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By Ayanna Eckblad

NORTHWOOD — Devona Maher lives in the country outside of Northwood. She is retired from both the Air National Guard and a job in health care. She is now working on a new calling: wildlife rehabilitation.

“I’ve always been interested in animals, and it just seemed like a good point in my life, if I was going to do something like this,” she said. “I was retiring, it would be a good time to do it.”

Maher has been working in this role for two years. She previously worked with the Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project, but said she will now be on her own.

In Iowa, Maher explained, a person can work with a wildlife rehabilitation mentor for two years. After the two years are finished, the person can do wildlife rehabilitation on their own and is able to mentor someone else if they so choose.

The first year, Maher explained, she had a bad experience because the raccoons she took in contracted distemper, a disease that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of animals, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

One raccoon from that year survived, and she was able to eventually release him into the wild.

This year has been successful, she said. She took in 19 raccoons and 24 opossums. Of those, 10 raccoons and 10 opossums lived to be released.

She also worked with a hawk for a short period of time before it died.

The reason for animal deaths, she explained, is mostly attributed to disease, traffic accidents or the age of the animal. People will occasionally bring Maher baby animals that are too young to survive without their mother.

Maher said that through a lot of work and dedication, animals have the potential to make it to adulthood. Each animal species has unique needs she must take into account.

“The raccoons are [a] very, very social animal. They need the human interaction. You know, they need to have a mom-like figure for them,” Maher said. “I don’t know how many nights in a row I sat up with them and just had a pouch that I would stick my fingers in and let them suck on my fingers for comfort.”

Squirrels and opossums, she said, are more independent and are able to figure out survival skills through natural instincts.

All baby animals are kept in Maher’s home so they can be monitored and given special formula. Once they are older, she moves them to larger kennels she keeps outside.

Maher typically brings an animal in her care to the veterinarian five or six times to get necessary vaccines.

“You try to give them the best opportunity to survive after being handled,” she said. “The most rewarding thing is when you can get them well enough, or strong enough, to be able to be released.

Letting them go back to their wild habitat is the biggest thing.”

One of the ways she prepares animals for life in the wild is by giving them a variety of foods, like worms or minnows, for them to “catch.”

Once animals are released, their food is supplemented with dog food for a short time. After that, Maher said, they are on their own.

“There’s always the hard parts, where you have the diseases and, you know, [they’re] hit on the road,” she said. “There’s a lot of heartache, but there’s a lot of good, too.”

Maher pays for food and vet bills out of her own pocket, and people sometimes donate when they bring her animals.

Those interested in donating or volunteering can contact Maher by email at dmaher@wctatel.net.