Wildlife rehabilitator Danielle Sullivan rescues a spider found by
Littleville Elementary School students, from left, Liam Thompson, Reed
Spaulding, Andrew Mason Galvini, Elle McFarland and Emerson Lucas.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
HUNTINGTON — Reading specialist Margaret Petzold arranged a special visit to Littleville Elementary School on Sept. 12 in advance of the school participating in “One School One Book.”
Starting on Sept. 16, the whole school began reading “A Boy Named Bat,” by Elana Arnold, a story about a boy who wants to keep an orphaned skunk that his mother, a veterinarian, brought home to care for. He has one month to show his mom that the skunk would be a terrific pet.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
“The book is about first friendship — the baby skunk helps Bat cope with divorce, school and autism,” Petzold said.
She said the whole school is reading aloud one chapter per day. Kindergartners and first graders are listening to their teacher read it; older students get their own copies to read along as the teacher reads, and take home afterward. Petzold said the group reading will end on Oct. 18 with some kind of whole-school celebration.
To prepare the students for the subject of caring for wild animals, Petzold invited wildlife rehabilitator Danielle Sullivan of Southwick to come and speak to the students about the work she does to help small animals who have been hurt to recover.
Sullivan has a nonprofit 501c3 organization called Country Critters Rehabilitation, and has a license to care for possums, squirrels, bunnies, woodchucks and other small mammals. She said this year she has taken in 55 animals, more than the usual 30 to 45 a year. A lot of the babies she gets, such as squirrels and raccoons, are found in trees that are cut down.
She said sometimes orphaned baby squirrels will approach humans for help. Sullivan will feed them formula every four hours, setting an alarm to make sure she wakes up for overnight feedings.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
She has also taken in baby bunnies and baby possums. Her favorite rescue this year was a possum she named Poppy. Sullivan said if a possum is pregnant when hit by a car, she may still have babies that are alive in the pouch even though the mother is dead. She said rescuers need to check the pouch.
Sullivan then read to the students a book, “The Rescuer of Tiny Creatures,” by Curtis Manley, about a girl who rescues tiny creatures like worms and bugs, with the help of her little brother.
As she was reading, Sullivan asked the students whether any of them rescued spiders and brought them outside instead of squishing them.
“Don’t squish spiders,” she said.
“I don’t want to squish them, but my mom will,” said one boy.
As if on cue, another student saw a spider crawling on the floor near where the students were sitting. Sullivan got down and rescued it to bring outside afterwards. She said she releases all of the animals she rescues.
After finishing the book, Sullivan asked the students, “if you ever find an injured animal, what should you do? Call a wildlife rehabilitator in your town that can help them.”
Sullivan’s work in wildlife rehabilitation may be followed on Facebook by searching for Country Critters Rehabilitation.
