IRON MOUNTAIN — It’s an admirable impulse, wanting to help an injured wild creature or orphaned baby animal.

But good intentions aren’t enough. The level of commitment needed makes wildlife rehabilitation a responsibility that should not be taken on lightly, those licensed in the practice said.

Hard work, passion, time and money are required to care for wild animals and return them to their proper environment, local rehabilitator Phyllis Carlson stressed during a two-hour program Saturday at Dickinson County Library in Iron Mountain.

Carlson, along with wildlife rehabilitators Holly Hadac, Lori Bankson and Deb Friedrick, set up “Wildlife Rehabilitating — Is it for You?” to perhaps expand the potential pool of homes able to take in animals.

But even more, they want otherwise well-meaning individuals to understand what’s needed to legally and responsibly be a wildlife rehabilitator.

About 30 people attended the session, learning that the Department of Natural Resources in both Michigan and Wisconsin has licensing and educational requirements for wildlife rehabilitation work.

And it’s costly. Hadac, from lower Michigan, said she spent almost $5,000 last year caring for injured animals and returning them to their natural environment. She has been a wildlife rehabilitator for 20 years and is licensed by the Michigan DNR, specializing in large mammals and coyote education.

Picking up feces-covered opossums, treating an injured muskrat crawling with lice, euthanizing a fawn with a broken hip, bottle-feeding baby squirrels every few hours, caring for rambunctious young raccoons — all are part of the job for Hadac.

“I’m not here to sugar coat it for you,” she said, adding if you decide to become a rehabilitator, “you are not taking a spring or summer vacation.”

Although the practice can be onerous, the reward of saving a wild animal’s life and seeing it return to its proper environment makes it worthwhile, Hadac said.

The rehabilitators stressed honoring the natural wildness of animals as well. Hadac devoted a good portion of her presentation to knowing when to assist and when to leave an animal alone.

“You have to realize you can’t take them all in,” she said.

One issue that strikes a nerve for Hadac is when people remove fawns from the wild on the mistaken belief they have been abandoned.

“Fawns are often alone and they have no scent. The mother walks away frequently, but she feeds them three or four times during a 24-hour period. Wildlife doesn’t abandon its babies any more that we do,” she said.

One way to tell if the fawn really is in danger is if it has a shadow or sunken look at the corner of its eyes, indicating starvation or dehydration, Hadac said.

“If their fat pad is depleted, they need to go to rehab,” she said.

If not, leave the fawn alone; the mother will return.

Deer, too, can be prone to a condition called capture myopathy, in which the reaction to stress can cause them to die after being handled by humans, she warned.

Hadac also praised the positives aspects of rehab work. “It’s a God-given privilege to be able to touch a wild animal. Not a lot of people get to do that,” she said.

Bankson is curator of animals at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary and has been president of the Wisconsin Wildlife Rehabilitators Association for four years.

She wants to make sure stressed or displaced wildlife get the best possible care — “quality of (over?) quantity,” she said.

Bankson also discussed the importance of educating people in proper wildlife rehabilitation. Volunteering, attending training sessions, talking with other rehabilitators, taking an online course, reading books and getting a sponsor are all great tools toward learning what’s involved.

“We are looking for the next generation to help out,” she said.

A state permit requires passing a two-day basic wildlife rehabilitation course given by the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council at a cost of $235 plus expenses to travel to the class location.

A continuing education course is required every five years to retain the permit. And a state permit is required to obtain a federal permit.

Those not able to make that level of commitment can help in other ways, by becoming a subpermittee or volunteer with licensed rehabilitators, .

Ashley Ellis of Quinnesec called the program “very informative,” saying her main takeaways were “even if you cannot house a wild animal, there are ways to help and people in the area should learn the habitat (habits?) of wildlife before they intervene.”

Saturday’s program was sponsored by U.P. Wildlife Rehabilitation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association of wildlife rehabilitators in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

For more information about NWRA and the IWRC, go to their web sites at http://www.nwrawildlife.org/ or https://theiwrc.org/.