CYNTHIANA, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Harrison County wildlife rehab center is experiencing severe growing pains.
Started in 2017, Grit and Grace Farm and Wildlife Rehabilitation is a place where Jamie Rowe, her husband, mother-in-law, and volunteers work to nurse hurt, abandoned, and orphaned wild animals back to health.
The nonprofit is run out of the Rowes' home and property.
"We only have like 8 acres here and we're surrounded by neighbors on both sides," Jamie said.
That's an issue because she releases more than 200 animals from the center every year. Setting them all free in the same area isn't sustainable.
Rowe said she also hopes to have more space to host educational field trips, which she believes would be very impactful for children.
"If they learn when they're young, compassion and respect for animals, then that just makes compassionate adults," Jamie said. "We like to teach them young, the benefits, what they do for our environment, the ecosystem, why we need them. When they learn that at a young age, that grows with them into adulthood."
Rowe also hopes to have more space so she can obtain a license to rehab birds. To get a license, she said you need to have spacious flight cages, which would not fit on the current property.
If she were to get a license, she wouldn't have to pass on the dozens of turkey vultures, hawks, and owls she gets every year to other rehabbers in Cincinnati and Louisville.
She has her eye on a 25-acre property down the road and hopes donations can help her move the center there so she can care for every animal that comes to her door, as well as teach future generations why these creatures deserve compassion and respect.
Anyone interested in donating can do so here or here.
Anyone interested in volunteering can sign up here.
