Tallassee — It's the annual spring "baby season" and the Smoky Mountain Raptor Center is working to rehab twice the normal amount of birds.
In addition to the annual influx of young birds, the center is also taking in more birds with serious injuries because another raptor rehabilitation center in the area closed earlier in the year. All birds undergoing rehabilitation stay in the center's hospital until they can be released.
"It's incredibly tight," Scott Scherer said. "We have limited capacity. Essentially, and we've done this many times before, we will stake crates on top of each other and work overhead and work to the floor and things like that."
Earlier in the year, the Clinch River Raptor Center in Clinton closed. Since then, Scherer says the Smoky Mountain Raptor Center has received three birds that likely would have rehabilitated in Clinton.
The center has known it needs a larger hospital so it can accommodate more birds, and it is currently in the early fundraising stages. However, the closure of the Clinch River Raptor Center has made that need even more urgent.
"Our workload has gotten to the point where we know that for us to maintain the level of service that we need to provide for the birds that we have, it's going to take a significant investment," Scherer said.
While some of the birds only need a few days of feeding and medication before they can be released, others need as much as six months for rehabilitation.
The nonprofit relies on volunteers to help feed and care for the birds. The center can also use licensed tree climbers to put baby birds of prey back into nests.
"We're going to take care of birds," Scherer said. "We're going to do everything we can to help them and save them so we'll figure it out."
On May 30, the center will host a social at SoKno Taco in South Knoxville. Proceeds from that evening will help the nonprofit. You can find more information on that event HERE.