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Wildlife Rehabilitation

Broadcast on December 9, 2010

Wildlife rehabilitator Josie Karam with one of her patients. (Photo by Megan Wilde)

A young mockingbird, who lost its tail to a cat, recovers at Karam's facility. (Photo by Megan Wilde)

By Megan Wilde

Josie Karam will never forget rescuing her first beaver. He was found on a street in downtown El Paso with both hips broken and a lacerated back. So Karam brought him to her home in El Paso, where she runs one of West Texas’ only three licensed wildlife-rehabilitation facilities. What’s it like to give wild animals a second chance at life?

Back in her spacious backyard, Karam nursed the broken beaver in a plastic kid’s pool, and fed him a vegetable-and-fruit concoction with a syringe, until his appetite for bark returned.

Karam: And my son is a massage therapist and he would massage his hips. And this beaver just loved it. It had to have relieved the pain this poor guy was in.

After about five weeks, the beaver’s strength and energy came back. It was time to return him to the river.

Karam: And once he got in the water he was just like a ballerina. It was an awesome release. Awesome.

That lucky beaver was one of about 1,000 injured or orphaned animals that Karam and her volunteers help every year. Most are birds—doves, hummingbirds, the occasional raptor—hurt by cats, fallen from nests, zapped by electric lines, or hit by cars. But Karam also rehabilitates squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, porcupines and opossums. She’s even rescued a ringtail.

The non-profit Chihuahuan Desert Wildlife Rescue helps pay for the animals’ care and feed. But Karam, a 66-year-old retired teacher and businesswoman, contributes about $10,000 of her own each year.

Her busiest months are April through September. Every day she cares for 30 to 50 baby birds, who need to eat every 20 or 30 minutes from dusk to dawn. So for those six months, Karam works 16-hour days, feeding, suturing wounds, tending broken wings and legs, and euthanizing animals that can’t be saved.

That’s an incredibly hard part of being a wildlife rehabilitator. But even letting go of animals she’s saved can be tough.

Karam: Sometimes you just get real attached. Some of them are very affectionate. Doves are very affectionate. They’ll sit on my shoulder and peck at my ear. And a lot of the little mammals. The squirrels and the bunnies. You get real attached to them when you’re bottle-feeding those little guys. It’s like having a child and watching that child grow up and be ready to leave you.

To keep from getting too attached, and to respect their wildness, Karam at first avoided naming animals. But it was hard to refer to them without nicknames.

Karam: We had Larry. Larry was one of our very favorite mourning doves. And he hung around forever. Well one time when I left town, I think what happened is something scared him and he probably ran into the wall. But he died. Well that was so sad for everybody. Everybody loved Larry. Because he would be out here every time we’d go outside here. He would let us touch him and put him on our shoulders. But he was free.

Freeing animals is always Karam’s goal, and a wildlife rehabilitator’s greatest reward. Many she releases in her backyard, where they often hang around until they find their way in the world.

Karam: Just last week I had a Ross’s goose. I had him about four or five days. He followed me all over that field out there. He became my buddy. Well one day I was packing my car, and he stretched up his little neck and he honked at me. And pretty soon I heard “flap flap flap!” And he was coming right at me. And he flew for the first time, because he hadn’t been able to fly. He soared over the carport, and he was gone. It was like he was saying, “Thanks, but I’m outta here!” It’s times like that just make it all worthwhile.

Have a question or comment about this episode? Contact Nature Notes Coordinator Megan Wilde at mwilde [at] cdri [dot] org. Or discuss this episode on Nature Notes’ Facebook page. This episode originally aired on December 9, 2010.

References & Resources for Educators

• Chihuahuan Desert Wildlife Rescue
• “What to do with a wild animal” by National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association
• “Orphaned and Injured Animals” from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

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