The legal forms with the state and federal agencies that grant my permits were filed back in January, but it's taken me a while to compile data you all might be interested in. Here's an in depth look some of what we accomplished.
In 2024, Primarily ‘Possums took in 20 birds, ranging from Carolina wrens to a wood thrush, and even a seagull!
10 Big brown bats, 1 Evening bat, and 4 Mexican freetail bats received care.
262 small mammals arrived, 175 of them being opossums!
We also saw 2 Southern flying squirrels, 42 Eastern cottontail rabbits, and 21 Eastern gray squirrels.
It was a quiet year on the reptile front, with only one Black rat snake and 2 turtles in care.
$3348 was spent making nutritious meals for all the patients. $660 of that went towards mice! It’s a perfect food for an opossum, nutritionally complete, and when hidden under leaf litter, teaches hunting and scavenging skills.
We spent $2427 at our wonderful vet, Allene Phillips at Madison Animal Hospital. We are so very lucky to work with her and receive her teaching and support.
Medications, wound care materials, and supplements totaled $892.
Tova’s Treehouse, our newest enclosure, was built at a cost of $2500, raised entirely by a young lady named Tova. All the opossums benefitting from this fabulous space and I are so appreciative.
4 soft release enclosures – secure chicken coops outfitted with running wheels, were purchased and installed at 4 locations. They cost $1247 and will be used again this year.
We received a partner grant through Baby Warm to purchase a state of the art incubator with humidity control, variable fans speeds, and other new features. Our share of the incubator came to $650.
$141 was spent on paint to refresh all our cages, keeping them rust free and in great condition for years to come.
We spent nearly $200 on pine straw to line the enclosures, and it needs to be removed between each litter.
And then there are the basics of running a business which came to $1369.
We spent $548 creating and improving this website in 2024.
Professional memberships and new reference materials came to $200.
Gas to pick up animals or take to release sites cost $458. I did get a PeachPass to make transport to Wild Nest Bird rehab in Decatur a bit easier, as well.
In total, running Primarily ‘Possums in 2024 cost $16,309. This only reflects the receipts I kept specifically for rescue related items. I spend an unknown but sizeable amount of my own money on supplies, food and little things we need here and there.
Between individual donors, PayPal Giving Fund, sales of handcrafted opossums, and our Patreon, we took in $20,142.
While on our tax documents (available on Guidestar, we have a Gold Seal of Transparency) show a carryover of $3833 into 2025, I wish it truly was that amount!
Donations are down for several reasons- people just don’t have the money to spare, and I have only taken in 50 animals so far this year. I am grateful to our monthly angel donors, our Patreon supporters and for the supplies gifted and purchased last year which will keep us going through the spring.
I am not paid or compensated. I fund this out of my own bank account (savings) and donations. The entire rescue is in my home and so I don’t really have downtime. The state makes sure I am licensed and ready for surprise inspections, but do not provide any support for rehabbers.
This is not easy, it is not profitable, it is often not “fun”. But it is what I do, and love doing, and am good at. Even as I am supposedly taking a sabbatical, I am training others and helping out where I can. I am lucky to do this and won’t be stopping any time soon. But I did need a break!
2025 Sabbatical