Morning Sentinel
Vassalboro couple's tireless devotion saves many of Maine's wild creatures
Bookmark & share: digg del.icio.us Reddit
Reader Comments (below)
story tools
sponsored by
BY TRAVIS BARRETT Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 07/11/2009

VASSALBORO -- If the phone rings in the middle of the night, Carleen Cote answers it. Even though she only enjoys a few hours of sleep each night. Even though her tired body craves rest.

Carleen will answer the call. She and husband Donald have been answering the call for more than four decades now.

"Some people tell us we're foolish, and some people tell us, 'Thank God you're here,' " Carleen said. "This is our passion. It's our commitment.

"We do it for the animals."

The retired Vassalboro couple runs the Wildlife Care Center at their home along Route 3, a non-profit venture that started years ago simply because Don wanted to raise exotic waterfowl. Now, it's a haven for orphaned, injured and abandoned animals in Maine.

Currently, there are more than 200 animals -- from raccoons and porcupines to foxes and fawns -- that are at the center, most of which will be nursed to health and released back into the wild this autumn.

The Cotes don't offer the center because they're making money at it. They don't do it because the state requires them to. They don't even do it, really, because they love being surrounded by animals.

They do it, simply put, because they cannot bear to think about the alternatives for the animals they rescue if those same animals were left to fend for themselves.

"I honestly don't know what we would do without them," said local game warden Dan Murray.

* * *

"Every (species of) animal that walks Maine's woods, we have taken care of it," Carleen Cote says.

Raccoons, deer, skunks, weasels, mink, porcupines, opossum, gray and red foxes, chipmunks and squirrels. Just when you think she is done, Carleen catches her breath and starts again. Geese, bear, moose, owls and hawks.

There are only two exceptions that the Cotes haven't seen at their Wildlife Care Center. They have never had occasion to rescue a pine marten or a lynx.

"But I don't really consider lynx from Maine, anyway," the no-nonsense Carleen offers. "They're from Canada."

The Cotes take phone calls virtually around the clock, from people they know in the community, from complete strangers, from game wardens and wildlife biologists. Don is a certified Animal Damage Control officer with the state, and he routinely sets traps for animals -- mostly small ones that have been orphaned or injured.

Don drives thousands of miles annually to all corners of the state to rescue animals, including those that the public often refers to as "nuisance animals" -- a moniker the Cotes universally loathe.

"We live with them, not the other way around," Carleen says.

"When you come up and think you want the 'Maine way of life' and you find your spot in the woods, clear it out and think about all the things you should have with it," Don said, "the animals come with it. They're part of that."

Spring and early summer is a particularly busy time of year for the Cotes. Don, who will turn 72 next month, and Carleen, 69, spend much of their 20-hour work day feeding and nursing the hundreds of animals on the property. Most of them were born in the spring and soon orphaned -- and the Cotes work all summer long to get the animals on solid foods and strong enough to rely on their own abilities for survival in the wild.

By October, nearly all of the animals in their care will have been released into the woods, which is both a blessing and a curse.

"We're too nuts," Don says, smiling widely.

"We're at that overwhelmed point of the year right now. But, it's not like we've got 75 house cats here either and we're stuck with them. We have that time where (the animals are released) and we start to start over. We couldn't do what we're doing now all year-round."

* * *

At 7:30 each morning, the routine begins. That's when the screaming from the raccoons that occupy space inside the house, raccoons that are still too small to be outside overnight in cool, damp conditions, finally reaches its crescendo.

"Once one starts, it's their cue," Don said. "Then they all start."

For the next four hours, they feed all the animals in their care, with food they've purchased themselves or has been generously donated from local friends and businesses. Then they spend time administering medicines, cleaning supplies and fixing formulas and preparing for the next rounds of feeding. Particularly in the spring, the smallest animals need nearly continuous care and attention.

"That's the mission, to get them to the age they can survive on their own," Carleen said, standing outside a small fenced area, a blue tarp draped over the top to provide shade from a rare glimpse of sun. "A wild animal has the right to be wild. They don't belong behind wire."

This summer, University of Maine student Kate Croswell, 19, of Waterville, is volunteering. But finding such volunteer help is especially difficult, too, because anyone who handles the animals directly must have rabies vaccinations they pay for themselves.

"Yep, I went with my dog to get our rabies shots," Croswell joked.

So, the Cotes largely forge ahead alone.

"All we do is assist them," Carleen said. "We just try to get them to the point where they can take care of themselves."

* * *

In doing that, the Cotes barely have time to take care of themselves.

It was 45 years ago that Don wanted to apply for both state and federal permits that would allow him to raise exotic waterfowl. It was simply an interest he had -- one they thought would be a passing fancy. Before long, they got their first call. Someone had found a baby black duck in need of care and wanted to know if they could help.

They couldn't say no. To this day, they still can't say no. Carleen said that even if it's an animal they are ill-equipped to care for, they'll take it in until they can send it to someone who can.

"I don't know how many animals they've saved that would have otherwise had to be euthanized," Dan Murray, the local game warden, said. "I can call whenever I need to. They never say, 'No.' "

The Cotes never had children of their own. The raccoons and porcupines that own Carleen's heart, as well as the foxes that Don is so fond of, are where they pour their love and devotion.

"We never planned for any of this," said Carleen, who retired in 1990 after working for the state. "It just exploded.

"We never had children. Our children are feathered and furred."

So, off they've gone on this adventure of rescuing animals at all hours of the day -- themselves not having had a vacation since 1985, when they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a weekend on Monhegan Island. Sick skunks in the middle of someone's yard, snapping turtles with cracked shells, fawns whose mothers met a vicious fate with a car on a highway somewhere -- all of them have a home. At least for now.

"I really don't know what will happen once they're not doing this anymore," Murray said. "I don't. I think a lot more animals are going to die that don't have to."

Which is something Carleen Cote doesn't want to think about. It's why she answers the phone -- whenever it rings.

"We are volunteers. We don't get paid to do this," Carleen said. "We exist because some really generous people out there want to help us.

"But we never planned for anything like this. I guess it was just meant to be."

Travis Barrett -- 621-5648

tbarrett@centralmaine.com

Bookmark and share this story: digg del.icio.us Reddit

Reader comments

Click here to view or add reader comments