TSE Wildlife Center will be holding a Wild Baby Shower at the beginning of March, complete with baby shower games and a visit from their animal ambassador, Walley the opossum. Submitted photo

TSE Wildlife Center will be celebrating World Wildlife Day with an upcoming event at the beginning of March.

TSE Wildlife Center’s Wild Baby Shower is set for March 3 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Audubon Community Nature Center, 1600 Riverside Road.

Executive Director Sandra Emke said that the idea for the event came because of wanting to merge the idea of World Wildlife Day — a national holiday organized to recognize and highlight wildlife and their importance — and showcasing baby wildlife brought into the center.

“I have been a wildlife rehabber for three years and it is completely out of my own pocket and my own time,” Emke said. “I always look for different ideas for fundraisers and heard about other organizations doing something similar to this. We want to showcase our babies and what we do and celebrate World Wildlife Day so we are combining the two to help get ready for the babies that will be coming in, as that is also the most expensive part.”

The Wild Baby Shower event will include typical baby shower games but with a wildlife twist. Similar to a diaper raffle, there will be a puppy pad raffle in which community members can bring in a pack of puppy pads or other donation items — an Amazon wish list can be found on TSE’s Facebook event page — and be entered into the raffle. Other games will include things such as pin the tail on the fox. Emke said the event will also educate people on what to do when they encounter baby wildlife and include snacks from Gypsy Moon Cake Company.

TSE Wildlife’s Ambassador Opossum, Walley, will be visiting as well. Walley came into the center after falling off of his mother and was attacked by a cat, leaving wounds that make it so he cannot be released back into the wild, so the center set him up as an ambassador animal.

Emke encouraged the community to come out to the event, which is free and open to the public with a maximum of 50 people. This is the first year TSE Wildlife Center has done this event, after a smaller online event last year, but Emke said she would like to do it again next year.

“It’s a great way to spend World Wildlife Day,” Emke said. “It’s educational and for a great purpose and it’s also fun. Come out and help support wildlife for a good cause.”