by GABRIEL HATHAWAY
Southeast Minnesota and the Mississippi River valley become a migration corridor each spring and fall with a wide variety of waterfowl, raptors, and shorebirds passing through the region. At the same time, the nearest animal rehabilitation center for any injured, sick, or orphaned animals is in the Twin Cities, hours away. Houston resident Krisha Saxon hopes to help create an animal rehabilitation center in the region.
Saxon jokingly described herself as a veterinarian school dropout and has worked in a number of clinics with wild animals and large birds. Saxon stressed the need for an animal rehabilitation center in Southeast Minnesota, stating, “I can’t step two feet around here without finding an animal that needs a simple rehab. Many people are illegally rehabbing in their homes due to the situation.” The nearest rehabilitation center for Minnesota animals is in the Twin Cities area two hours away at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota (WRC) or the Raptor Center. Saxon said a car ride that distance can be very stressful and harmful to already injured, sick, or orphaned animals, and she added that these facilities are already extremely busy servicing most of the state. Wildlife Rehabilitation Permit Coordinator Heidi Cyr at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said the WRC is the largest rehabilitation center in the nation and treated more than 13,000 animals last year.
Caring for any injured, sick, or orphaned animals requires a DNR permit. The wildlife rehabilitation permit process is a long progressive build up of knowledge starting at novice and progressing to general and master classes, according to Cyr. A novice rehabber may possess only healthy orphaned animals such as birds, rabbits, and squirrels. A general permit requires at least two years as a novice and allows a rehabber to possess orphaned or sick birds, owls, kestrels, and mammals. Finally, a master permit can be acquired after four years with a general permit and allows the rehabber to possess orphaned, sick, or injured birds, and mammals. It also allows possession of deer, bears, threatened and endangered species if specified in the permit. An aspiring wildlife rehabber must also have a veterinary consultant and be mentored by a master rehabber, Cyr said. “So they’re not just doing this on their own … And they don’t just like pick up a bear one day. That would take seven years and a special type of permit,” Cyr said. “We don’t want them to fail. We want them to be good stewards of the animals and build up to the harder animals.”
Cyr said the permitting and the continual learning is important because it ensures rehabilitation centers are doing their best and not treating the wildlife as pets. “When a rehabber handles an animal, it should be with very limited handling [with] the outlook that the animal should remain wild and be wild when they release it,” Cyr said.
Having more wildlife rehabilitation centers across the state would be good for the animals and existing centers, Cyr said. She discouraged moving animals around the state, noting that they can carry disease, which could impact other populations. She added that having more centers would cut back on drive times for bringing injured animals to centers as well as for releasing them back into the wild where they were found.
Saxon formed the group Southeast Minnesota Wildlife Rehabilitation Network last year and hopes to create a center in the area. She said a center could provide education, animal rehabilitation, and help reduce the number of unnecessary calls to animal control. Saxon said she is not healthy enough to head the project but hopes to plant the seed for an animal rehabilitation center in Southeast Minnesota. The Southeast Minnesota Wildlife Rehabilitation Network Facebook page is available at tinyurl.com/ycxpb3k2.