Update As Of October 2025. . .
The Bi-State Wildlife Hotline was originally formed and intended to be a 24-hour telephone hotline for the residents of Missouri and Southwestern Illinois to find help with wildlife conflicts, and to help find a licensed, qualified rehabilitator when an animal was sick, injured and/or orphaned. Our phone lines were staffed by volunteer, unpaid, fully trained, qualified, skilled and experienced wildlife specialists who understood wildlife habitats, diet, behavior, care and damage control, Missouri & Illinois wildlife laws, wildlife hunting and trapping regulations, animal care and control laws and regulations, zoonotic disease protocols, and wildlife veterinary medicine. These amazing volunteers were often licensed rehabbers themselves, or retired rehabbers, who dedicated their lives to the care and welfare of wild animals. Through their hard work, dedication, blood, sweat and tears, we provided a service to residents that cannot be measured. Our region desperately needs a resource to help animal lovers find humane, sensible, practical solutions to wildlife conflicts, while also providing emergency telephone support to those who find wildlife in medical crisis and need immediate guidance to save that animal's life.
After 13 years of providing this invaluable service to the public, free of charge, we were unable to sustain the staff and resources needed to continue our work as originally intended. Running a 24-hour hotline is resource intensive, costly, and it requires a lot of management and oversight on a daily basis. Running a wildlife clinic, rehabilitating wildlife patients, making trips to the vet for advanced diagnostics, feeding babies around the clock, and handling critical care intakes on top of writing a phone coverage schedule, returning voicemail messages, emails, managing phone staff, ordering supplies for everyone, reviewing charts and case histories for hundreds of patients, plus taking calls from the public and going out on rescue calls was just too much. Imagine not only being the 24-hour 911 call center for an entire state and then some, but also being the police officers, the ambulance provider, the paramedics, the emergency room, the doctors, the nurses, the janitors, the NICU, the pediatric hospital, the regular hospital, the physical therapy center/rehab facility, and the kitchen that provides meals to all of the patients in all of those places. We did it for 12 long years, and honestly, we knocked it out of the park. We excelled. It was a beautiful thing. But it could not last forever.
For a while, after Covid-19, we floundered, not really knowing how to still help wildlife in need without being able to provide this 24-hour, resource-hungry, overwhelming service as we had designed it. We tried scaling back. We tried closing for a time and coming back again full steam ahead. We tried training a new group of volunteers. We tried a lot of things. We failed at a lot of things, but we are not a failure. It took a while to find our footing again.
During this turmoil, we decided to continue our efforts with the Mange by Mail Program, which we offer nationwide to assist in the treatment of sarcoptic mange in foxes and coyotes. We also found a way to provide backup services to several amazing veterinary hospitals and animal rescue groups who often wind up with wildlife patients accidentally each year. We now specialize in the care of aquatic mammals such as river otters, beavers, and mink due to the fact that we have the facilities in Black Jack, Missouri to house these species properly to AZA standards, and the expertise to care for their very specific needs. We also lend a hand when our other skilled, hard working, overwhelmed local wildlife care centers have reached capacity, and we are able to assist with overflow patients. We do everything we can to be of service to native wildlife in need with the staff and resources we can manage. We are nowhere near as large or as well funded as we once were, and we simply cannot help the thousands of people per year we used to, but we refuse to give up or stop trying.
You can still reach us on social media @WildlifeHotline and by phone at (636) 492-1610 or 1-855-945-3435 You will have to leave a message with your name, contact information, and how we may be able to assist you. We are not able to answer calls immediately as they come in at any time. We cannot offer a guaranteed response time because it depends on volunteer staffing levels which fluctuate wildly. Many of us have 'day jobs' to support our families, and that limits the amount of time we are available. Even though this job is all consuming, it does not pay the bills, which means most of us have to work outside of this field to make ends meet.
You can also email us, which can be extremely helpful to us because it allows you to attach photos of the animal you need help with, at 1855wildhelp@gmail.com or help@wildlifehotline.com
Again, we cannot guarantee a rapid response, but we will always do our best to respond as quickly as possible especially from March - August of each year.
As stated, we are still offering our Mange by Mail Program nationwide to treat mange infections in coyotes and foxes. You can find out more about that program here on our Mange by Mail Page. To ask questions about the Mange Program send an email to mange@wildlifehotline.com or mangebymail@gmail.com or call us at (636) 492-1610 Option 5, or 1-855-945-3435 Option 5. We are happy to answer your questions and help you get a fox or coyote treated near you. We do not offer this program to residents of the state of California due to pesticide reporting regulations specific to your state agricultural department, and we cannot ship to Canada or internationally due to customs and postal regulations. However, if you have a fox or coyote with mange in California or outside of the USA and need help, please email or call us and we will do our best to find the best option for you to still get help for that animal.
