EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE: Oh, deer, my dear

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Dogs, cats, and other domestic animals go to the vet when they need help. Wild animals don’t have as many options. Jennifer Leonard has spent some 25 years or so trying to be such an option. Matter of fact, she’s one of just a handful in our state with a permit to rehabilitate orphaned or injured deer. It’s her passion for the wild that makes her our Extraordinary Person of the Week.

“We take on orphan and injured animals,” Jennifer Leonard said.

Leonard runs a non-profit called Coastal Carolina Wildlife Rehab. Her clients are cute, but this daily grind of serious second chances can get ugly.

“Last year, in 2014, we had 367 small mammals, that’s you’re squirrels, your bunnies, your possums, mice, rats, 181 birds from finches to red tailed hawks, 27 reptiles, turtles hit by cars, or an alligator that was hurt,” she said. “Then we had 43 white tail fawn.”

Leonard is a retired veterinian technician. She says if they didn’t attempt to save the wildlife, the animals would be euthanized.

Sometimes it’s a fawn who’s mom was hit by a car. Other times someone trying to save a wild one that didn’t need saving. There are many reasons an animal finds its way to Coastal Carolina Wildlife Rehab. But the mission is always the same: get them back where they belong. But there are challenges with bringing them in to contact with humans.

“We limit their interaction with humans to lessen the chance of that happening,” Leonard said. “It’s always possible, but we’ve never had a problem in the past.”

The fawns and baby geese create a certain level of cuteness overload. Not so cute, though, is the cost of running the non-profit organization without the help of state or federal funding.

“Financial is a major challenge because there is so much that goes into it,” Leonard said.

“Trying to maintain a family and maintain, this is, per se, a business. It’s a handful,” Leonard’s husband David said. “The volunteers come in and help my wife feed, clean the animals, the kennels, the pens.”

The Leonards try to save all who walk, even a little bowlegged, through their doors.

The chatty ones. The athletic ones.

Her dedication is an extraordinary sacrifice for second chances with all walks of wildlife.

They can always use donations. Paper towels, cleaning supplies, and of course, monetary donations will help give orphaned and injured wildlife a second chance at the wildside.

Click here for more information on Coastal Carolina Wildlife Rehab.