e sse nt i al community
kelly
When discussing the environment in our state, everything ends up feeling like a call to arms or an us versus them. It’s easy to feel that those who don’t agree with you on everything won’t stand with you for anything. But when the rhetoric of politicians with cheddar-stained pockets is ignored and good-faith ecological studies are upheld, even the most disillusioned skeptic finds allies across the aisle. Still, the ecologist showing how some of today’s luxuries and comforts come at the cost of tomorrow’s environment can feel analogous to explaining to your dog why a Mounds bar isn’t a good option for dessert. In my conversation with wildlife rehabilitator Kelly Osborn, two things made themselves clear: a onesize-fits all solution is not a mindful solution and the only right solution is the mindful one. Kelly wants to change our behavior when it comes to removing animals from, say, our attics. Many might start thinking about hiring a trapper or exterminator, but contacting Wisconsin WildCare, a sort of coalition of rehabilitators founded by Kelly, or a rehabilitator in your area is almost always a better starting point.
28 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s
You’ll not only save hundreds of dollars, but you’ll also create a solution that’s beneficial to both you and the animal. One example Kelly describes is when hiring a trapper to get a racoon from your attic, it’s better to ask yourself why the racoon is there in the first place. If it’s around springtime, it’s probably a mother finding a place to have babies. Where a wildlife rehabilitator will get the raccoon to go to its backup den (they always have a backup den), a trapper may capture and kill it only for you to later realize there are babies still up there. As more people move into areas where wildlife exist, it’s important to develop a nonhostile relationship with local fauna. “There are a lot of people that are moving into areas where wildlife were,” she says. “And they’re people who aren’t used to that. They’re used to living in the city and not seeing coyotes in their backyard.” Kelly, herself, grew up in Chicago and now lives on a 20-acre farm. “I moved up here; went to school in UW– Madison; and met my husband, who’s a farm boy. He owned this property long
before I met him.” But she didn’t come to Wisconsin to spend her spare time as a wildlife rehabilitator. With an undergrad in political science and masters in urban and regional planning, she wanted to make an impact on energy policy. The push came when “I was out [on the farm] and I heard this animal crying for an entire day, and then the next day, it was still going. “Typically, I’d think, ‘Oh that cat’s got a bunny, and I don’t want to see it.’ So I walked along the edge of the woods until I found it. It was a poor little fawn. He was only less than a week old. I picked up the fawn, carried him back. His dead twin was right next to him, so I knew he needed help. There wasn’t a mom around. I spent the entire weekend, it was Memorial Day weekend, trying to find somebody to help.” After calling the DNR and her vet, she found a woman in California, Marjorie Davis. Marjorie, who was in her 80s at the time (she turned 101 last November), is the founder of Fawn Rescue of Sonoma County, and she walked Kelly through what she’d need to do to find local help. That’s when she met one of the most influential people to her in her
