Dane County Humane Society’s (DCHS) Wildlife Center admitted a total of 1,538 individuals between January 1st and July 1st, 2025. This is a typical mid-season patient volume to share for our program, yet a new, major milestone was achieved within that timeframe. One, tiny Mallard Duckling officially became the 50,000th animal to come into our wildlife rehabilitation facility for care and treatment since we were founded in 2002! 

While this year hasn’t set the record for the most Mallard Ducks admitted to DCHS in a single year (believe it or not, it happened last year in 2024 with a total count of 371), they almost always reach the top five single species coming in for rehabilitation. Since 2014, when the Wildlife Center began using an online program as our primary database to maintain patient-client records, over 2,813 wild Mallard Ducks have come through our doors, averaging 192 per year. It’s pretty incredible to think about considering how many other animals our team works with, too, which is usually between 140 to 150 species native to Wisconsin.

Small mammals take the cake for the first half of 2025 so far, with the highest numbers coming from Eastern cottontail rabbits and Virginia opossums. But, don’t forget, while turtles are listed at 57 individuals, it doesn’t account for the 300 eggs that are incubating as of the end of June.

As always, we like to keep track of the numbers as well as our favorite patients so that our supporters can celebrate along with us. Congratulations go out to the pair of hatchling American Woodcocks #25-1342 & 1343 for receiving the most votes needed to earn “Patient of the Month” for June 2025.