By Sarah Opdahl

Feed baby raccoons? Look after an injured fox? Shepherd woodchucks into their outdoor habitat? It’s all in a day’s work for The Wildlife Line owner Debbie Corcione, of Sherman. As a certified small mammal wildlife rehabilitator for over three decades, Debbie is well versed in the needs of many orphaned or injured wild animals that make their way to the The Wildlife Line, a non-profit wildlife rehabilitation and resource center that she officially started in 2008. Their mission is to help wild animals in need and humanely return them back to their natural habitats. With many wildlife fans in the area, it’s exciting to know that anyone can help in The Wildlife Line’s endeavors.

A lifelong animal lover, Debbie explained that she got her start when she was working as a groomer in a pet store, when one day tree service personnel brought in four baby raccoons that they found when they took a tree down. She started calling rehab professionals for advice, which was to bring them back to the tree’s site to ideally reunite them with their mother. “I brought them back and left them crying next to the downed tree,” she said, going on to say, “The mother racoon came back as I watched from my car. It took her all night but she moved all her babies to another den. I was hooked! What I learned was if the mother is still alive she would come back for her babies!”

In the years that followed, Debbie would go on to reunite many families, including racoons, fawns, and squirrels. “I would say about 90% of the animals do survive and get released,” she shared, explaining that each case has its own nuances. “We get a lot of wildlife hit by cars,” Debbie said, noting that possums  in particular do not move quickly. “We have taken care of mama possums with babies in their pouch. That allows mom to take care of her babies as we take care of the moms. It’s an amazing experience.” She has also cared for both fawns who were hit by cars and raptors, which she is not permitted to fully rehabilitate but can stabilize and turn them over to raptor rehabilitators. 

Debbie shared that there are ebbs and flows to the year, with more than a dozen calls coming in some days, such as during the very active baby season throughout the spring and summer.  The majority of animals The Wildlife Line receives are orphaned infants. She says a pattern has emerged over the years, with squirrels and fox tending to come in first. When the animals arrive Debbie and a team of volunteers work to warm them and make sure they are hydrated and then proceed to care for them based on their animal type needs. Baby squirrels, for example, need to be fed formula every three to four hours once they have stabilized depending on their size and condition. As they grow and switch to solid food, they are then moved to their outdoor pre-release cage. “We do our best to recreate their natural habitat and feed them natural foods. Then, we open a small hole in the cage so that they can come and go but predators cannot get in. This gives them time to acclimate and build their own nests.” While infant squirrels can be released after approximately twelve weeks, fawns and foxes tend to stay at The Wildlife Line longer. Debbie reflected, “it’s about having the right maturity level to be released.” For the latter, “that is usually in August or September.”

There are many tricks to keeping wild animals as wild as possible, such as raising babies with babies of the same species, to help avoid imprinting. The staff avoid naming animals to keep them more distant, but sometimes they will end up being nicknamed because of the extensive care they receive and the length of their stay. Some animals can never be released, such as a baby fox that was recently hit by a car and became blind as a result. “The fox was imprinted not by human touch but by the sounds of our voices due to the fact that he wasn’t sick enough not to make it, but he also could not be released back into nature,” Debbie explained. Happily, “The fox turned out to be a great candidate for a nature center where he will be greatly cared for and can help with educational purposes.”

A true labor of love, Debbie spends her time caring for the animals and also taking petsitting jobs to make ends meet. She is grateful to have the support of four dedicated volunteers, though The Wildlife Line thrives at its best with eight volunteers—this is one way area residents can raise a hand to help. “I could not do any of this without my dedicated volunteers,” Debbie emphasized, explaining that she trains all volunteers in caring for the animals, feeding them, foraging for plants in nature to feed them, helping to create and maintain the outdoor enclosures, and more. “Volunteers will learn more than a few skills here, as well as responsibilities and the respect for wildlife. Though this is very tough work, it’s very rewarding at the same time,” she stressed. Always busy, in recent months they have rehabilitated and released four gray squirrels, cared for and transferred two red squirrels, and are currently taking care of three woodchucks whose mother died and three foxes, two of whom are in the pre-release stage.

Beyond volunteering, donations are more than welcome at The Wildlife Line. On their website, Thewildlifeline.org, there is a simple-to-use donation button, or items can be purchased from their wishlist—which includes a range of needs from tarps and pack N plays to baby wipes and paper towels. If purchasing physical items, Debbie asks that you contact her at wildlifelinect@yahoo.com before dropping off. Also, please feel free to reach out to The Wildlife Line if you have found or are concerned about a wild animal in need of assistance at (860) 355-5797.

With a legacy of providing great care for each animal that passes through The Wildlife Line, Debbie is happy to continue on while she also thinks about the released animals. She ponders, “Having a mother’s instinct, even once released, I continue to think of the well being of each animal, and think to myself, ‘Will they survive, do they have enough to eat, and did I do a good enough job?’ It’s not always easy, but it is doing what is right for the animal that matters.”