Coming face to face with wildlife is no rare occurrence for Mississippians. Urban areas sit in the middle of heavily wooded, wild habitations. Deer roam the highways, squirrels nest in chimneys, raccoons steal cat food from garages. Though there are laws in place to protect wildlife, accidents happen.
Kaitrin Hanski, 21, witnessed first-hand the danger wildlife faces when it comes too close to humans. Hanski had just moved to Oxford to start college. She was driving down Highway 6 on her way to a party one evening when she saw a bird batted down mid-flight by a Jeep. Hanski pulled her car over to the shoulder and reached into the back for a pair of welding gloves she kept handy for such an occasion. Then, dressed in a skirt, high heels and the heavy gloves, she stepped out onto the busy highway to retrieve the injured bird.
“It was crazy. People didn’t even try to slow down,” Hanski said. “I was caught in the middle of the highway with a hawk in my hands.”
Cars flew by around her, honking as she struggled to get the angry, frightened bird into a duffle bag and back to her car. The bird, an adolescent Cooper’s hawk, was in bad shape. Luckily, Hanski knew what she was doing. She abandoned the party and, instead, drove 30 miles to Water Valley to deliver the hawk to a rehabilitator who could get the bird some help.
Originally from Hernando, Mississippi, Hanski developed an interest in working with wildlife and began volunteering with Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation Inc. (MWR) as a rehabilitator at the age of 18. She now lives in a one bedroom, 500 square foot duplex in Oxford with her boyfriend and, as of now, a litter of orphaned opossums and two baby squirrels that have just opened their eyes.
Hanski said every square inch of space of the apartment is taken up by terrariums, incubators and cages. Sheets decorate her living room, draped over the cages of nocturnal creatures who need the dark and warmth to survive.
During the day, Hanski manages a full class load and works for Ruby’s Riders at Splinter Creek Ranch training horses and teaching riding lessons to children.
Her day doesn’t end when she finishes at the barn, though. Each night she returns home to feed four hungry mouths. While her classmates make Ramen noodles in their microwaves, hers is warming up bottles of possum formula.
Hanski might get up four or five times a night to cater to the babies’ strict feeding schedule.
Hanski’s work with wildlife began her senior year of high school when she began looking into her career path. She discovered that even entry level positions at zoos and sanctuaries required years of experience working with wildlife. So she got started. In the past three years, Hanski has helped rehabilitate between 30-40 injured or orphaned animals and has assisted in five raptor (i.e. bird of prey) rescues.
“It’s just sort of a labor of love for me now,” Hanski said.
Hanski said her experience with the Cooper’s hawk has stood out for her, though. Not only was it one of her first wildlife encounters in Oxford, but it was the first time she actually witnessed the animal get hurt.
“I thought, ‘wow, he definitely would have died if I hadn’t seen it,’” Hanski recalled.
She was able to get the injured hawk to Nancy Fachman, a wildlife rehabilitator for Yalobusha and surrounding counties. Fachman, not licensed to treat birds of prey, took the hawk to MWR headquarters. There, Director Valery Smith found that the bird had multiple wing fractures, and with a sharp beak and talons and a bad attitude, treating the crow-sized raptor was no easy feat. However, with diligent care and some healing time, the bird made a full recovery. Both Hanski and Fachman were able to attend its release.
According to Fachman, incidents like the Cooper’s hawk occur far too often.
Fachman has worked as a rehabilitator for MWR since 2000, and over the years she has taken on an average of around 100 cases a year.
Fachman said that most of the injuries she has seen were a direct result of people rather than nature. Whether they get hit by a car or caught by a pet cat or dog, local wildlife faces a bounty of obstacles as cities expand into their habitats and they are forced into people’s backyards.
“We’ve moved into their territories. We’ve displaced them,” Fachman said.
That does not mean people don’t care, however. Fachman’s work usually begins with a phone call. A concerned citizen has found an animal and does not know what to do with it. A game warden was called to pick up an animal and needs to be sure it is taken care of. After asking preliminary questions to make sure the animal has indeed been orphaned or injured, Fachman gives instructions on how to keep it warm and minimize stress until she can get it.
Fachman even makes the occasional phone call to the person who found the animal to assure them it is being cared for.
“A lot of people are afraid when an officer picks up an animal they’re just going to go around the corner and put it down,” Fachman said. “They [game wardens] are grateful that they have a place to take that animal and not have to put it down.”
