FARMINGTON – Wildlife rehabilitators are not the solution to wildlife issues, insist Donna Bogardus and Jim Parker.

Bogardus and Parker, both of Farmington, take in injured and sick birds and attempt to nurture them back to health. Wildlife rehabilitation doesn’t have a real effect on the wildlife population, says Parker, a raptor ecologist.

The idea is to return the creatures to the wild, however, only 25 to 30 percent recover, they both said.

“It’s rare to release even half the animals,” said Bogardus.

Cupping an immature robin in her hands, Bogardus, who rehabilitates small birds, told its story.

A man brought it to her after his mother’s cat injured its back. It was essentially a paraplegic. She had little hope for the bird perched in her hands, occasionally flapping its wings. That means it will need to be euthanized, she said.

According to Bogardus, 300 to 400 million birds nationwide are killed or maimed by domestic outdoor cats. Half of Bogardus’ patients are “cat catches.”

“There’s nothing natural about cats catching animals in North America,” said Parker adding that the domestic felines are not indigenous to the country but were imported from Europe.

Cats and dogs

He compared attitudes toward cats as opposed to dogs. It is illegal, he said, for a dog to attack a deer and the dog’s owner could be fined for allowing the dog to be at large.

Bogardus said, “If we treated robins, chickadees and songbirds like deer,” cats would either be kept inside or controlled on a leash like dogs.

Both strongly asserted that they and their counterparts are not the fix for problems with wildlife habitat, as many people assume.

“This man,” Bogardus said, referring to the man who brought her the injured robin, “thinks he has done some good for this bird. But his mother will continue to let her cat out,” she said.

“It’s a Band-Aid,” said Parker about their role in wildlife conservation.

“The public can do more to support wildlife conservation laws,” said Bogardus.

Parker also said that the death of small mammals from cars or other accidents has a ripple effect on the food chain. One batch of mice killed is that many fewer available for raptor meals.

Rehabilitators’ role

It is illegal to keep any wildlife in captivity in the state without a license. Though wildlife rehabilitators are often not veterinarians nor biologists, they must be licensed by the state. They are not, however, state employees nor state funded. They personally pay for their charges’ food and veterinary bills.

Bogardus said she does the work because she enjoys seeing the birds up close, but she isn’t driven to do it as some rehabilitators are. She told of a resident in the Phillips area who had an expensive show cat as a pet. The man allowed his cat to wander their yard but became worried when he spotted a fox there. The man, concerned the fox would kill his pet, called a game warden. The warden called Bogardus for guidance on relocating the fox. He did not want to kill it though, legally, the resident could have.

“The guy wanted nature to be reconfigured for his cat,” said Bogardus, a bit incredulously.

Parker agreed. “If you can’t be a fox in Phillips, Maine, where can you be a fox?” he asked, rhetorically.

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