{"id":389254,"date":"2026-01-05T09:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/389254\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T09:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:08:12","slug":"hobbitstee-gives-injured-ill-wildlife-second-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/389254\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobbitstee gives injured, ill wildlife second chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Breadcrumb Trail Links<\/p>\n

News<\/a>Local News<\/a><\/p>\n

Author of the article:<\/p>\n

J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, LJI reporter<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published Jan 04, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 6 minute read<\/p>\n

\"SleepingOpossums driven from their dens are at high risk of frostbite on their exposed toes, tail, nose and ears. This little frostbitten scavenger is recovering at Hobbitstee, where she will spend the winter. Photo by Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge \/SUBMITTEDArticle content<\/p>\n

The swan came into Chantal Theijn\u2019s wildlife rehabilitation centre with a broken beak.<\/p>\n

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But the founder of Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge in Nanticoke could tell something else was seriously wrong.<\/p>\n

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The stately white bird was spotted by the lakeshore in Burlington and brought to the Haldimand County animal hospital by one of Hobbitstee\u2019s small army of volunteer drivers, who criss-cross southern Ontario responding to all manner of wildlife distress calls.<\/p>\n

\"Two A volunteer driver dropped off an injured swan at the animal hospital in Nanticoke during Hobbitstee\u2019s annual open house in early December. Hobbitstee founder Chantal Theijn, left, and a volunteer gently carry the crated bird inside to be evaluated. Photo by Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge \/SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

The injured swan got to Hobbitstee on Dec. 6, during an open house that gave the public a rare look inside the registered charity\u2019s new treatment and research facility.<\/p>\n

Theijn, \u00a0a trained veterinary technician who founded Hobbitstee in 2007, stepped \u00a0away from her hosting duties to evaluate her newest patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite obvious to me when the swan arrived that there was a lot more going on,\u201d she told The Spectator.<\/p>\n

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The bird was weak, had little muscle mass and was \u201cbarely able to stand,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

A blood test confirmed her suspicions \u2014 this swan was suffering from lead poisoning.<\/p>\n

An X-ray revealed pieces of fishing tackle in the swan\u2019s stomach, including a lead pellet.<\/p>\n

\"Mute This male mute swan, found injured near Lake Ontario in Burlington, has many more swims in his future after a pair of surgeries to remove poisonous lead from his body. The handsome bird is currently recuperating at Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge in Haldimand County. Photo by Chantal Theijn \/Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge<\/p>\n

Swans are at high risk for lead poisoning because they are bottom feeders who indiscriminately \u00a0forage for whatever has sunk to the lake floor, Theijn explained. And \u00a0even though lead ammunition for hunting waterfowl has been banned for \u00a0some 25 years in Canada, lead still litters local waterways.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery \u00a0bit of lead shot has sunk to the bottom, and it\u2019s there,\u201d Theijn said. \u00a0\u201cIt never disappears, it doesn\u2019t dissolve. It just stays there until it \u00a0gets ingested by an animal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Compounding \u00a0the problem is lead runoff from long-shuttered industries that polluted \u00a0Lake Ontario, where this swan likely foraged for food.<\/p>\n

\"X-ray An X-ray revealed that a poisoned swan taken to Hobbitstee animal refuge had ingested what appeared to be multiple pieces of fishing tackle. SUBMITTED SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

With the poison seeping into the swan\u2019s body, Theijn brought the injured bird to Hobbitstee\u2019s go-to veterinarian, Dr. Shannon Lee at Scott Veterinary Clinic in Brantford. \u00a0There, the swan was prepped for surgery.<\/p>\n

Theijn likened the challenge of finding the lead pellet in the swan\u2019s innards to \u201csearching for a needle in a haystack,\u201d even with the help of a flexible scope affixed with a grasping tool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found all the other pieces, but we could not locate the lead in the first session,\u201d said Theijn, who assisted Lee\u2019s team during the two-hour operation.<\/p>\n

It is too dangerous to keep a swan sedated for longer than two hours, so a second surgery was needed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo we gave it a day or so and tried again. And just as we were about to give up, Dr. Lee spotted the lead,\u201d Theijn said.<\/p>\n

\"Lead It took nearly four hours, split over two separate surgeries, for Dr. Shannon Lee and her team of veterinary technicians to find and carefully extract a lead pellet from a swan\u2019s torso. SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all really, really tense because when you grasp something with one of these tiny graspers, sometimes it slips out. But we managed to remove \u00a0the lead, so that was quite the victory dance we all did.\u201d<\/p>\n

This swan may not have been out a-swimming on the seventh day of Christmas, \u00a0but once he is fully recovered, Theijn said he will be returned to the \u00a0wild.<\/p>\n

\u2018Just hanging out\u2019 for the winter<\/p>\n

The swan is one of about 80 animals currently being cared for at Hobbitstee. The majority are bats hibernating for the winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re literally just hanging out,\u201d Theijn said.<\/p>\n

A frostbitten female opossum requires more attention.<\/p>\n

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\"Sleeping Opossums driven from their dens are at high risk of frostbite on their exposed toes, tail, nose and ears. This little frostbitten scavenger is recovering at Hobbitstee, where she will spend the winter. Photo by Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge \/SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

The omnivorous scavengers typically stay in their dens during cold \u00a0spells, but as they do not hibernate, opossums must eventually venture \u00a0out in search of food.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point they get so hungry, they have to choose between freezing their paws off or starving to death,\u201d Theijn explained.<\/p>\n

Unlike their furry fellow scavenger, the raccoon, an opossum\u2019s ears, tail, nose and feet are hairless and prone to frostbite.<\/p>\n

Theijn suspects her opossum patient was displaced from her den and left out in \u00a0the cold. Now safe and warm inside an incubator at Hobbitstee, her toes \u00a0and tail are slowly healing.<\/p>\n

