Spring Baby Season

Each April, Global Volunteer Month (also known as National Volunteer Month) shines a spotlight on the people who give their time and talent to strengthen communities, particularly during National Volunteer Week. It’s a worldwide celebration designed to recognize the incalculable value of volunteering, and inspire service across sectors and causes.

Volunteers aren’t just helpful sets of hands; they are essential to the success of nonprofit missions. These pro bono workers expand an organization’s capacity, bring specialized skills, and help nonprofits deliver services that would otherwise be impossible. They are powerful drivers of change, strengthening community ties, and building trust between nonprofits and the people they serve. Nonprofit leaders value volunteers more than ever, yet many report difficulty recruiting and retaining them.

In other words, demand for volunteer support is rising while supply remains constrained. Each spring, the need for volunteers becomes especially urgent for one group in particular: baby animals.

Spring Baby Season and the Surge in Animal Care Needs

Spring represents renewal and new life. Many animals give birth in spring because longer daylight hours and warmer temperatures increase food availability, making it an ideal time for young animals to survive and grow.

For companion animal shelters and wildlife rehabilitation centers, however, spring signals the beginning of an intense and demanding season. For them, “baby season” is the time of year when orphaned, injured, or sick baby wild animals arrive in overwhelming numbers. These facilities experience a dramatic increase in the intake of baby birds and other wildlife during spring and early summer. Many of these animals require specialized, round-the-clock care.

At the same time, companion animal shelters are facing ongoing strain due to increased intakes of kittens and puppies. Humane World for Animals has reported a continuing national shelter crisis, with overcrowded animal shelters across the country struggling to manage high intake levels.

At both wildlife rehabilitation centers and companion animal shelters, baby animals often require:

• Bottle feeding every few hours
• Monitoring temperature
• Cleaning and sanitizing enclosures
• Socializing companion animals to prepare them for adoption
• Providing specialized individualized care to prepare wild animals for release into the wild

This level of care is labor-intensive. During baby season, the number of animals in need of care can far exceed what paid staff alone can manage.  In spring season of 2025, PAWS Companion Animal Shelter received 6,700 hours of foster care per month and the PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center provided 3,111 hours of specialized volunteer baby bird care. As a result, when it comes to animal welfare, spring is the season in which the need for volunteers is greatest.

How Volunteers Make a Life-Or-Death Difference for Animals

Volunteering during baby season is about ensuring the survival and health of animals at their most vulnerable stage of life. Volunteers at companion animal shelters and wildlife centers play a critical role in daily operations, from feeding and cleaning to enrichment and observation. Their consistent presence helps ensure animals receive the attention and care they need to thrive.

Springtime volunteers may be asked to:

• Foster orphaned kittens or puppies in their homes as part of an animal welfare foster program
• Bottle-feed neonatal (newborn) companion animals
• Clean and prepare enclosures
• Assist with intake and basic care under staff supervision
• Prepare and maintain habitats to support wildlife rehabilitation

For fragile newborns, key elements such as consistent feeding schedules, carefully controlled temperatures, and proper sanitation can determine whether they survive. Animal care and fostering volunteers (in the companion animal realm) can also free up critical space and reduce stress on animals already in care. When more volunteers step forward during baby season, they help to ensure that:

• More animals receive individualized attention
• Staff burnout is reduced
• Adoption and release outcomes improve
• Community awareness of responsible animal care increases

In short, volunteers become the bridge between overwhelming need and lifesaving outcomes.

How Volunteering Benefits You

You might be surprised to learn that volunteering to help animals offers mutual benefits. Animals receive care and compassion, while volunteers gain a sense of purpose, connection, and improved well-being. Working in animal care is among the most deeply rewarding volunteer opportunities, as it offers satisfying, hands-on ways to improve an animal’s quality of life.

How to Get Started

Global Volunteer Month offers the perfect time to take action for the welfare of animals and the success of the organizations that care for them. If you have time to give, consider contacting:

• Local pet shelters
• Wildlife rehabilitation centers
• Animal rescue organizations with fostering programs

Ask about spring baby season needs. Many organizations provide training and flexible schedules to make volunteering accessible. Even a few hours a week can mean the difference between survival and loss for a vulnerable animal.

If You Cannot Volunteer In-Person

If your schedule doesn’t allow for in-person service, fundraising and donations are meaningful ways to volunteer your support. Financial gifts and in-kind contributions directly sustain volunteer-powered programs, helping animal welfare organizations expand care during the demanding spring baby season. For example, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is currently running its GiveBIG fundraiser, which keeps volunteer impact at the forefront. All it takes is a few moments to make a truly outsized difference.

This spring, support vulnerable animals and give them their best chance at living happy, healthy lives.

Make a Difference for Animals in Need by Volunteering With PAWS

At PAWS, we’re dedicated to helping cats, dogs, and wildlife thrive — whether that means finding a forever family or returning to their natural habitat. We achieve this by rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife, sheltering and adopting out homeless cats and dogs, and educating our community to inspire compassionate action. If you live in King or Snohomish County, Washington, you can make a life-saving difference by volunteering with us this baby season, and beyond!

We have an especially great need for baby bird nursery volunteers at our PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Snohomish. Not a bird expert? We’ll train you!

We also urgently need foster parent volunteers for mother dogs and their puppies. PAWS will custom-match animals to your home and provide all the resources you need. By fostering, you not only help the animal in your care prepare for a loving home, but you also create space in the shelter so we can rescue more animals from facilities where overcrowding can lead to euthanasia. Your compassion ensures these cats and dogs get the time, care, and support they need to thrive.

Apply to volunteer today!

Want to help but can’t volunteer? Join our 2026 GiveBig event as a way to volunteer and change the future for countless vulnerable animals!

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