make it through the night.

Your fur is falling out in patches. Your ears are curled from dehydration. You’re exhausted. And honestly, it’s a miracle you’ve made it this far.

I really hope we can fix you. I hope we can get you strong enough to go back to the wild where you belong. You’ve got those big, innocent eyes and that sweet little face, none of my photos do you any justice, and I just keep thinking it didn’t have to be like this.

This is the part that breaks me. People always mean well but they don’t call when they find the animal. They call when the animal is already dying and by then, it’s usually too late.

Please don’t try to raise wildlife yourself. It’s not because we don’t want you to experience it. It’s because we’ve seen this exact story play out too many times. Love isn’t enough, good intentions aren’t enough. These animals need proper nutrition, hydration, heat, experienced care takers and medications sometimes within hours of being found. We were right down the road the entire time. One Google search would’ve brought him to us on day one.

Please just call we’re here. That’s what we’re here for. (914)933-7559 is our hotline save it to your phone and share it with someone who needs it 🤍

06/08/2025

I got lost on the way to dinner last night.

I drove 15 minutes in the wrong direction, even though I was using GPS. When I finally looked at it again, I realized the address wasn’t even what I had typed in.

So I took a completely different way back. And that’s when I saw them.

Two tiny baby raccoons, right in the middle of the highway. Their mom had been hit by a car.

A few weeks ago, a baby squirrel showed up outside my door, crying after she lost her mother. I don’t know how they find me, but sometimes it feels like they just know. Like maybe, somehow, they’re meant to…

I haven’t been posting as much lately because we’re in the thick of our busiest season. Animals are coming in every day. There are more mouths to feed, more medication to give, more lives that need help. And somehow, during these times when we’re working nonstop, donations always seem to slow down.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I’m still trying to build up our base of monthly donors so that during these lulls, we don’t have to worry as much about how we’ll cover food, formula, and medical care. If you’ve ever thought about becoming a monthly donor, now is truly a helpful time. Even a small amount each month makes a big difference for these little ones.

Here’s the link if you’d like to help:

https://givebutter.com/cottontail-cottage-wildlife-rehab

These two raccoons were transferred to a wonderful raccoon rehabber upstate right across the highway from where they were found and I can’t help but think… maybe that was the reason for the wrong turn all along.

🤍

Cottontail Cottage Wildlife Rehab

07/12/2025

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