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Spare berries? The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society wants them

The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (CWRS) is looking for a way to say ‘thank you berry much’ with your berries, Calgary.

That’s only if you have spare berries in Calgary to drop off at the non-profit organization dedicated to treating injured and orphaned wildlife.

“We could use berries. We could use 1,000 people to drop off berries. So if they have berries in their yards, we could really use those,” said CWRS Executive Director, Andrea Hunt.

Any berries in Calgary from native shrubs like blueberries, raspberries or blackberries are perfect, according to Hunt. Berries from mountain ash trees are also needed. 

Hunt says the berries are mostly used for bird patients. Right now, that accounts for 75 per cent of the patients at the society. Species like robins, blue jays and wax wings rely on the berries as an essential part of their diet.

When there’s a surplus, the CWRS puts berries in the diet of other animals, too. Think squirrels or skunks. 

“So there’s a lot of animals that eat berries, and they’re very, very useful,” said Hunt.

“It just costs so much money to buy berries. They are really, really expensive. So we could use as much as people can bring and it’s really nice if they bring them in freezer bags.”

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