Rescuing the wild: Watkins Wildlife Rehab helps injured animals recover and nurses them back to nature

Occupying farmland space in Sedgewickville, Missouri, is a different kind of rescue -- John and Carolyn Watkins rehabilitate wildlife species to help promote education and conservation through Watkins Wildlife Rehab.

"I have a lot of people ask me how to get started with this, and I have to tell them I'm not really sure, because I was grandfathered in," Watkins said. "I was doing this before anybody had to have a license."

Since 1969, John Watkins has been taking in wildlife and nursing them back to health with the intent of releasing them back to their natural life, and now maintains state and federal licenses to ensure the ability to continue to do this work.

Silver, an energetic coyote that jumps up on her cage to reach her muzzle out for a scratch, is a permanent resident of Watkins Wildlife Rehab. Previously a family pet, the Watkinses took Silver in when the family who had raised her no longer could keep her. Because of her comfort toward humans, she was unable to be released back into the wild, Watkins said, and she is now used for educational outreach programs.

"What we try to do is educate people about animals," Watkins explained. He said that every animal serves a purpose in the circle of life, and that there are common misconceptions that people have and he aims to break. For example, he explained that people think the great horned owl only preys on large rodents, when these birds of prey also eat feral cats that overpopulate quickly and carry disease.

John Watkins pets Silver, a human-raised coyote he took in and now uses for educational purposes, at Watkins Wildlife Rehab Wednesday in Sedgewickville. "Coyotes and wilves in the wild, when they meet up with each other if they're in the same pack, they do what they call kind of a handshake and that's where they grab each other by the muzzle with their mouth," Watkins said.

"It's a balance, and some die so that others may live," Watkins said. "So what we'd like to do is have people kind of look at these things a little differently."

A cardiothoracic and vascular surgery first-assistant for Saint Francis Hospital, Watkins gets up every morning at 5 a.m. and takes care of what he can before heading in to his "day job," some nights not returning home until 11 p.m. Carolyn, his wife, takes care of what she can, especially the young bobcats that she's raised since they were kittens. The Watkinses plan to release the pouncing siblings in the spring.

Until 2010, the rehab organization was maintained solely out-of-pocket by John and Carolyn. Now a not-for-profit, 100 percent of all donations made to Watkins Wildlife Rehab are put toward the animals and donors can receive a receipt for their taxes, said Watkins.

Watkins said his and his wife's work could not be done without the support of Skyview Animal Clinic in Cape Girardeau. Since rehabilitating his first red-tailed hawk in 1969, the clinic has maintained its relationship with the Watkinses and provides any needed medical care from x-rays to medications to surgeries, according to Watkins.

"All my life I've loved taking care of animals and I just respect them," Watkins said. "You can learn a lot from them."

A young bobcat holds on to the cage door at Watkins Wildlife Rehab Wednesday in Sedgewickville.

kjackson@semissourian.com

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