With a life-long love of animals, Linda started volunteering at Tucson Wildlife Center eight years ago, after her mom pointed out an article in the newspaper about local animal rehab centers needing volunteers. She chose TWC because of the variety of animals they accepted, and her one-day-a-week commitment quickly turned into four!
As a wildlife care specialist, Linda’s primary duties are making sure the animals are properly fed, cleaned and, if necessary, medicated. She also works in triage with intakes and orders supplies for the Center. Linda loves what she does and considers the work very rewarding. “To see animals recovering from their injuries and being released back into the wild is the best feeling!”
Linda’s favorite memory of her time at TWC is of a female Gambel’s Quail brought to the Center after a resident found her lying motionless on the ground by their mailbox.
When the quail first arrived, she couldn’t stand at all and was given only a 50/50 chance of recovery. But, after spending her first week at the Center propped-up in her cage, she slowly improved enough to be moved to another building where we were housing baby quail. Up until this point she had been completely silent, so you can imagine our surprise (and joy) when she started communicating with the noisy, peeping chicks! In the days to follow, she started getting stronger and was eventually placed in an enclosure with a few older quail that were almost ready for release. She immediately bonded with the others, and they created an instant family that was released together … it was great!
As a largely volunteer-run wildlife center, Tucson Wildlife Center is proud to recognize Linda as an invaluable member of our dedicated wildlife care team, and we thank her for her continued service!
If you are interested in volunteering, please email: hr@tucsonwildlife.com.
