SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU)– Whether it’s a turtle with a broken shell on the side of the road or a squirrel that fell out of a tree, Forever Wildlife Lodge and Clinic rehabilitators will help any critter in need.

“We are all overwhelmingly busy,” Amanda Hase with Forever Wildlife Lodge and Clinic said.

Abandoned baby animals mixed with last week’s stormy weather has brought a plethora of animals to rehabbers.

“We’ve had quite a few coyotes come in, raccoons come in, injured turtles, injured squirrels, a lot of bunnies, and now we’re starting to see a lot of birds,” Hase said.

Last week, she said she counted more than 400 animals being treated and lodged by members of Forever Wildlife Lodge and Clinic, which gets to be overwhelming.

“I’m limited on sleep, we’re not sleeping very much,” Hase said. “It puts us in a tight spot because we want to keep helping them but there’s only so many of us. So we do what we can so we’re able to take everybody in and get them treated, but it is a lifestyle. I mean, we’re going at this like 24/7, pretty much all of our rehabbers are.”

Despite the need for sleep, Hase said she has no plans to slow down.

“I definitely don’t want to do that if we can take the animals in,” Hase said. “We’ve got certain cases that, you know, they need us and without us there, they’re going to die. So I am trying to expand our program and get more volunteers to help.”

To help lessen the loads rehabbers carry, Hase asks people to think twice before calling experts, depending on the animal and the situation they’re in.

“If you see something that’s injured that’s in immediate danger, call us right away so we can get help to that animal,” she said. “If you’re just seeing a baby animal by itself, it probably needs to be left alone.”

“A lot of animals, they have to feed themselves before they can feed their babies,” Theresa Kruid with the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center said. “So sometimes you might find those orphaned animals that are really not completely orphaned.”

Hase said she expects the animal calls to slow down in June, giving rehabbers time to breathe after a hectic month.