Any minute now South Sound Critter Care is going to be inundated with sick, injured and abandoned animals.

The non-profit located off 216th Street Southeast between not far from Covington-Lake Sawyer Road will play host to birds, kittens, raccoons, squirrels and more throughout the late spring and summer.

To handle the load, explained veterinarian Jan White and veterinarian technician Tigger Birch, South Sound Critter Care is in need of volunteers — lots and lots of volunteers.

Especially since SSCC received its federal wildlife license for birds a year ago.

“This is our first year where we’re really going to get hit with baby birds,” White said. “So, we’re really going to need volunteers.”

White, who operates SSCC on the lower level of the building which also houses her veterinarian practice, has worked in wildlife rehabilitation for a number of organizations up and down the west coast from California to Alaska.

Birch had previously spent a number of years with PAWS.

“Both of us came into this venture with lots and lots of experience,” White said. “When we set up the veterinary practice we realized we had a whole bottom floor that’s 1,800 square feet that we could use for rehabilitation.”

Birch said they will take pretty much any wildlife with a few exceptions such as eagles and adult raccoons “because we’re doing short term care.”

Lake Sawyer Veterinary Clinic was started in 2009 and the pair began offering rehab services through the separate non-profit, South Sound Critter Care, in 2010.

Domesticated animals such as cats, kittens, chickens and geese come in the hundreds altogether.

“If you find an animal and you go (Washington state’s) Fish and Wildlife’s websites, all you have to do is put an address in and the information about the local rehabilitation center will show up,” White said. “That’s how people get here.”

There’s also referrals.

Other vets as well as animal rehab centers will send well-intentioned souls who have found creatures in need of care to SSCC.

“Things have been a little different this year because the biggest wildlife center in the state has reduced its numbers, so, we’re going to have more pressure here than before,” White said. “In particular there’s a definite need for someone who has property in a rural area who has room to work with us on raccoons.”

Typically by July 1 every animal rehab center stops taking raccoons because there’s no room.

It would be nice to find someone to partner with, White said, to house raccoons but deer fawns as well simply because there isn’t space at their facility.

“Last year it was like playing a game of musical chairs,” White said. “The day that PAWS stopped taking (Eastern Gray squirrels), that Sarvey stopped taking them … we had 20 squirrels on our doorstep by noon. Everyone was referring them to us. It was pretty crazy.”

In 2011, SSCC took in 1,026 animals including 96 species of birds, 16 species of mammals and five species of reptiles.

“We received 584 birds and 48.6 percent survived and were either released back to the wild or placed in approved institutions if they were not releasable,” White said. “This year with Sarvey (Wildlife Center) unable to take the usual numbers of animals we are up in numbers. Last year in mid-May we had received 157 animals and this year we are at 490. Thus, we are heavily impacted by the fact that the path for these animals is right to our door (instead of Sarvey).”

Busy, as a concept, seems to be an understatement for what SSCC has dealt with so far this year.

White emailed with additional information.

“Our daily census is running about 130-140 in May,” White wrote. “Right now, the baby mammals are keeping us busy. We have 51 baby possums and a steady stream of cottontails. As we go into late May, it is now time for the baby birds to start getting into trouble and we are starting to get them in now. We even had a clutch of eggs brought in that we incubated and hatched. People seek help for all manner of creatures.   am never shocked but often surprised what animals or embryos come our way.”

White noted that there is a need for a cadre of volunteers. They ask that people are willing to give six hours a day, one day a week, and volunteers must be at least 16.

With a new volunteer coordinator, White said, along with Birch’s help anyone who wants to help will get general training then more specific training depending on what they want to do.

And while the animals are cared for, Birch said, they don’t become pets nor will they be on display for the public as it’s against the rules of the permits which allow them to rehabilitate creatures.

“The whole point is we want it to be wild when it leaves here,” Birch said.

In the future, White said, she hopes to develop a docent program where volunteers can speak at events, go to schools and provide programs to raise awareness about animal rehabilitation.

Beyond that, South Sound Critter Care will eventually need to expand.

“We’ve had lots of successful results with minimal downstairs staff and volunteer pool,” Birch said. “Ultimately the goal is we’re going to need a permanent location on some acreage to develop a full blown rehabilitation center.”

For now, though, volunteers who wish to help out would work wonderfully. And volunteers don’t have to work with animals, Birch said, nor do those who wish to help need to volunteer.

SSCC accepts donations, is able to recycle cell phones and ink cartridges, even accepts cars which can be turned over to another non-profit for cash.

“For in-house volunteers, we have a strongest need for Sunday afternoons,” Birch said. “We have plenty of people on Saturday afternoons.”

For information, contact South Sound Critter Care at 360-886-8000.