SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — For Red Creek Wildlife Center near Pottsville, every day is National Wildlife Day.
"We share this planet with all different kinds of creatures." said Peggy Hentz.
Hentz founded the rescue in Wayne Township. One of her main goals is to make sure everyone respects the wildlife that's all around us.
"Kind of like, keep the wild in wildlife and wildlife in the wild. That they're not they're for us to possess, but we can rescue them and get them back out to where they need to be." she said.
Wildlife educator Lylee Leonard says she's passionate about teaching people how crucial wildlife is to our everyday lives.
"Why do you do wildlife rehabilitation? You're impacting the natural cycle of life." said Leonard.
Leonard says people don't realize the main reason rehabilitation centers are needed is due to human intervention.
"Whether that's window strikes, vehicle collisions, people taking babies that aren't meant to be taken. Things like that that has caused an abnormal shift that wouldn't have been present years and years ago." said Leonard.
That is the case for these baby opossums, the only marsupials native to North America.
"Most of the baby opossums that are here now they're mothers were hit by cars, and they were still found in the pouch." said Hentz.
If you find an opossum that has been hit, safely check for babies in its pouch and call your nearest wildlife center. Rescue workers say there are big misconceptions around handling young wildlife.
"There's a lot of people that believe if somebody touches it the mother will reject it or kill it. That is not true. Wildlife are great mothers." said Hentz.
Rescue workers say many well-intentioned people bring in baby animals, but the best course of action is usually to place the baby back where it was found.
"Overall, animals don't really mind too much but it is best to just make sure that an animal needs to be handled needs to be brought in, anything like that before trying to have contact directly with the animal." said Leonard.
Workers here at the Red Creek Wildlife Center stress that it's always best to love wildlife from a distance.