Last week, the Center for Wildlife made their final visit of the summer to the Wells Reserve. Members of the public (including Talia Kremser, the photographer for this blog entry) who came to this "Nocturnal Mammals" program were treated to up-close encounters with several non-releasable rescued animal ambassadors.

First, Edna the albino porcupine stole the hearts of the audience. She climbed up her crate, shimmied herself down off of it, and then let out a couple of porcupine voacalizations that surprised us all!

Next, Orson the opossum emerged from his crate. Center for Wildlife staff explained how opossums are very clean, licking their fur often just as cats do. Orson was hungry and quickly consumed lots of juicy apple treats.

The Center's final ambassadors of the day were two big brown bats, who were snuggled up together in a dark box, sleeping through the entire presentation. We learned about white nose syndrome, a disease that has killed more than a million bats in the past five years and has recently reached bat populations in Maine.

Most of the Center's rescued wildlife are hit by cars, suffering injuries that make them non-releasable. Another large percentage are caught by house cats. Still others are separated from their mothers, after a car strike or other human interference, and need to be raised up at the Center before being released.

The Center for Wildlife visits the Wells Reserve to do public programs with their animal ambassadors throughout the year. In addition, the Center and the Wells Reserve have recently partnered up to offer Wild Friends in Wild Places, an exciting new school program for students in grades K-2.