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Wildlife Rehabilitation
Specialist Julie Sliwa (right) and sister Kelly Chrisman
cuddle raccoons raised from babies on Julie's
farmstead/Wildlife Rehabilitation Center located in the
Terry Community outside McLemoresville in Carroll County,
Tennessee.Julie Sliwa (pronounced
Sliva) and her sister, Kelly Chrisman, are studies
in contrast until you get to their hearts; both are
overflowing with rare dedication for a group of
animals often overlooked in the hierarchy of animals
leading up to "man's best friend."
Julie, a slightly built blonde whose strength and courage
belie her small stature, works "part-time" from 8:00 a.m.
until 1:00 p.m. six days a week at Black Tie Farms in
Humboldt as a trainer of the farm's young and spirited
walking horses.
She took the job after working as a veterinary technician
for eight years at Jackson's North Madison Animal Hospital
where her heart was wounded by the plight of wild animals
brought into the clinic that had to be euthanized because
there was no one to care for them.
"I got so tired of seeing that," says Julie, who also
volunteers as a First Responder. The new, part-time job
allows her to devote more time to the animals that
eventually claimed much of her time as well as her
devotion after she realized the few rehabilitation centers
located near enough to help were generally limited in
their scope of services, accepting only raccoons, for
example.
Playful raccoons peek from one of the enclosures
Roger built from materials donated by Watson Lumber
COmpany. |
Julie set out to change the plight of the helpless animals
when, about two and a half years ago, she earned her
certification in wildlife rehabilitation and redesigned
her home - and life - to accommodate the never-ending
needs of orphaned, injured, sick or abandoned animals
whose natural habitat is the woods and wilds of rural West
Tennessee.
She gained a helpmate in her quest when Kelly, her tall,
dark-haired sister, moved from California when her husband
Derek, a soldier of the 649th MP Company based in San Luis
Obispo, California and now "north of Baghdad somewhere"
left home to serve in the Second Gulf War.
Kelly describes, in a voice that challenges one to
determine the origins of her accent, how Julie's vocation
as a horse trainer overlaps with her duties to the animals
she cares for "24 hours a day, seven days a week."
"Sometimes it seems like 27 hours a day, ten days a week,"
both women agree, after Kelly completes an impromptu skit
of Julie moving "pet taxi after pet taxi" of baby animals
from the heating pads that line her laundry room to her
vehicle for transportation to the farm, where she feeds
them during breaks in training.
Julie's speech resembles more readily the southern
influences of 13 years of life in Terry, a rural community
located outside McLemoresville. The girls relate their
history that includes living in Chicago until Julie was
five years old, El Paso for five years, then California
for another year before Julie moved with her parents to
Tennessee while Kelly moved to Missouri to attend college
after which she returned to Santa Monica.
Julie was just 13 when she and Roger Neal met while
attending the same Junior High School. The teens remained
a couple, eventually expanding their family to include
eight year old Shannon, who Julie says is a big help
around the family farm where their own array of pets and
livestock generated enough chores before the shaded
section set apart as a wildlife rehabilitation center was
created. These days, Shannon has the added help and fun of
his cousins, Kelly's children Jessica, age 11, and
eight-year-old Kyle, who live next door.
Lefty the Mule and Sonny the Appaloosa appear to be
good pals.
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The family's three horses, a mule, three dogs and a cat
named Mack are themselves a rescued lot. Chester, a big
mixed-breed dog, was abandoned by his former owner; Janie,
a German Shepherd, had heartworms; and Rosco, a Belgian
Malinois Julie plans to train as a search and rescue dog,
was given to her by a Police Department. The breed
resembles a German Shepherd but is said to be "a lighter,
quicker, more agile dog that is naturally protective but
not overly aggressive, with a strong desire to work and
quick to obey commands from his owner."
Among the horses, Chopper, at 30-years-old, is past his
prime while Arrow was rescued from a horse sale, where
many animals sold are destined to be slaughtered for pet
food. The third horse, Sonny, is a beautiful Appaloosa.
Lefty, the mule, was also headed for the horse sale after
his mother died when he was three months old. Now around
two years old, he has all the characteristics attributed
to mules of legend; keen intelligence and an equal measure
of stubbornness.
"He opens electric gates and holds them open for everybody
else to get out," says Kelly, in an exasperated voice
tinged with pride, "He gets in the work shop and feeds
himself! He's an extremely intelligent mule until you ask
him to do something."
The rehabilitation center occupies an area apart from the
family pets in an effort to help the animals retain their
wild nature, with contact from humans other than their
caretakers limited for the same reason.
