Ohio Wildlife Center a haven for animals in need of treatment

 

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Ohio country was a wilderness. The year that we achieved statehood, 1803, there were only about 5,000 settlers in the state, in addition to the Native Americans that long preceded Europeans. The latter group lived in far greater harmony with the environment than the new arrivals.

Now, nearly 12 million people live in Ohio, a human avalanche that has wrought enormous changes to the natural world, most of it not good. Wild animals have generally suffered from human activities, with few exceptions.

Scores of cars and heavy traffic, dogs and cats, toxic chemicals, high-rise buildings, and numerous other pitfalls to animals have created hazards galore. Fortunately, there are nearly 90 licensed wildlife rehabilitators scattered around the state. These individuals and organizations do their best to aid injured animals, and collectively they deal with tens of thousands of injured animals each year.

Central Ohio is home to the state’s largest rehabilitator, the Ohio Wildlife Center (OWC), which was founded in 1984 by legendary veterinarian and birder Don Burton. The OWC hospital is on Billingsley Road in northwest Columbus, and their corporate headquarters is just north of Dublin on the Scioto River.

The OWC staff and their volunteer army of 200 people do not let the grass grow under their feet. In 2022, over 8,000 animals were admitted. Among the mammalian crowd, the eastern cottontail rabbit was the most common patient. Two hundred and ninety-two bunnies were treated. Of the birds, the mallard was most frequent, with 395 ducks admitted. The American robin was not far behind at 303 birds. The goal is successful treatment and release back to the wild of all patients, and a great many are.

In all, OWC staff and volunteers dealt with over 20,000 interactions with the public last year. Of those, nearly 1,000 contacts involved their “SCRAM” operation, which helps people resolve human-animal conflicts humanely.

I recently had the opportunity to visit the OWC headquarters, which sits on 20 acres near Shawnee Hills. Director Lolita Haverlock, communications manager Nick Sheriff and education manager Jayna Hulse gave me a tour of the amazing facility.

The stars are the “ambassador” animals, which are housed in roomy enclosures. These birds, mammals, reptiles and others cannot be re-wilded due to injuries, human habituation or other factors. Visitors can get face time with massive (and very vocal) bald eagles, barred and great horned owls, raccoons, expressive American crows, curious coyotes and many others.

My favorite are the foxes. These wily mammals are smarter than many people I’ve met and are one of our handsomest mammals. Especially notable is “Stevie,” a rare melanistic “silver” fox. Her photo accompanies this column. Stevie was rescued from an undesirable captive situation and is flourishing in her new surroundings. She shares space with a pair of normally pigmented red foxes.

Construction is under way on a one-acre pollinator garden that will host many species of native plants. This planting will become a centerpiece of the grounds and should be flourishing by next year, and it’ll age like fine wine, improving each year.

The OWC Education Center grounds are open to the public the second Sunday of each month, from noon to 3 pm. I highly recommend a visit. Bring some kids. It’s a great venue to expose the younger set to amazing animals.

For more on OWC, including their SCRAM operation and other activities, visit: ohiowildlifecenter.org.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at jimmccormac.blogspot.com.