\"Oppossum Opossums driven from their dens are at high risk of frostbite on their exposed toes, tail, nose and ears. This little frostbitten scavenger is recovering at Hobbitstee, where she will spend the winter. Photo by Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge \/SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

Intense cold felled the opossum, but it was a blast of heat that brought a screech owl to Hobbitstee in November with burns to its feathers.<\/p>\n

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The bird was nestled inside a wood stove when the homeowner inadvertently lit it, not realizing the stove had a tenant. The homeowner heard the \u00a0banging sound of the panicked owl trying to escape the flames and \u00a0quickly bundled the tiny burn victim off to Hobbitstee.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s coming along OK,\u201d Theijn said, predicting the little bird will need \u201ca \u00a0year or more\u201d to recover from his burns and regrow his primary flight \u00a0feathers, which \u201cmelted\u201d in the heat.<\/p>\n

His plumage was singed but protected his skin from being burned, and fortunately, the flames did not damage his eyes, she added.<\/p>\n

Once \u00a0the owl has undergone a few moults and regrows his flight feathers, he \u00a0will be moved to an outdoor enclosure to get used to flying again.<\/p>\n

\"Injured This screech owl was nestled inside a wood stove when the homeowner inadvertently lit it. The owner of Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge in Nanticoke says the little bird will need about a year to recover from his burns and regrow his primary flight feathers, but fortunately, the flames did not damage his eyes. Photo by Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge \/SUBMITTEDHelping thousands of animals, free of charge<\/p>\n

Theijn works alone during the winter months at the facility just north of Lake Erie, but she said caring for 80 patients at once is \u201cnot a huge number.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn the summer we get inundated with orphaned babies, and they are a lot of work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hobbitstee \u00a0helped 3,452 sick, injured, orphaned or displaced wildlife over the past year, from turtles, toads and bunnies to foxes, coyotes and \u00a0porcupines, with a long-tailed weasel and ruffed grouse among recent \u00a0patients.<\/p>\n

\"Ill This adult coyote found on the roadside with bruising and infected puncture wounds was one of the animals sent to Hobbitstee over the past year with the help of City of Hamilton Animal Services. Photo by Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge \/SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

All services are provided for free by volunteers, and the goal is to get \u00a0all animals back to their wild homes once it is safe to do so. Cameras inside each enclosure allow Theijn to monitor the animals without exposing them to constant human interaction, which would harm their chances at successfully returning to nature.<\/p>\n

The registered charity\u2019s work is licensed by Canadian Wildlife Service and the Ontario Ministry of \u00a0Natural Resources, but Hobbitstee receives no government funding, \u00a0instead depending on grants and donations.<\/p>\n

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A recent Giving Tuesday campaign brought in $63,465, thanks in large part \u00a0to a generous donor who matched the first $30,000 raised.<\/p>\n

Theijn said that \u201cabsolutely amazing\u201d amount will cover the charity\u2019s utility bills, insurance and other overhead costs for a full year, and help pay for animal feed, \u00a0bedding and veterinary costs.<\/p>\n

\"Sleeping The majority of the approximately 80 patients currently checked into Hobbitstee, a Haldimand County animal hospital, are bats in winter hibernation. Photo by Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge \/SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re \u00a0a smaller charity, so maybe that doesn\u2019t sound like a whole lot,\u201d she \u00a0said. \u201cBut for us, it takes a lot of pressure off to have that kind of \u00a0money in the bank so I know we can pay our bills for the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Lucky break\u2019 for displaced Hamilton snakes<\/p>\n

Hobbitstee is a partner organization with City of Hamilton Animal Services, meaning plenty of displaced wildlife from Hamilton end up at the Nanticoke animal hospital.<\/p>\n

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Among \u00a0Hobbitstee\u2019s Hamiltonian patients this year were an eagle with an injured wing, coyotes contending with puncture wounds and mange, and \u00a0bats removed from city homes and released by public health after being \u00a0tested for rabies.<\/p>\n

\"Snakes\" Construction work in the city of Hamilton accidentally destroyed the home of these DeKay\u2019s brownsnakes, but an alert worker scooped up as many as he could find. Seventeen of the snakes will spend the winter at Hobbitstee before returning to the wild. SUBMITTED<\/p>\n

A group of DeKay\u2019s brownsnakes slithered into Hobbitstee in October after being evicted from a Hamilton construction site.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was totally accidental. Nobody knew there was a snake hibernaculum there,\u201d Theijn said, describing how construction work destroyed the snakes\u2019 overwinter home.<\/p>\n

\u201cA construction worker on-site realized what was happening, so he ran around like mad and scooped up as many snakes as he could find.\u201d<\/p>\n

The worker called Hamilton Animal Services, which got the 17 surviving snakes to Hobbitstee, where they will spend the winter before returning to the wild once the weather warms.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a lucky break,\u201d Theijn said. \u201cHad he not been there, those snakes would have probably all perished.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018This is what I love\u2019<\/p>\n

Theijn said she rarely leaves the animal hospital over the fall and winter. \u00a0There are too many animals to care for, and too much administrative work \u00a0needed to keep the charity going.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat drives my work is this is what I\u2019m passionate about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I love. It\u2019s never boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theijn and her team conduct research into emerging diseases and collect data \u00a0for projects aimed at reducing wildlife mortality on roadways. \u00a0Hobbitstee also offers educational seminars and advocates for habitat \u00a0conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut also just getting these individual animals back into the wild,\u201d Theijn \u00a0said before going back to check on the mute swan\u2019s post-op progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no better feeling than releasing an animal after it\u2019s come in injured \u00a0or sick. Once this swan is recovered, it\u2019ll be so lovely to see him go on and have a normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

J.P. Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.<\/p>\n

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