We still receive zero tax dollars, or public funding from any government agencies. We still depend on private donations from people like YOU to help any of the animals that we assist each year. We may not be taking in the hundreds upon hundreds of animal per year we once were, but now we tend to take on some of the most critical, complicated cases instead. In addition, specializing in aquatics is an expensive endeavor, as these species are costly to feed, house, and care for. If you or anyone you know would be interested in donating to support our efforts in preserving native wildlife and caring for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife, you can do so at any time by making a donation on our Donate Page. The direct link is http://www.wildlifehotline.com/donate if you wish to share this link by copy/paste. We cannot possibly thank you enough for the endless support you have offered us over the years. We struggle daily with the thought of letting any of you down now that we cannot provide our services as intended. We know that you are out there and you need help and we know the frustration you experience when you're trying to help an animal and cannot reach anyone. Please don't think that the cause is that no one cares. We have amazing, dedicated, highly skilled and experienced volunteers working at local wildlife care centers across the state, numerous home-based wildlife rehabbers feeding around the clock with zero help and no funding, as well as veterinarians, zookeepers, animal control officers, trainers, zoologists, wildlife biologists, and even game wardens who CARE more than you'll ever know but simply cannot possibly be available to help the overwhelming number of people and animals in need of us every year. There are not enough of us, and we're spread too thin. However, it has nothing to do with a lack of care, concern or willingness to help.
Found An Animal In Need?
If you are in need of immediate help today with a sick, injured or orphaned animal, please go to Animal Help Now (www.ahnow.org) and click on "wildlife emergency" to search your area for a wildlife rehabber near you. Please READ the entries listed in your area to find someone who accepts and works with the species of animal you need help with. Calling a bird specialist for help with a mammal is not going to be helpful to you. Once you find someone, try calling them and if you do not reach them immediately, leave a message and see if there is an option to send an email or a text to that listing. If so, text is the best option, but email works too. Send a message with your name, your city, the species of animal and situation you found it in. Include photos. Make sure to tell the rehabber that you are willing to transport the animal to their location, that you will donate toward the cost of its care, and be nice!
This person worked all day today, just like you, and came home to feed tons of babies who need fed every 4 hours. They haven't slept in months. They haven't eaten a meal sitting down in ages. They have Cheerios and vitamin powder in their hair, formula smudged on their glasses, pee stains on their shirt, and this is their 3rd shirt for today. They have enough dirty laundry to make you weep. They're exhausted, and they live every moment worried about whether or not they will have the funds to pay for tomorrow's feedings. If they tell you to bring the animal in, bring anything you have that can help them with you - bleach, paper towels, newspapers, dog/cat food, birdseed, baby food, baby blankets, old towels and blankets, dog/cat cages and carriers, and CASH. Help them help you.
If you don't get an immediate response, keep the animal in some kind of secure carrier or box in a dark, quiet room or closet, even a cupboard, away from fans and air conditioning vents, where it is warm, dark and quiet. Keep children and other animals away, for their own sake and the animal's. You don't know what's wrong with this animal. It could have a disease, parasites, maggots, fleas, viruses, bacteria, all kinds of things that your child's immune system is NOT ready for. Wash your hands before AND after touching this animal. Warm. Dark. Quiet. Do not feed it anything for at least 8 hours after finding it. We know you really want to. We get it. It's really hard not to do it, but don't. Wait. You should hear from someone in that amount of time. They will advise you.
Nope, not even breast milk. Nope, human infant formula won't do it either. Stop buying kitten milk and puppy milk. Is this a kitten or a puppy? No? Then stop feeding it that.
Quit trying to google what fruits and vegetables this animal is supposed to eat.
This animal is in crisis. It wouldn't have been available and easily picked up by a human if it wasn't. Would YOU let a giant monster pick you up if you were in any way able to run away? Of course not!
Same here, and in a crisis you need an ambulance. You know what ambulances don't have stocked in the back? Soup and sandwiches. Ambulances don't carry food because absolutely no one needs a meal when they're in crisis, not even the tiniest of babies. Initially what every mammal needs, including humans, is warmth, calm, quiet, and at most - clear (IV) fluids. You are probably unable to provide this animal with IV fluids, but you can try to provide a comparable option, warm Pedialyte - any flavor. Use the smallest dropper or syringe with no needle, even just a tiny paintbrush dipped into warm Pedialyte to offer that to the animal if conscious and alert. (If you don't have a dropper or syringe, ask a pharmacist for their smallest oral syringe. They might charge you 10 cents.) Don't offer any other liquids or solid food. Nothing else. But he's crying? He's not crying for food. He's crying for Mom. Not because he's hungry and wants his Mom, but because he's a baby and wants his Mom. Food won't fix that. Don't feed him!
If you found a bird, don't even try Pedialyte. DO NOT give water or ever try to feed via syringe or dropper. Give them nothing at all. Keep birds in the dark, in a dark room or closet and they will sleep. They will only beg for food and want to eat if and when they see light. Keep in the dark until you find a rehabber.