I don
’t think I have ever met anyone who is more passionate about her
work or more compassionate toward her patients than Sue Howell. Sue
is the executive director of the Wildlife Education and
Rehabilitation Center or WERC
I don’t think I have ever met anyone who is more passionate about her work or more compassionate toward her patients than Sue Howell.
Sue is the executive director of the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center or WERC
Located in Morgan Hill, WERC rehabilitates orphaned, injured and sick native wildlife species with the goal of returning them to their original habitat. Like any privately funded, non-profit organization, WERC has limited resources and cannot provide all the services they would like, but their small professional staff and group of dedicated volunteers help hundreds of animals each year.
Sue speaks of each of her resident patients with consummate respect and consideration for their needs. Whether it is an orphaned bobcat, a golden eagle with a gunshot wound or a poisoned badger, every consideration is given to returning the animal to fitness and its former habitat without hurting its ability to survive in the wild.
“We are the only facility in south Santa Clara County licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” she told me. “The regulations we follow are rigorous, but they are designed to insure the animal’s safe return to its habitat.”
Sue has plenty of stories about the cruel acts of some people toward native animals, but she is equally concerned about the actions of well-intentioned people who, out of ignorance, do exactly the wrong thing when faced with an animal in need of help.
“People will take an opossum up to Coe Park and release it thinking they are placing it in an ideal environment, but that is a big mistake. It can introduce disease, parasites and other problems into that area. That opossum’s proper habitat may be by your house. That is where it belongs.”
When WERC returns an animal to the wild, it must do so within three miles of where it was picked up.
Sue warns not to take animals to Coe Park or take the duckling you received at Easter to Community Park. Though well meaning, such actions upset a balance that experts are working hard to maintain.
So, how do we know the right thing to do? WERC can’t take every animal that needs their help – resources are too limited. But if you are confronted with an injured, sick or orphaned animal, call WERC at 779-WERC (9372) and ask.
“Sometimes we can direct people over the phone,” Sue says. “Often, the best thing to do is leave the animal alone. The animal’s parent can do more good in a couple of days than we can do in a month. People need to know that capturing or releasing a wild animal without a permit is against the law.”
WERC has received international recognition for its work raising singular bobcats for reintroduction to the wild. Their innovative methods were developed in 1995 when an orphaned bobcat they named Bobbie was brought to the center.
Wearing a bobcat costume scented with bobcat urine and native herbs, staff and volunteers masqueraded as a stand-in parent nurturing Bobbie until he was successfully released into the wild. The methods used to rehabilitate Bobbie have developed into the accepted standard for raising singular bobcats with the Department of Fish and Game.
Some people get a perverse joy from shooting or otherwise hurting wild animals. Most of us are just passengers on a runaway train of ever encroaching pressure on wild areas. Either way, when people and animals meet, the animals usually lose. Sue Howell and everyone at WERC strive to soften our rough touch and teach us to live with, rather than replace, the natives.
Learn about WERC at www.werc-ca.org/ Support WERC with a check or by attending their annual barbecue and auction this Saturday. Details: 779-9372.
Ron Erskine has lived and worked as a builder and brewery owner in South Valley for 20 years. He lives in Morgan Hill with his wife and two children.
