SAEGERTOWN — An immature red-tailed hawk, found dull-eyed, near death and without its mother, was brought under Suzanne DeArment’s care.
After just one day of careful attention at the Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center, the young bird was clearly on the mend.
Years and thousands of other patients later, “that’s what keeps me continuing,” despite ever-increasing challenges, DeArment said recently — “to see the light in their eyes, to see the life come back into them.”
TWREC, first founded by area resident Harriet Wilson around 25 years ago, is now in its 20th year as a state-licensed and certified nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation facility, That’s two-plus decades of providing the treatment needed for thousands of injured, orphaned and sick wild animals to be returned safely to their natural habitats and, beyond that, educating the public about the wild, its life and its resources.
DeArment, who last year was a recipient of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council Award, has been involved with the center for the past 18 years, and is now its volunteer head operator and board president. She said she began her wildlife rehabilitation training under Wilson in 1991, after returning home from a wildlife photography trip to Nairobi, Africa — an experience she’s described as “life-changing.”
“I was looking for something else to do, something I could give,” said DeArment, and Wilson “welcomed me into her home and took me ‘under her wing,’ per se, and taught me everything she knows. ... She was my mentor.”
The center, then located at Wilson’s property near Tamarack Lake, “was beautiful,” Wilson said recently. From skunks and raccoons to foxes and snakes, “you name it, we had it.
“We took everything in, and we enjoyed it,” she said.
TWREC, now located off Stull Road in Saegertown, currently focuses mainly on rehabilitating sick and injured birds, but the center also continues caring for other types of animals in need as well.
However, with volunteer numbers spiraling down as donations have continued to dry up — a common trend for nonprofits in recent years — DeArment said she’s “had to reduce what I could take on. It was a difficult decision, because I love all the animals.”
DeArment said she soon found herself negatively affected on an emotional level by the decision – and the realities that necessitated it.
Now, though, “I’m back to taking care of myself so I can take care of the animals,” she said, and focusing “on what I can do instead of what I can’t do.”
But with only a handful of current volunteers and the crucial seat of the TWREC’s treasurer left open after a recent resignation, “we’re stretched ... (and) we’re requesting more help,” DeArment said. “We need volunteers.”
Wilson echoed that statement.
“Sue is doing a wonderful job ... (but) people have got to come forward to help,” the 77-year-old said. “Believe me, give me 20 years back and I’d do it in a blink.”
Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.
Get involved
“Help us out – and help the animals out,” says Suzanne DeArment of the volunteer-run Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center.
TWREC — now in its 20th year as a state-licensed and certified nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation facility — is in urgent need of additional responsible volunteers willing to work to rehabilitate sick and injured wildlife from around the region, as well as donations to assist in the operation and maintenance of the center’s facilities and educational programs.
To find out how you can get involved, contact TWREC at 763-2574 or visit www.tamarackwildlife.org on the Web.
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