Once she gets the animal home, Fachman does a thorough check up, treating the animal for dehydration first before looking for any signs of disease or injury. As a rule, rehabilitators tend to take only baby or young animals. Adults will often injure themselves further by struggling to get free. According to Fachman, this goes against the very purpose for her work.
“Our goal is to get all animals back into nature where they belong,” Fachman said. “We don’t make pets out of any of them.”
Fachman advocates strongly against the practice of domesticating wildlife. Though it is illegal to keep indigenous species of birds or mammals as pets, many people find a baby squirrel or rabbit and think nothing of taking it home.
Bill Taylor of Water Valley said he had several wild pets growing up, from a skunk to a squirrel to a deer fawn. According to Taylor, there were a lot of people who kept wild animals back then. Most of these animals either die after a short time in captivity or are simply too wild to make good pets. Since then, both the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and MWR have devoted time and effort into education programs to teach today’s children and adults to respect wildlife and obey the law.
According to Fachman, when a person decides to domesticate a wild animal they take away its ability to thrive in the wild. This is why Fachman limits her animals’ interaction with people to herself. Even her husband is not allowed near the animals. Once the babies are weaned off formula, Fachman moves them into an outdoor enclosure to allow them to adjust and learn what comes naturally. Once outside, even her interaction with them is limited in order to prevent them from associating people with food or comfort.
“Animals that approach people can be seen as aggressive and shot,” Fachman said. She sometimes even uses her husband to test the animals and make sure they will run from humans.
MWR has a training session or education day each spring. Here, rehabilitators are taught or updated on the basics of animal care. They learn the intake procedures, how to fill out paperwork, how to triage or examine animals for wounds, how to identify certain illnesses and diseases and the proper methods behind their motto: rescue, rehabilitate, release.
Still, rehabilitators are not veterinarians. Though they work closely with some local vets, they cannot legally perform any invasive procedures. That means no suturing, no surgeries and no access to certain drugs. They can administer rehydration fluids, give shots and treat basic wounds, but sometimes it is not enough. Though they are not able to save every animal they receive, Fachman feels the work rehabilitators do is still significant.
“It’s important to me because I care about wildlife. I care about all life,” Fachman said, “and I see things being done to nature that are detrimental.”
As a whole, MWR takes on anywhere from 500-800 cases a year. Founded and directed by Smith since 1995, the non-profit organization does not yet have an actual center of operation and is run primarily out of Smith’s home.
Though they may receive an occasional grant, MWR receives no federal, state or local government funding and is funded mostly by private donations. Periodic fundraising may pay for a cage here or extra formula there, but for the most part, the expenses involved for volunteers come out of their own pockets.
“When I joined MWR back in 2000 we were bare-boned. We danced if we got a $5 donation,” Fachman said. “There was a lot of begging back then.”
Still, despite her husband calling it “her expensive hobby,” Fachman feels her efforts are worth it. Both she and Hanski work as sub-permittees under Smith’s individual permit which allows her to choose her associates and grants them permission to rehabilitate any indigenous species, not including birds of prey and venomous snakes.
According to Hanski, though their work may not be making a huge ecological impact, rehabilitators to provide crucial information to state biologists, game wardens and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife. Rehabilitators are required to report the numbers and status of the animals they take in, and this information allows wardens and biologists to track populations, monitor the spread of diseases and much more.
“It’s really easy to let natural selection take its course,” Hanski said, “but if we have the natural instinct to intervene, that’s natural selection in itself.”
The MWR has begun construction on a more official and permanent center of operations, according to their website. The building will be a place for citizens to take injured or orphaned animals where they can be treated on a larger scale.
For now, though, Fachman has decided to begin taking steps towards retirement after 16 years. Health problems have made the strains of full-time rehab work too difficult for Fachman, She now takes only the occasional orphaned animals just long enough for them to stabilize before they are transported to another rehabilitator for nurturing and release.
Hanski, on the other hand is just getting started. Now a junior at Ole Miss, Hanski majors in psychology with a minor in biology and hopes to translate her experience with wildlife into a career studying animal behaviorism in a zoo or wildlife park. Both the possums and squirrels, which she admits are her favorite, are healthy and are scheduled to be released by the end of November.
Mary Cloud Taylor is a senior print journalism major at The Meek School of Journalism and New Media and an intern for HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at mctaylo1@go.olemiss.edu.
