Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erica Eschenburg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Erica, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
Aiding injured and orphaned native wildlife is meaningful to me because I grew up enjoying and respecting the great outdoors and the animals that inhabit it. In a world where we are always in a hurry, hiking in the woods and spotting an animal really gives you pause. And when we pause in our everyday life and really think about it, these same animals have had to adapt considerably to keep up with our growing and busy world. We have taken so much from our natural resources and native wildlife, it felt important to me to do something to give back to them and to assist them when human interference has caused injury, illness, displacement, etc.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a 29-year-old, self-proclaimed dog mom with a nature-filled spirit. From a young age, I wanted to help animals. My favorite toy was a “Veterinarian Barbie”, and I’d often scoop up little critters I’d find in the yard or fallen from nests. As I went through high school, I became a veterinary assistant and worked my way through the veterinary technician program at Macomb Community College. After working in general small animal veterinary practice, I started fostering bottle kittens & puppies for a local animal rescue. It was raising these orphans up that eventually led to helping with a couple orphaned baby raccoons–and the rest is history. After becoming a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in 2018, just by word of mouth I became incredibly busy and founded our nonprofit to help off-set costs. Though it isn’t a job that pays, it is my true passion and nothing brings me more joy than releasing animals back into their home in the wild. Critter Crossing Rehabilitation has since grown to include a wildlife clinic facility, a volunteer base, educational programs, and a massive amount of local support.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Up until this past winter, Critter Crossing Rehabilitation was run out of a small room in my personal home. The space constraints made it very difficult to accept volunteer help as well as keep up with the large need to aid wild animals–you can only fit so many cages in a guest bedroom! It was very difficult to not feel stressed & cramped, let alone the sadness from having to turn animals away for lack of room. It was truly a turning point in the Fall of 2022 when I was feeling so burnt out and wondering how I’d ever continue this mission without more space & help. I had already spent the entire previous year trying to fundraise and find a property to establish a purpose-built wildlife rehabilitation facility and was coming up short left and right. I was faced with a personal decision to either dissolve the nonprofit for the sake of my mental health, or adapt (like so many of our patients do) and find a solution that looked different than my original goal. When a commercial building in the village became available for sale, something clicked and said “yes, this is the next step.” And off I went and, with the help of my family and volunteers, we converted and ice cream & antique shop into a wildlife clinic!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
It’s totally wild to think about how far we have come in such a short time as a nonprofit. In the beginning, when I was rehabilitating wildlife just by word of mouth, I paid for every single thing out of pocket, which became very costly very fast. I had documented a lot of my animal rescuing journeys on my personal Facebook page and one of my friends (Thanks, Jeff!) said “here’s $500 to help you build an enclosure for your raccoons”. That was the first time I realized WOW, people will actually donate and support what I’m trying to do and went forward establishing 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. The same Jeff also owns a screen-printing shop (NDesigns in Tennessee) so he designed and donated my logo as well as a whole batch of T-shirts with our logo to get me started. I sold all of the shirts to friends and family in just two days and used the money to open a bank account for our nonprofit. So, in summary, Critter Crossing Rehab is what it is today because of one man who felt compelled to support my mission.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.crittercrossingrehab.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/crittercrossingrehab
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/crittercrossingrehab
- Tiktok: @crittercrossingrehab