Caring for wildlife started early for Carol Kelly.
“My mother said as a little kid my imaginary friend was apparently a bird. I used to hold it like this,” Kelly, 59, said cupping her hands together, “and I would let it fly,” she said, raising her hands in the air, “and then it would come back on my shoulder.”
It must have been an omen, said the executive director of Medicine River Wildlife Centre.
Kelly founded the centre 27 years ago. It operates a wildlife hospital dedicated to assisting injured and orphaned wild animals and birds to return to their natural environment, and an environmental education centre west of Innisfail.
The centre runs on a $400,000 annual budget and relies on donations.
Last year, more than 1,300 wild patients came through the door. In June alone, the centre had 376 wild patients.
The centre receives about 8,000 calls annually from people with wildlife concerns.
When Kelly started the centre, she expected to see about half a dozen animals annually.
“It’s a good thing we can’t look into the future,” she said with a laugh. The centre is working to raise money for a $600,000 addition and renovations to the hospital, and a $1.5-million project to upgrade and expand the public area.
Framing is complete on a 2,000-square-foot addition to the public wing. It will create more space for education rooms, the lecture theatre, gift shop, snack area, staff room and new bathrooms.
“We’re completely out of room. Everything has gotten way too crowded.”
More windows will be added so visitors can better view the outdoor cages on the peaceful property where birds recuperate until they are released. Ungulate cages are located further away from the building.
The facility was constructed with home-grade materials and wasn’t built to be the tourism attraction it has become, she said.
Upgrades to the centre’s one-km walking trail, which leads to an observation tower overlooking a 75-acre marsh, are almost done but have been delayed due to the wet weather.
Kelly, whose father was in the navy, grew up in several communities in and out of Canada.
After marrying at 19, she worked briefly with the SPCA in Newfoundland. When she and her husband Grant moved to Alberta and had children, she assumed her wildlife days were over. Then her brother gave her a book about rehabilitating owls by Kay McKeever, known as the Owl Lady of Ontario, who became Kelly’s mentor.
“I visited her and she encouraged me to start out here.”
The next step to improve education is live streaming over the Internet of hospital patients and into the centre’s visitor area, along with cute or quirky animal antics staff catch on video.
This spring, one of the Canada geese on site that takes in orphan goslings let down her guard and accepted parenting assistance from another resident at the centre — a domestic bunny.
“We have video of her and bunny sitting on the eggs together, and bunny grooming her feathers and bunny with the family, goslings all around her. I don’t know what happened, but we have a mixed racial family there,” Kelly laughed.
Video of the family can be viewed on www.youtube.com/MRWildlifeCentre.
Medicine River Wildlife Centre is waiting for the province to provide broadband Internet service in the area before it expands to live streaming.
The wildlife centre is also forging new partnerships. In the spring, it started working with the City of Red Deer and other organizations to map out where city residents are having issues with wildlife.
“Red Deer is this lovely green city so it attracts lots of things. We’ll try to go into those hot spots to see what’s causing it.”
It may be enough to mail residents reminders on how to critter-proof their yards, like removing garbage or reducing the number of sheds where animals can dig beneath, Kelly said.
“There is a lot of misinformation out there. So many people phone me and say thank you so much for helping me. I was not aware.”
Kelly handles most of the calls to the wildlife centre.
“If people only knew where I was when I was answering calls. People have no idea I’m sitting in the bath tub, I’m grocery shopping, at my daughter’s wedding reception,” she said, pulling the cellphone out of her pocket.
Kelly can’t imagine retirement, but said some day she will step back from most of her duties and someone else will take the helm.
“People say I created the wildlife centre. But I think the centre, in ways, created who I am, too. I learned from it,” said Kelly, who recently received an Agriculture and Environment Award at the Women of Excellence Awards, sponsored by Red Deer and District Community Foundation.
Kelly said she couldn’t have done it alone.
“Without all the staff and volunteers, we would never be where we are.”
As well as the concerned members of the public who call for help for injured or abandoned wildlife.
“I see a whole different change in the philosophy and mind-set of the public. Twenty-seven years ago, I used to be nervous going into education programs because I got a lot of: why bother, why don’t you shoot it? I don’t hear that anymore.”
Kelly said she’s seen the gruffest, old guys “smelling like oilfields” come to the centre with a little sparrow in their hands that they found on the road.
Wildlife may be the patients at Medicine River Wildlife Centre, but it serves everyone who wants to assist wildlife in pain and distress.
“Ninety per cent of what we do is for people. Every animal who comes in here is brought by a person who wants the service. Phone calls are all made by people and the education programs are all about people. It is totally a people place.”
For more information, go to www.medicineriverwildlifecentre.ca or call 403-728-3467.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com