Collecting Nuts for Wildlife: Help Us Feed Our Patients!

 

 

Want to help us feed our wild patients this year? Many of the patients at the Wildlife Center, including fawns, squirrels, and bears, depend on acorns and other “hard mast” as an important fall and winter food.

This year, the Wildlife Center will be caring for a rambunctious bunch of five growing bears throughout the winter – so we will be going through a lot of nuts!

We’re looking for cleaned acorns, chestnuts, and hickory nuts. Local Virginia nuts only please, in order to minimize disease transmission and keep nuts properly stored. Want to help feed the bears, but don’t have access to nuts? You can make a donation to the Wildlife Center and specify “Go Nuts!” as the specific purpose of your gift.

Nuts quickly deteriorate, mold, and rot if collected and left in buckets/bags where they get wet or hot. For best quality, and to help us store and feed nuts to our patients all winter long, please clean and prepare nuts using these directions:

Acorns: We will take cleaned, bagged, quality acorns. To prepare:

  1. Collect acorns and separate from twigs, leaves, and other debris.
  2. Cover them in a container of water for five minutes. Throw away the ones that float.
  3. Remove acorns from water and dry with a towel, or allow to air dry.
  4. When fully dry, place acorns in a one-gallon Ziploc-type baggie and freeze. Keep frozen until you can deliver them to the Wildlife Center.

NOTE: Acorn quality quickly deteriorates, molds and rots if collected and left in buckets/bags where they get wet or hot.

 

Hickories: We will take clean hickory nuts. To prepare:

  1. Collect hickories and separate from twigs, leaves, and other debris.
  2. Deliver to the Wildlife Center.

NOTE: Hickory quality quickly deteriorates, molds and rots if collected and left in buckets/bags where they get wet or hot. Hickories do not need to be frozen prior to delivery.

 

Chestnuts: We will take clean chestnuts. Please note: only edible chestnuts are suitable for patients -- horse chestnuts are toxic and not usable. To prepare:

  1. Collect edible chesnuts and separate from twigs, leaves and other debris.
  2. Deliver to the Wildlife Center.

Not sure what you’ve got?  Both horse chestnuts and edible chestnuts produce a brown nut.  Edible chestnuts always have a tassel or point on the nut; the toxic horse chestnut is rounded and smooth with no point or tassel.

Edible chestnuts
Toxic horse chestnuts

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Can I contribute buckeyes?

A: Thanks, but no. Buckeyes, too, are toxic to some of our wildlife.

Q: What about Black Walnuts?

A: Black walnuts are not needed this year, thank you!

Q: Can I mail nuts to you?

A: Because we’d like fresh local nuts, or prepared and frozen local nuts, please plan on dropping off your nut donation at the Center. If you’re too far to drop off, please consider making a donation directly to the website instead of spending money on postage! This will ensure we can purchase the specific supplies we need. 

Please drop off donated nuts at the front door of the Center, any day of the week from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Ideally, please plan on packing nut donations in brown paper bags, or in containers that can be left at the Center. Questions? Email us at wildlife@wildlifecenter.org. No phone calls, please! We want to keep the lines open for wildlife emergencies. 

Thanks for your help!