Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, August 19, 1999
Wild Care helps animals get back on their feet
KU students care for injured critters
Melany Sutherland methodically cuts up a dead rat with a pair of scissors in preparation for feeding a baby kestrel hawk brought into Wild Care, a farm that has been converted into an emergency veterinary clinic.
By Tadd Halstead
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer.
Sutherland gently taps the head of the hawk in an attempt to get its attention. The hawk, sparsely covered with brown and white down, extends its long, sinewy neck upward to grasp the food from her hand. The kestrel, eyes still shut, is blind to the world and to the human nature of its provider as it voraciously swallows the small piece of rat entrails.
The kestrel is one of many animals at Wild Care, a non-profit organization at Sunflower Farm, located outside Lawrence off K-10 Highway.
Sutherland, administrative manager of Wild Care for the past eight years, said that the organization's main mission was to care for injured or orphaned animals and nurse them back to health or raise them until they were able to be released into their natural habitats.
Jill Richardson, Lawrence senior and Wild Care volunteer, learned about Wild Care at an Earth Day event in South Park.
"I've always been interested in animals, and I thought the hands-on work with animals would be a good experience," she said.
Fifteen KU students volunteer at Wild Care.
The kinds of animals commonly rehabilitated at Wild Care are proportionate to what one would find in nature. A high percentage are injured or orphaned cottontail rabbits, while about two or three bobcats are treated during a year. Sometimes more exotic animals are brought into Wild Care. Volunteers have even rehabilitated a bald eagle and a peregrine falcon.
Regan Johnston, doctor of veterinarian medicine, divides her time between her private practice and Wild Care. She said most injuries were orthopedic or traumatic and that the cause of injuries were usually man-made.
Some of these causes include automobiles, wire fences, sixpack rings or birds flying into telephone wires. Young animals usually are orphaned rather than injured, often because their parents have been killed by humans or predators.
Sutherland said that 70 percent of all injured animals were because of human intervention. But, she said, the number could be as high as 90 percent and that animals should be cared for out of a sense of responsibility.
Wild Care has several buildings to administer treatment to injured animals, including an eagle flight pen with an outdoor flight area, turtle and waterfowl habitats, pens that house larger animals such as deer, and a building that holds an office and cages for birds.
Wild Care's second mission is to educate the public about co-existing with animals through educational speeches at schools, festivals and with special interest groups. Animals that are not able to be released because of extensive injuries are used as educational tools by volunteers to teach the public.
Inside the office, a large grackle in a cage sitting on a desk greets visitors and volunteers with a raucous kaw. Beyond the office, displaying the egalitarian qualities of Wild Care, is a room where caged blue jays and exotic predatory birds await treatment. Nearby — a grim reminder of their species' low positions on the food chain — live mice and rats wait as condemned sustenances for the injured raptors and birds of prey who reside in two small rooms in the back.
About 70 volunteers assist with handling and rehabilitation of the animals. Volunteers must be 18 years old, and they must attend a monthly orientation session at which prospective volunteers tour the buildings and learn what is expected of them.
"I've always been interested in animals and I thought the hands-on work with animals would be a good experience."
Jill Richardson Lawrence senior
Volunteer Mary Trybom said, "Since I grew up on a farm, I've always been around animals, and I feel like I'm doing my part to help the environment and wild animals."
Volunteers have been receiving improved training to deal with questions from people on the phone. Often people call with questions about injured or abandoned animals. Volunteers tell callers that most injured adult animals are approachable, but that most young animals should be left alone, particularly if it is a baby rabbit or young birds in a nest.
This training has led to a drop in the number of uninjured animals being brought into Wild Care, allowing volunteers to devote more time and effort to animals in need of medical attention.
Wild Care began in 1979, when someone brought a Great Horned owl to veterinarians at the animal care unit at the University of Kansas. The veterinarians cared for the owl until it could be released back into nature. The owl is now the organization's symbol.
By the mid 1980s, so many injured and orphaned animals were being brought to the care unit that volunteers were recruited to alleviate some of the pressure on the veterinarians. In 1992, state and federal budget cuts required Wild Care to leave the University and relocate to its present location. Since then, the organization has received public and private donations.
—Edited by Julie Wood
Road work ahead
Lawrence Public Utility workers Doug Hartense, left, and Mike Cardona use a backhoe and pump to excavate around a broken water main on the 700 block of Vermont Tuesday. The six-inch cast iron pipe, which was installed in 1931, broke about 4:30 that afternoon leaving several businesses without water for nearly six hours. Photo by Chad Cummings/KANSAN
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