Amy Noland Cooke ‘81 is back
home in Monroe after traveling and teaching in Japan for
11 years. She and husband Ian
(who is from England) are parents to Reina, 5, and Daniel, 2.
Amy recently submitted one of
16 entries chosen out of 100,000
Joseph Vitale, Jr. ‘80 of Canton, to name new metallic-colored
has one son, Joseph, and works Crayola crayons. “Sheen Green”
for Wabash as an application engi- will be one of the new generation
neer.
Crayolas.
I still work for Marshalls to pay
the bills. Updating my skills as
a job coach is my goal for this
year.” Thomas is doing well with
his business and lives in Rochester, NY.
Lonnie Shipe ‘81 lives in Fay- sales with Richey Barrett Co.
etteville, NC, with wife Eugeniae Ellen teaches in the Cleveland
and daughter Alexis. Lonnie says Public School system.
“I miss all my Siena friends.”
Jerry Klinger ‘82 of BrownsSteven Best ‘82 of Sylvania, OH, ville, TX, is a golf pro at the Valley
is a lawyer and real estate International Country Club. Jerry
broker.
and wife Martha have 3 children:
Jerry, Matthew, and Samantha.
Jeffrey ‘82 and wife Ellen (Barrett) Gisser ‘84, and children John Meszaros ‘82 is the admisCate and John live in Bay Vil- sion/marketing director for Boyslage, OH. Jeff is in insurance ville of Michigan in Detroit. He
Caryl Widdowson ‘69
Handling the wild ones in Gray, Maine
This article originally appeared in Portland
(Maine) Press Herald. It is excerpted here by
permission.
The sick baby raccoon had been chased
by some children and was hiding when it
was found, shivering and dehydrated, by
an animal-control officer who brought it to
the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick.
From there, the raccoon made its way to
the home of Caryl Widdowson, a wildlife
rehabilitator. For the past month, Widdowson has nursed the animal back to health
at her home in Gray, Maine.
Widdowson is one of the nearly 100
“rehabbers” throughout the state who are
licensed to care for wild animals.
Their intervention could have prevented
an incident in Old Orchard Beach in late
June, when a Massachusetts man accidentally exposed a rabid baby raccoon to
hundreds of people.
Rehabilitators say the case shows how
well-intentioned, untrained people like Don
Belmore, who brought the raccoon to
the campground, can put themselves and
others at risk when caring for wildlife.
Dozens of people who came into contact
with Belmore’s raccoon are now receiving a series of preventative shots. The raccoon was euthanized in order to test the
brain for rabies.
“People shouldn’t bring hurt wildlife home,”
Widdowson said. “They should get it to a
rehabber.”
Rehabilitators like Widdowson work a
middle ground between game wardens
and people like Belmore. Henry Hilton,
a staff wildlife biologist with the state
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, says only a game warden, veterinarian
or rehabilitator can decide the best course
of action for a sick, injured or abandoned
animal.
“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.
Sometimes people will see
a bird, shivering, vomiting
or recovering from a dog
or cat attack. It could be
carrying a disease or parasite, or it could become
aggressive. If a bird can’t
move its wings, has droopy wings, bleeds
or is shivering, it may be watched to see
if its parents will tend to it. “If it’s healthy, it
will get along fine,” Hilton said.
If a baby animal’s mother has died, a rehabilitator can often help by bringing it to a
point where it can survive on its own in the
wild.
“That’s a good example of when to call a
rehabilitator. Let them go to the spot and
take care of it,” Hilton said.
It’s illegal to rehabilitate wildlife without a
license, but sometimes people do.
People could accidentally harm an animal
by feeding it the wrong type of food. They
also might expose the animal to too much
human contact, making reintroduction into
the wild impossible. Instead of helping
wildlife on their own, people should call
the state police or a game warden or the
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and ask for a rehabilitator.
Widdowson is in the process of reintroducing two raccoons back into the wild,
and trying to treat the sick 9-week-old raccoon.
She is also caring for a bat brought to her
with a joint problem; gray and red squirrels
whose mothers disappeared or died; and
a skunk. That’s in addition
to her pet rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs and dogs.
Widdowson keeps her raccoons in modified rabbit
hutches in her back yard.
The sick baby raccoon
eats every two hours, but
the healthy raccoons ar