WASHINGTON — D.C. is home to more than 90 different species of wildlife. But sharing a city with so many people means animals get injured all the time. City Wildlife is working to help those animals, from squirrels to turtles.
City Wildlife was created to address the need for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in Washington, D.C. Over the past several decades, urban development has reduced local wildlife habitat and wild animals have had to adapt to living in close proximity with people. Each year, hundreds of wild animals in D.C. are unintentionally harmed by people and the urban environment.
"We rehabilitate sick, injured and orphaned native wildlife. That would mean any animal that's local to D.C. such as squirrels, most kinds of birds, turtles, reptiles, amphibians, things like that," explains City Wildlife President Anne Lewis.
Lewis has a background in architecture but has always loved animals. Following her semi-retirement from the world of buildings, she looked for ways to feed that passion.
"I started at the Washington Humane Society with a number of other people who are now at City Wildlife, and we realized that the missing link in animal services in D.C. was wildlife care," Lewis said.
Lewis said dogs and cats were handled well, but when wildlife came in for help, there was no place for it.
For example, D.C.'s turtles. Lewis says City Wildlife most commonly sees turtles that have been hit by cars, run over by lawnmowers or attacked by dogs or other animals.
"Normally the injury is a shell injury," Lewis said. A shell fracture can be very painful for turtles because the shell is living bone. "They'll mend if you get them cleaned up, and then positioned right, and then just wait forever. Being turtles, they do everything slow."
You may have seen City Wildlife workers shutting down D.C. streets for ducks.
"If somebody says there's a mom with 10 ducklings crossing Pennsylvania Avenue, we get people out there. She knows where she's going so we don't actually lead her, we follow her. But when we have to we stop the traffic so she can go where she wants to go," Lewis said.
City Wildlife relies upon grants and personal donations to sponsor its work. If you would like to donate, you can do so here.