Founded in 1984, the Pauline S. Schneegas Wildlife Foundation (PSSWF) was created when Nanci Limbach’s grandmother, the organization’s name-sake, passed away and left funds to build a flight cage for bird rehab. Limbach already had been rehabbing hurt and abandoned animals for years, and the funds allowed her to officially launch the foundation.
PSSWF is the only rehab center on the Western Slope licensed to rehab bears and mountain lions, and is licensed in all species including threatened and endangered. Rehab isn’t cheap, with food, shelter and transportation all significant expenses. The new raptor enclosure that’s currently under construction will cost the foundation about $45,000. That’s a huge bill for the small nonprofit, which gets no funding from CPW and relies solely on grants and donations to survive.
Even though she runs the group full-time, Limbach has never taken a salary as executive director because, for her, it’s not about the money. Paul, her husband of 32 years, uses his 3,000 beehives to help out.
“I have an absolutely fabulous husband,” she said. “He works his butt off as a beekeeper, providing a life for us, maintaining our house [and] making sure we are always taken care of financially, so I can work full time running a rehab center that I don’t get compensated for. It’s allowed me to do my passion.”
Those interested in supporting the foundation can go directly to its website at www.schneegaswildlifefoundation.org [1] or buy Paul’s honey, sold under the brand names Madhava Gold and Epicurean Honey, at City Market. Locals also can drop off dried and canned dog and cat food, and cat litter, at the Pitkin Country Sheriff’s Office.
Raw, frozen meat from freezer cleaning, including deer, elk, beef, fish, shellfish and poultry, can be taken directly to the Silt facility. They cannot accept pork and cooked or processed meat, like sausage. Farmers with excess feed can also donate grains, seeds and almost any kind of commercial feed including poultry, rodent, rabbit and horse.