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Raptors, like the baby barn owls pictured above as
well as hawks and eagles often "imprint" on their
human caregivers when cared for at an early age,
establishing a bond of "child and parent" that makes
reintroduction into the wild more difficult. |
In fact, Julie must exercise special care in the
management of raptor babies like owls and hawks, which
tend to "imprint" on their early caregivers, establishing
a bond of "child and parent" that makes it difficult to
successfully return the birds to the wild. For this
reason, young raptors are often transferred to the Memphis
Zoo where caregivers employ a suit that gives the
impression of an owl parent to prevent human interaction.
Julie thanks Watson Lumber Company, who donated the
materials for large cages - built by Roger - that provide
temporary residence to raccoons, foxes, coyotes, rabbits,
possums, and other animals fortunate enough to find their
ways to Julie's tender loving care.
One such refugee, released last week after being carefully
nursed back to health, was a small red fox which, when it
came to Julie, was of dubious identity, hairless from
mange and with eyes glued shut. A resultant infection
produced a stench that earned the fox the nickname
"Stinky".
Before and after photos of
"Stinky" the Fox.
"He looked like a rat," says Julie as she releases the
animal from a pet taxi into a cage where he promptly
climbs a limb that reaches to the top of the covered
enclosure, showing evidence of the "fight or flight" rule
that governs many animals in the wild, proving Julie's
success in attending to his needs while maintaining the
wildness he needs to make it in his world. Once sure no
human stand in his way, he bolts for the woods, never
looking back at the one who saved him.
Other animals leave less easily.
"My sister is like Snow White," smiles Kelly as she
describes the birds that sometimes flock to Julie as she
steps outside her door. Before their release, Kelly says,
Julie spends time with birds and small mammals, showing
them how to search for bugs and worms, how to climb, when
to hide; teaching them to be wild.
"The raccoons get pretty tame; it takes awhile but they
go," says Julie, who currently houses two fully wild
raccoons and a passel of curious babies.
Not all animals, even babies - regardless of their
exposure to the helping hands of humans - are ever really
tamed.
"(Wild animals) do not make good pets. Anything wild will
get mean eventually," warns Julie.
An unfortunate case in point is a beautiful arctic fox
that was raised as a pet, but was eventually abandoned.
This beautiful Arctic Fox was abandoned by owners
who sought to raise her as a pet. Deprived of her
natural fear of humans and unskilled in hunting, she
now resides in a Reno, Nevada Wildlife Refuge. |
"She was here in the summer and she was miserable!" Julie
relates. "Even if she was taken to the arctic, she was
tame and just couldn't survive due to people taking her as
a 'kit' and raising her as a pet. She would bite and
scratch, and had a very musky odor. She could also dig out
of any pen."
Because Tennessee law forbids the release of any
non-native wildlife, whose crossbreeding or competition
with native species could upset the biological chain, the
fox now resides in a Reno, Nevada wildlife refuge.
In any case, Julie explains, as a "tamed" wild animal with
no fear of humans, the fox would be unable to survive even
in her native ecosystem with no fear of humans and without
the necessary skills to hunt to feed herself.
The little red fox above may appear to be sweet and
innocent but he soon shows his true colors, proving
that even as babies wild animals can be dangerous. |
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Julie is licensed to manage raptors, reptiles and mammals
with the exception of deer and skunks.
"We need an acre of chain link fence to do deer," says
Julie, who would also need to expand her permit. Skunks,
she explains, require special license as they are carriers
of rabies.
Of the 130-plus animals Julie cared for last year, most
are brought by people who thankfully bring along a bag of
pet food or contribute financially to help offset
expenses.
A baby 'possum shows his aggression. Even when
seemingly tamed, Julie says, "(wild animals) do not
make good pets. Anything wild will get mean
eventually." |
Myra and Allen Charleston, owners of Red Oak Emu Farm in
Trezevant, donate hundreds of pounds of emu meat that
feeds all the carnivorous critters like coyotes, foxes,
owls and hawks, Julie relates with great appreciation.
She also raises mice for food from some which were
originally donated. Kelly gives testimony to the prolific
reproducers, relating how her daughter took home two "of
the same sex" as pets, naming them Thunder and Lightening.
"The next thing we knew Lightening was as big as a house!"
she exclaims.
Also indispensable to the success of Julie's mission is
the services of Dr. Janet Parham, a Huntingdon-based
veterinarian who donates time to the medical needs of the
wild animals "out of the goodness of her heart."
Julie is also quick to promote her friend and former
co-worker, Amy Roe, a veterinarian technician at the North
Madison Animal Hospital.
"She takes babies and helps in Jackson; she'll take some
of ours if we get too many," she explains.
"Other than her it's us," says Kelly, revealing her own
attachment to the project. "Well, other than Amy, it's
her," she corrects herself to give full credit to her
sister.
For more information or to assist in Julie's cause, call
731-986-9979 or 731-499-0105. |
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