Wildlife rehab not for amateurs Experts urge people to leave animals alone

PORTLAND – Caryl Widdowson has been nursing the sick baby raccoon back to health for the past month. An animal control officer had found it hiding – sick and shivering – after it had been chased by some children.

The raccoon was taken to the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick before being sent to Widdowson’s home in Gray.

She’s also charged with the care of a bat with a joint problem; orphaned gray and red squirrels; and a skunk. Her pets, meanwhile, include rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs and dogs.

Widdowson is one of nearly 100 “rehabbers” throughout Maine who are licensed to care for wild animals. Rehabilitators such as Widdowson occupy a middle ground between game wardens and well-intentioned but untrained people who try to care for wildlife.

“People shouldn’t bring hurt wildlife home,” Widdowson said. “They should get it to a rehabber.”

Last month, hundreds of people were accidentally exposed to a rabid baby raccoon that a Massachusetts family had adopted as a pet. Dozens of people came into contact with the raccoon at an Old Orchard Beach campground before the raccoon began displaying symptoms of the disease.

Those people are now receiving a series of preventive shots. The raccoon was euthanized.

Only a game warden, veterinarian or rehabilitator can decide the best course of action for a wounded animal, said Henry Hilton, a staff wildlife biologist with the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

“Officially, we say if it’s wildlife, leave it alone. Wildlife lives a life very different from ours. It doesn’t have a protected life, and there’s a lot of mortality,” he said.

Wild animals can pose a threat to humans because they could carry disease or parasites or could turn aggressive, Hilton said. Although some people try to rehabilitate wildlife without a license, it’s illegal to do so.

Untrained people could unknowingly hurt an animal by feeding it the wrong kind of food or make their reintroduction into the wild impossible by exposing it to too much human contact, said Lisa Lund, a rehabilitator from Acton.

“It’s hard, because they need help, just like every baby,” Lund said. “But people should call the state police or a game warden or [the Department of] Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and ask for a rehabilitator.”

In addition to treating the sick 9-month-old raccoon, Widdowson is trying to reintroduce two other raccoons back into the wild. They are on their own most of the day but stop by her back yard to eat and play with a corn-cob toy nailed to a tree. Eventually, they will stop coming back.