Squirrel Lady to the rescue
Published: August 15, 2007
Hurricane season means extra work for Karen Clark. As a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist specializing in Sciurus carolinensis, Clark spends her time rescuing and rehabilitating squirrels at her property in Plant City. “The wind just knocks some of them right out of the trees, ” said Clark, 42. “Especially the babies.” In just one day after Hurricane Frances in 2004, Clark took in 200 injured squirrels. While Clark has been an animal lover her entire life, she only became involved in squirrel rescue about 10 years ago. On a field trip to her son Will’s school, Clark noticed the children had found a newborn squirrel that was struggling for life. Always the one to take an injured animal home, Clark rescued the baby, named him Rocky and nursed him to health. She quickly became enamored with the species and put the word out that she would take more injured ones in for rehab.
News of her work spread, Clark was licensed by the state, and the rest is history.
Depending on their injuries and needs, Clark begins most of the squirrels’ treatment in her northwest Tampa home, and then moves them to their property in Plant City. There, she and her husband, Bill, an embryologist, own Lovely Lita’s Sheltering Tree Sanctuary, a 10-acre property where she can release the rehabilitated squirrels.
Those that cannot be set free because they would become instant prey due to their injuries are housed in cages in an air-conditioned, three-bedroom double-wide mobile home.
Clark drives 40 minutes each way, every day, and spends about 80 hours a week tending to the squirrels’ needs. When she gets babies, the hours increase as each one must be hand-fed daily for five weeks.
Her patients include squirrels born with deformities, hit by cars, suffering from rat poison, or bitten by dogs or cats.
“Cat bites are the worst, ” said Clark, referring to bacteria in feline saliva that causes a deadly infection in squirrels. “If we don’t get them on antibiotics immediately, they just won’t make it.”
Dr. Lee Duke, owner of Companion Animal Hospital in Thonotosassa, has worked with Clark for several years, performing operations and prescribing medications to hundreds of Clark’s squirrels, and he admires her greatly.
“You know sometimes I see them as tree rodents, and other times they’re just real affectionate little critters, ” Duke said. “Karen has a heart a mile and a half wide, and she’s devoted her whole life to these little guys. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for them.”
The work is not always easy. Although Clark has nine pet squirrels that are accustomed to human interaction, she has also been bitten many times by wild adult squirrels, which, she noted, is fairly typical behavior.
And while squirrels don’t typically have rabies and she has only gotten one infection, she said that the same teeth used to crack nut shells can inflict extremely deep and exceptionally painful bites.
Also, because the work is so time-consuming, she almost never gets one day off, never mind a vacation.
On occasion, Kathleen Hall, 65, another licensed rehabilitation specialist who has focused on squirrels for more than 20 years in Tampa, help Clark.
And recently when Hall was sick and needed assistance with her own patients, Clark was right there.
“It’s all about the love of these animals, and Karen is just super, ” Hall said. “She did a great job for me here, and I’m happy to back her up when I can.”
Of course, on occasion Clark has had to contend with those who perceive her to be the “crazy squirrel lady.”
She’s even had neighbors complain to wildlife officials when she puts nuts out for the local squirrels on her front lawn, although she was quick to point out that feeding squirrels is not illegal. But the jabs and jeers don’t faze her, she said.
“I’ve reached a point in my life where I know that some people will appreciate my work, others don’t, and everyone is entitled to an opinion, ” she said.
And her family’s support keeps her going.
While Lovely Lita’s is a nonprofit foundation, Clark has little time to solicit donations, so her husband is the primary source for funding. Between medicines, operations, food, housing and all associated costs, the Clarks spend about $80, 000 per year to run the sanctuary.
Even her son Will, 17, a junior in the performing arts magnet program at Blake High School, is completely supportive of his mom’s work, although he does concede it’s not necessarily a vocation he’d choose for himself.
“I have an immense respect for her and her dedication to such a rare cause, and try to help as much as I can with what little time I have myself, ” he said. “We all have our own battles to fight. Her battle is the health and wellbeing of these furry little guys.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
If you like this, you'll love Good Animal News:
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: