Shadow Tail Sanctuary

10/19/2026

🌰 Looking for black walnuts! 🌰

It’s that time of year, and we’re looking for black walnuts for the squirrels! If you have a tree in your yard, we’d love to take some off your hands.

We’ll take anything from a bag full to truckloads, and they can be green, brown, fresh, or dried. The squirrels will happily put them to good use!

You can drop them off anytime at 417 S Gjertson St, Stoughton. I’ll have a tarp on the south side of my driveway where you can leave them. (I may be able to arrange them to be picked up if it's local or worth our trip!!!)

Thanks for helping feed the squirrels! ❤️🐿️

10/06/2026

**You all are amazing. I've had 7 people order water bottles for me and I'm unbelievably grateful. I'm past my 24 hour goal but still am looking for THREE more water bottles to be donated. Even $5 helps! Thank you so much everyone!!!**

My goal for the next 24 hours is to fundraise to be able to purchase TEN of these!

Every person who donates in any form will get a thank you gift from us (if you somehow let us know that you helped!)

They are around $45 on Amazon currently.

Please keep in mind that if you buy one from our wishlist we will not know it was you unless you include a note.

https://a.co/d/0hLAEqD2
Lixit Glass Tube Water Bottle for Birds, Dogs, and Small Pets, Medium Tube, 16 Oz

Please this exact one only.

Share this post and help us meet our goal!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Don't forget to say it's for water bottles!

Here's all the ways you can participate:

Our wishlist on Amazon (it's on there) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1S18FE8R9APU8?ref_=wl_share
Venmo:
Zelle Tag: shadow-tail-sanctuary
PayPal: [email protected]
CashApp: $ShadowTailSanctuary
Drop off cash or check to our address

Shadow Tail Sanctuary is a registered LLC and does not have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status at this time. Donations are not tax-deductible but are used to support the direct costs of wildlife rehabilitation, including food, medical care, enrichment, and housing.

09/25/2026

Y'all need to support this fantastic woman and her family!!! These cookies blow my mind and I wish I lived closer to get one RIGHT NOW! Please like/follow/share her business at minimum! (I'm already begging for a custom order.) Oh and she's doing a fundraiser for us! 🫶🏼🥹💞🙌🏼🥳 Pretty Killer Cookies I can't thank you enough for your kindness

09/15/2026

🐿️🦌 HELP SHADOW TAIL SANCTUARY! 🐰💚

As we grow, so does our need for supplies! A lot of the things we use every day are simple items that you might already have at home, in your garden, or tucked away in a closet.

If you’re able to donate, here are some of the things we could REALLY use:

🦌 REAL deer antlers — the squirrels LOVE to chew on them, and they provide a great natural source of calcium while helping keep those ever-growing teeth healthy. If you have an antler shed sitting around, we would be thrilled to give it a new purpose!

🧻 Kleenex/tissues — any brand is great! Please no lotion tissues.

🥕 Fruit & vegetable baby food — any brand, but no meat flavors, please.

🧺 Fleece blankets — new or used is fine as long as they are clean and don't have too many holes. Fleece is incredibly useful for our little patients.

🏠 Critter Nation cages — full cages are amazing, but even just the plastic trays are incredibly helpful!

🥦 Extra produce from your garden — have more zucchini, broccoli, corn, apples, greens, etc. than your family can possibly eat? Our wildlife may be very happy to help! 🐿️🐰

🚗 And here's a BIG one: It is difficult for me to leave the house regularly, so delivery would be absolutely AMAZING. If you're willing to drop supplies off, please know how incredibly helpful that is!

🏡 A very specific request...

We have some custom nest boxes that we use for our squirrels, and I'd LOVE to find someone who is handy and willing to take a look at one of our boxes and create a simple plan/blueprint that other people could follow.

Then, once we have a plan... I'm looking for some awesome volunteers who would be willing to actually build the nest boxes for us! 🔨🐿️

If woodworking isn't your thing, there are still SO many ways to help. We would love to hear from anyone who has ideas for things that could be made, donated, or created specifically to benefit our squirrels and bunnies.

Every blanket, tissue box, cage tray, piece of produce, antler, nest box, share, follow, and helping hand makes a difference. ❤️

If you'd like to support Shadow Tail Sanctuary, please consider following us on social media, sharing this post, or visiting our website to learn more about what we do and why wildlife rehabilitation matters.

