It was an innovative idea nearly 25 years ago that first brought Ohio Wildlife Center together with the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW). The Center needed extra hands in its early days to help care for infant and orphaned wildlife. The ORW offered their resources to assist in the daily care for the animals to prepare them for release back to the wild.
The win-win concept, pioneered by the late Dr. Donald Burton, founder of Ohio Wildlife Center, extended the volunteer network saving wildlife in Central Ohio. Sue Anderson, one of the Center’s longest-serving volunteers, personally worked with state officials to launch the effort and trained the women at ORW in the skills they needed to rehabilitate wildlife.
Since that beginning in 1994, Ohio Reformatory for Women inmates have cared for thousands of orphaned animals under the guidance of Ohio Wildlife Center. In this unique partnership, the inmates provide direct care for orphaned bunnies, squirrels, Virginia opossums and hatchling birds that are in need of time-intensive, but not medically urgent, care.
“This symbiotic program shows what community groups and government agencies can do together,” said Clara Golden-Kent, public information officer for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
“It is important to our women that their time spent with us is transformative, and that it truly does help rehabilitate them,” she noted. “That is the beauty of this program– the animals and the inmates are both being rehabilitated.”
In addition to animal care, the inmates also build birdhouses and caging for the on-site locations where the animals are housed during their time at the correctional facility.
During a recent visit to ORW, Ohio Wildlife Center Executive Director Dusty Lombardi and Conservation Liaison Becky Rose spoke with two of the inmates who care for the Center’s orphaned animals. Their humility in serving as caregivers and the passion they have for wildlife was evident as they described their role in the program.
Inmates Melanie Young and Amanda Sawyer shared what makes this program so important to them.
“I have two kids of my own,” Young said. “I know how important it is to have someone to nurture and take care of.”
Sawyer spoke about her childhood caring for animals, and how her young son likes animals, too. “I grew up with animals, and animals have always been a part of my life,” Sawyer said. “The program helps us and it helps the animals, so I really look forward to it.”
Inmates are selected to be part of the program based on their good behavior and interest in helping animals. Ohio Wildlife Center provides all the materials needed for animal care and housing, and Ohio Wildlife Center staff and volunteers transport the animals to and from the Wildlife Hospital and the reformatory.
Wildlife Hospital Director Casey Philips provides program oversight and training for the inmate volunteers. She said she appreciates the help the program offers — especially during the busy spring season. In 2018, the Wildlife Hospital assessed more than 1,079 Eastern cottontail rabbits, most of which were orphaned. The inmate program was key to helping with these high numbers of fragile animals needing constant care and feeding, Philips noted.
Philips said the partnership with ORW means better care for the animals. “It helps us stay on top of other more critical issues that come through the doors of our free Wildlife Hospital,” she said. “With orphaned babies being cared for off-site by residents at ORW we are able to care for animals that have more intense surgical and medical needs.”
