When not protecting the general public, Sgt. Kathy Williams of the Wiscasset Police Dept. spends a great deal of her free time caring for orphaned or injured wild animals.
Williams, a 10-year veteran of the force, first became involved in animal rehabilitation five years ago when an orphaned raccoon was left on the side of the road.
“I had no prior experience,” Williams said on July 11. “It was something that I felt was important.”
The majority of her rehab patients are babies abandoned by their mothers. Over the years Williams has taken in a variety of animals including a groundhog, squirrels, numerous fishers, and even skunks.
“People discover these animals when cleaning out their summer places and find a nest,” Williams said. “Or if someone chops down a tree and there’s a baby squirrel.”
Although rabies can be a concern and people should exercise extreme caution in approaching a wild animal, the disease is dormant in very young animals even if they are carriers, Williams said.
“Sometimes you can raise them until adulthood and find out they are rabid. Unfortunately the animals have to be destroyed,” she said.
Feeding infant animals can be challenging, as they require a special formula’s known as KMR or S Black, essentially a food replacement mixture for kittens and puppies. When they are older, Williams will feed her animals wheat bread soaked in cornmeal and even Cheerios.
“My daughter brings them lobster bodies from where she works,” she said.
Williams is part of a small but dedicated group of animal “rehabbers” who are licensed by the state. Due to the scarcity of qualified individuals, she will receive calls from as far north as Bar Harbor when an animal is discovered.
The process of raising an abandoned animal can be difficult. Though considered adorable by most, they are still wild animals, Williams said, and should be treated as such.
“Right now the baby raccoons I have think of me as their mother,” Williams said. “I take them for walks outside and they stay right behind me. They climb in your lap like a cat. When they get older they will growl at strangers.”
Once the animals are weaned off the bottle, she puts them in a big cage behind her house. The assimilation back to nature is slow and conducted in steps designed to ensure the animal will properly adapt to its native habitat.
“Eventually they stay in the woods. It’s actually heartbreaking because you really do get attached,” Williams said.
For reasons she can’t quite define, the need for her services has increased dramatically over the past two years.
“I get calls in the middle of the night sometimes,” said Williams. “You never know what it’s going to be. Last year I had quite a few owls.”
Williams cautions against people trying to domesticate wild animals and relates a story about a housebound raccoon that destroyed a kitchen during a search for a late night snack.
“People think they are doing good but it’s a wild animal and you have to let it loose eventually,” Williams said.
Often times people will find seemingly abandoned animals that are actually just temporarily displaced.
“The mother could have been startled. I tell people to wait 24 hours before contacting us,” said Williams.
Currently she is taking care of an orphaned groundhog named Ed who will come out of his “house” when called. She also cares for “Jaws,” a blind chipmunk who has a tendency to bite aimlessly at her surroundings but is “very sweet” in nature.
Communication with her furry patients can be subtle but meaningful and these little moments keep her dedicated to the cause, Williams said.
“They’re not stupid by any means, they have to know how to live in the wild,” she said. “My job is to get them there.”
