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It’s been a wildly busy year for WILDNorth Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation as it saves a record number of wild animals this year.

“We’ve been inundated with animals this year,” Dale Gienow, manager of donor relations and rescue at the organization on 125 Avenue and 128 Street, said Friday. “Typically, we get about 2,500 animals a year, but this year we are up 20 per cent and expected to go up to 3,000 animals.”

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Not only has the organization seen an increase in animals needing care, it has also seen a variety of animals, such as a barred owl, peregrine falcon, baby foxes, a badger, beavers and even a pelican. The animals are released back into the wild when they are healthy enough to survive on their own.

Looking after all these animals is not cheap.

The organization, which is one of eight wildlife rehabilitation organizations in the province, has an annual budget of about $500,000, half of which goes to care for wild animals and the rest to administration expenses. So far, this year, care of these injured or orphaned animals has increased nearly 20 per cent, costing WILDNorth about $50,000 more than last year.