"All of the groups doing animal rescue in
the area are doing noble work and are extremely dedicated people," said
Roger Van Ghent, conservation chairman of the St. Johns County Audubon
Society. "But they are all at capacity and have been for some time. It
is frustrating for these folks because they are unable to take in
animals in need because of a lack of funding and space."
Van Ghent said even though the rescue
operations have all hung a no vacancy sign on the door, the county's
injured wildlife shows no sign of slowing down. Mix that with a
diversion of some charitable funds to hurricane relief and the number of
grants drying up, and the problem reveals itself.
St. Johns County has three
wildlife rescue operators, HAWKE, Noah's Ark Wildlife Rescue and
Rehabilitation and the St. Johns Wildlife Care. All three take in a
variety of injured wildlife, but each facility has its own area of
expertise. HAWKE specializes in birds of prey and river otters; Noah's
Ark in sea birds; and St. Johns Wildlife Care is set up to handle the
special needs of injured and orphaned raccoons.
Melanie Cain-Stage has been caring for
injured animals since 1979. She is the director of HAWKE, which is on a
5-acre farm in rural Elkton. She got her start rehabilitating animals at
the St. Augustine Alligator Farm.
"People would bring in injured animals to
the Alligator Farm that had been found and needed care," Cain-Stage
said. "After four years there, it became apparent there was a real need
for a full-time facility that specialized in orphaned and injured
animals."
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|
St. Johns
Wildlife Care helps a variety of wildlife, but specializes in raccoon
rehabilitation and rescue. The center recently released 30 young
raccoons back into the wild.
--Terry Brown/St. Johns Sun |
"You wouldn't expect an athlete with a
broken leg to take off his cast and immediately run a marathon,"
Cain-Stage said. "The same is true of a bird who has been injured. The
flight cage allows them to gradually build up their strength before
being released. If you just let them go without building up their
conditioning, they probably won't survive."
For nuisance animals like raccoons, St.
Johns Wildlife Care Director Karen Inman is faced with extra precautions
and concerns. All of the raccoons require vaccination because of
raccoons' susceptibility to rabies. Inman's role often becomes that of
surrogate mother for many of those in her care, which means she is
feeding the animals every couple of hours in their early stages.
"After last year's hurricanes blew through
the area, we had 104 raccoon babies that had been rescued from fallen
trees in the county," Inman said. "You have to care for these babies
until they are about seven months before they can be released back into
the wild. It is an exhausting job."
It is also very messy, requiring cleaning
the cages twice a day, every day. Inman said her work is truly a labor
of love for the animals in her care.
The same can be said for
Noah's Ark Wildlife located in St. Augustine Beach. Since May, the
facility has been unable to accept any new animals. Like the other
wildlife care facilities, they are at capacity and short on funding.
"With Hurricane Katrina, a lot of the
charitable donations that we usually see have been going to aid others,
which is understandable, and grant money has also been virtually
nonexistent this year, so it is making operating conditions even
harder," Cain-Stage said. "Even though funding has been slow, we are
seeing more injured animals than ever. Survival for both the animals and
all of the wildlife care organizations in the county is at a crisis."
terry.brown
jacksonville.com,
(904) 359-287-0618 ext. 201#
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