🌐 www.shadowtailsanctuary.org

Thank you for helping us give these little wild ones the best possible chance to get healthy, grow up, and eventually return to the wild. 🐿️🌳💚

And please feel free to tag someone who loves squirrels, bunnies, wildlife, gardening, woodworking, or just helping animals! 🥰

Wildlife rehabilitation with patience, purpose, and respect for the wild. Specializing in Wisconsin tree squirrels.

08/30/2026

The Shadow Tail Sanctuary website is officially LIVE! 🐿️❤️

Go check it out at

www.shadowtailsanctuary.org

Take a look around. You can learn why we are called "Shadow Tail", read about the rehabilitation journey, what to do if you find orphaned/injured wildlife, other resources for animals we don't rehab, and ways you can help support the sanctuary.

And a HUGE thank you to my brother, Chad Dickinson, for doing all the hard work on the website. I had (most of) the ideas and he turned all of that into an actual functioning website.

If you have a minute, check it out and share it with your friends. If you think we could add more helpful info, please let us know! 👋🏼

Wildlife rehabilitation with patience, purpose, and respect for the wild. Specializing in Wisconsin tree squirrels.

08/23/2026

Shadow Tail Sanctuary needs your help! Yesterday we took in a unique baby squirrel. Can you guess what makes her so unique!?! This is a two part request.

Most importantly, she needs your well wishes. She was brought inside to the finder by their indoor/outdoor cat and unfortunately has suffered some lacerations and devastating, head trauma. We weren't sure she was even going to make the night but she did!

So our next request is to help us give her a beautiful name. Please drop your best toe related names (or whatever speaks to you) in the comments and Aaron and I will pick the one that we feel fits her the best!!! Follow along for updates on her progress! And keep your fingers and toes crossed for a full recovery ❣️

08/14/2026

🐿️ VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! 🐿️

Shadow Tail Sanctuary is looking for volunteers to join our Transport Team! 🚗🐾

Help might include picking up wildlife, transporting animals or supplies, or getting an animal safely to a more appropriate rehabber.

There is ZERO obligation! ❤️ No schedule, no minimum commitment, and no guilt if you’re unavailable. We’ll simply reach out when a transport is needed, and you can help when you’re able.

Even helping occasionally can make a HUGE difference!

Interested? Comment below or send us a message to join the team!

05/23/2026

As more trees are cut down for development or safety, squirrels are adapting the best way they know how and sometimes that means building nests in car engines. Warm engines can feel like a safe place for a mother squirrel to raise her babies.

Recently we took a call from Abe Shrump, who found a squirrel nest in his truck engine. The BEST thing he did was call before removing anything. We advised him to leave the hood open until dusk and check back later to see if mom relocated the babies on her own. Sure enough, he got to watch the mother squirrel carefully move every baby to a new nest, even carrying pieces of her nest with her!

He has continued checking his truck daily, and recently they came back again. So once again, hood open, and mom relocated the babies safely. We gave other suggestions on how to keep Mom out (I'll put those in the comments). We’ll also be dropping off a nest box for him to hang in one of his trees to help give the squirrels another safe option.

If you ever find a squirrel nest in your vehicle:
• Call a wildlife rehabber BEFORE removing anything.
• Leave the hood open during the day so mom feels the area is no longer safe.
• Keep a rehabber on standby in case the babies need temporary care.
• If babies are still there after dark, close the hood overnight for safety.
• You can usually try the hood-open method again at dawn.

Most mother squirrels are excellent moms and will relocate their babies when given the chance.

THANK YOU ABE ❤️❤️❤️

05/18/2026

We got a call this morning from a good friend about an adult woodchuck stuck in her egress window. It tried climbing out using a 2x4 she put in but it was too weak/tired after many hours of trying to dig out. I was able to safely get him in a carrier and she brought him to Dane County Humane Society wildlife center (HUGE thank you to them for their amazing work) where they checked him over and said he was good to go. What an adventure for our little guy today but he was released back in my friends yard and was more than happy to G**O! 🙃💓 Be free cutie! More pics in the comments.

Woodchuck fun fact: despite their chunky appearance, they’re actually excellent climbers and can climb trees to escape predators or snack on fruit and leaves. Most people think of them as purely burrowing animals, but they can scramble up surprisingly high branches when they want to.

05/09/2026

🆘EMERGENCY!!!
I was alerted to an injured female Mallard duck at The Regency in Sun Prairie. She is currently laying about 4 to 5 ft away from the building and the pond just past the fountain. I am unable to collect her but if enough people can go to save her, and take her to the Dane county humane society wildlife center, she sounds like she needs help. This location is on the corner of O'Keefe and Prairie Run. Is there anyone who could help her!?! Feel free to share the word. The police will only help by dispatching 😞