In the Name of Wildlife
Grants Pass sanctuary offers care for injured, homeless animals.
A small Screech Owl huddles in a
box. supported by vs ads of paper
toweling. Its eyes .ire dull with
shock, its breathing is labored One
wing has been crushed in a collision
w ith a car.
Nearby. a Red Speckled Ama/on
Parrot, rescued Irom a Iront vard.
squawks in its cage Outside, two
people are try ing to recovet an m
lured swan that has flown into a
thicket ol blackberry brambles It 's
another day tor Dave Siddon at
Wildlife Images.
Comprised of six acres near the
scenic Rogue River outside of
(ii.inis Pass. WilcltiIc Imae'es is .1
nun pntin oream/ation dedicated lo
the tare o! injured animals and
l'nds and their eventual release
hat k into the wild A not he 1 t!«*aI is
1 lie education «»| ihe puhlu about
the wild tie.limes 1h.1t share then
environment l ath vear more than
a million children are reaeheil bv
Snltlon s iiavelme p roe rams
Suldon. loimdei and directoi o|
lilt' eenlei. has a lone histoiv ol
love lot animals Ik- has vvoiked as
a him makei phoioeiaphei and
st r 1 pi filer loi Wild kmedom and
has pnnluccd sex eraI shows .1 seat
m the p.i''t !«>i American Spoil
sm.in He n.nik'il ilu' center
W lUllile I maces because Ik1 rallied
to endow ii unh his private him
.mil photo lihrarx. which contains
more than a hall million slide's
"I see this as kind ol a pa>back
to the wild critters.” he sa\s
Stddon’s expertise with miureil
birds reaches hack to his childhood
w hen his father, an avid collector ol
birds, taught him to splint broken
w injt»x.
poppi /
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"During the Depression no one
had enough money to bring their
animals to a veterinarian They d
bring them to us," he says
Siddon came to Oregon from
California in 1973 with gist a
cougar and a covote to do some
filming "We thought we’d phase
out up here because there wouldn't
be enough demand." he explains
Instead, his reputation tor working
with injured animals spread, and
the current facility is the result
Wildlife linages treats between
N(M) .nul 1,2(KI animals a \e.n most
ni|uicd b\ hunters, imps 01
automobiles Some weie kept as
pets and maltreated In then
owners Still others sulfet from
debilitating illnesses
Siddon boasts .1 success rate of (>()
percent and remarked that "the
other 4(1 percent are |ust too sick "
Ninety percent of the animals saved
can be returned to the wild. The re
maining animals are kept and used
tor educational purposes because
they would not be able to survive in
the w ild
I hanks to a generous grant, a
full service clinic is being com
pleted on the property that will in
elude a treatment room. \ rav
machine and areas for food
preparation and outpatient care.
I wo veterinarians offer their set
v ices to the center, anil Siddon cut
rent I> is living: to get a third t inane
ed In more grants Siddon does
much of the emergency treatment at
the ccntct himself, draw me on his
years of experience.
"My dad taught me the basics,
and I adopted my own techniques,"
lie says. but he leaves the com
plicated surgery to t h e
veterinarians
Assisting Siddon is a dedicated
stall ot volunteers who are respon
sible tor the maintenance and the
everyday tasks ot animal care
Dave Sousa, a self confessed
"animal freak." has helped at
Wildlife Images for three vears
now anil even lives on the property
"I get to do a lot of cra/y things
most people don't get to do." he
says. One ot his projects is the
handling and training ot Nicole, an
immature female Red failed
Hawk Birds ot prey are given only
one handler to minimi/e contact
with humans and make release
easier. " There’s a respect, a rap
port with your animal." Sousa
says.
I sing techniques taken from the
sport ot falconry, Nicole is being
trained to hunt for prey on her own
and conditioned to lessen her
dependence on humans tor food.
Ihe animals at Wildlife Images
are a varied mix ot birds ot prey,
bears, coyotes, cougars and water
fowl. Its permanent residents mum
ly are birds and orphaned animals
who "imprinted" with humans m
stead ot then natural mothers when
Inst born. Since thev associate
humans with food, they would not
hesitate to come near them and
make easy hunting targets, Sousa
explains. One ot the bobcats at the
center dug its way out ot its cage
and wandered no further than a dish
ot cat food.
Siddon is working on a different
outcome for Kitten, a female
cougar, and her brothers. After a
man shot the mother cougar m sell
defense, the cougars were turned
over to the state and then to Siddon.
Kitten weighed only one and a
halt pounds when she arrived and
was nearly dead from dehydration.
Siddon says. She now weighs 90
pounds and is the only one ot the
litter that is on view to visitors.
Part ot her rehabilitation pro
gram will include “human aversion
therapy," which entails being sur
rounded by strangers with guns
Siddon sa\s this will teach her to
associate danger with men and
weapons.
‘‘They're still a g a m e
animal The only way to hunt
them is with dogs, and tree them.
Not my idea of a sporting event."
he says.
Siddon is optimistic about the
tuture ot the center and his animals,
and he hopes to keep expanding the
facilities and the educational pro
grams as well.
" fins is very fulfilling for me. I
think we accomplish something
here and there," Siddon says
modestly in what is perhaps an
u n d e r s t a I e m e n t of his
accomplishments
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Story by
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Photos by
John Giustina
l);iu‘ Sousa, a self confessed “animal freak” and volunteer at
NN ildlife Images for three years, handles Nicole, a young Rcd
I ailed Hawk (far left). Sousa is Nicole's sole handler in order
to make her break from the human world easier. Sousa is
gradually decreasing the birds weight, stimulating her to seek
prey on her own, in anticipation of her release, Vfter a fo\
den was hulldo/ed at a housing development site in Portland,
one of the sur\i\ors was transported to \\ ildlife Images (inset
left I. I wo < anadian (ieese seen swimmiug at the sanctuary *s
recent ly completed w at erf ow I pond (below ), often mi\ in tern
porarilv with the resident (links and geese, with minimal eon
lliet, during their migration. I)a\e Siddon, founder of
NN ildlife Images, handles Kitten, a '((I pound I1111.de cougar
1 left). Kitten was a mere one and a half pounds w hen brought
to NN ildlife Images as an infant along w ith others in the litter.
I he other three ari1 kept out of \icw on Niddon's property. \
>oung black bear lounges in the branches of a tree at its home
at NN ildlife Images. Siddon is host to se\eral such bears, and
the bear enclosure gathers the most visitor attention at the
center.
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