Old mascara wands being used to help Appalachian animals

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Used mascara wands find new life at the Appalachian Wildlife Refuge. The small, non-profit wildlife rehabilitation center in western North Carolina receives thousands upon thousands of old eyelash implements from people around the country. 

In Appalachia, small animals like squirrels, rabbits, and songbirds often bear the brunt of human activity. We cut down the trees they nest in, we hit them with our cars, and our cats and dogs drag them to our doorsteps, among other unfortunate situations. The goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to get these animals healed and back into the wild as quickly as possible. In cases when they’ve been seriously injured beyond hope of returning to their natural habitats, rehabbers may use them for education purposes to teach others about wildlife rehabilitation, but only if they’re comfortable.

While a typical emergency room’s bread and butter may be scalpels, hospital gowns, and blood pressure monitors, Appalachian Wild’s is the ever-soft (and ubiquitous) mascara wand. It’s somewhat of a trick of the wildlife rehabilitation trade, says Janice Burleson, who’s been caring for injured and orphaned wild animals out of her home for over 20 years.

“It works miracles,” Burleson says. The bristles are close enough together (but not too close) to remove fly eggs, larvae, and mites from the animals’ fur in one fell swoop. They’re also soft enough not to harm the animals. In fact, rehabbers say some of their furry patients love being cleaned with them.

After an original wand-soliciting Facebook post went viral in 2017, Appalachian Wild created a program called Wands for Wildlife to facilitate the donations. Since then, Brewster says Appalachian Wild has received over 50,000 used mascara wands, all sent by individuals happy to toss one less thing in the garbage and help an animal in the process.

S: https://www.popsci.com/mascara-wands-animal-rehabilitation/