Bird Alliance of Oregon (Formerly Portland Audubon) — Attraction in Portland

I found a baby chipmunk on the sidewalk while visiting my daughter in Portland. I brought him inside and took care of him overnight, giving him food, water, and a little box with cotton balls to sleep in. The next day I took it to the Audubon Society. Weeks later they called and asked if I’d like to be a part of releasing him into the wild. I thought that was super cool and I said of course! I was going to meet her there the next day. I didn’t realize it was almost an hour away from my house, and was going to be about 20 mins late, so she said I could meet her at the park they were releasing him. She gave me an intersection to go to. I do not know Portland well. When she called and said she couldn’t find me, I told her oh I typed in avenue… I was supposed to type in place. She was already sounding frustrated and told me to type in the name of a spa. Well apparently there are 2 locations and it took me about 15 mins away from where she was at. If she would have sent me an exact address, I could have found it no problem. She became irritated and said, this thing’s been in the car for almost an hour now and I need to release it! I kept apologizing and said I was a few minutes away. I count t find it quick enough and I called and asked if she could take a video for me. She sounded irritated with that too and said I don’t know, I can try. I finally found the place and called and asked if she was still there. She said she just released him. I know it took a while to find her. But if she hadn’t sounded so impatient from the beginning, I probably could have found her faster. Maybe a little sympathy and kindness. And she didn’t take a video. This meant so much to me. It doesn’t help when someone who is doing their best to find you, is being made to feel bad. I will never drop off an animal here again. It wasn’t that I wanted her to just wait around forever, it was the tone I was talked to the whole time trying to find her. The unnecessary comments… “ I don’t know why you can’t find it, I found it just fine on my gps” completely unsympathetic. An hour is a long drive and I tried so hard and was so nice the entire time. I did not deserve to be talked to like that at all. I was in tears I didn’t get to see my little...

Our dogs found two baby rats 12 hours apart in our little backyard. After the first one was crawling around for about 4 hours that we knew of, I brought it inside because I read that when their eyes are closed they can't regulate their own body temperature. The next morning our dog found a second baby but it also had not been picked up by the mother overnight, so I brought it to be with its sibling. After leaving a voicemail with the "rescue", I received a call saying that I had done the right thing and should bring them by the rescue anytime before closing. When I got there, I put the little container I had them in on the warming mat, filled out the paperwork, and rang the doorbell. Someone who worked there came to the door and when I told them that I had given them some electrolyte solution I had made to keep them hydrated, they told me the way one would a 4 year old that I shouldn't have done that because of their delegate breathing system and that they could have drowned. I wanted to show them something about one of the baby rats, but was told that they were just going to let the babies rest right now.

I was planning on calling today to let them know that I'd be willing to foster the two babies after their eyes were open, but this morning I received an email for each one that they had been humanely euthanized because it would be unlikely to survive rehabilitation. They could have told me to just put them back outside and hope for the mother to come get them. They could have told me that they don't have the resources to take care of two infant rats and I would have understood. They could have told me that they really just rehabilitate birds, that would be fine. It's not okay to tell me to bring in these baby rats under the guise that they will be helped, just to murder them for some sort of greater good mentality. I've included a video of one of the baby rats who I thought I was rescuing. I had an unsettling feeling as soon as I dropped them off and I feel so guilty for bringing these helpless babies to an unfair death that they had no chance of defending themselves against. Hopefully someone will do more research than I did before bringing a mammal to this...

My family has been a member here for as long as I can remember. I was instilled a great love for nature and learning how to properly rescue and where to take animals, I learned about habitats, and respecting the natural world around me for the love and interest that I developed. I decided that I wanted to share that with children. I own a local private preschool and kindergarten for the age group 3-6. We have a lot of parent and community volunteers for our program, we are a nature based school and attend educational field trips. I reached out to the Audubon society for a field trip and they told me they will NOT give field trips to early learners. Between the age of 3-6 a human's brain is developing by 80 percent, brains are rapidly growing and learning! Having hands on experiences to learn, be, grow and develop is crucial during this time. Experiences can also create a early love and respect for the world around us and create familiarity, if children are not given these experiences now, how will they learn and be confident in their abilities later without feeling the stress of other developing moments. I was so disappointed that the Audubon society feels they cannot create a small program or learning opportunity for kindergartners. No matter the controlled environment of chaperones, volunteers, supervision, knowing this age group are not babies or toddlers and they do not put things in their mouths, they are ready to LEARN and experience and learn how to handle themselves around nature...Audubon society does not find it important to create learning opportunities for children. I also find people who work here unfriendly and not willing to share, teach or give the public knowledge often of what is going on. I go here to visit and I am ignored every time. I am very disappointed that this is a closed minded place when it comes to helping...