Wildlife Center to Close, Reorganize

On Sept. 3, employees of the Wildlife Center, which is run by the Animal Protection Society of Orange County, approached the Orange County Commissioners to voice their concerns about management problems within APS.

Stacy Hughes, a wildlife assistant at the rehabilitation center, made several complaints about management problems in her statement to the commissioners.

"Over the last few months, the quality of care provided by the APS has steeply degraded," she said in her statement. "We are greatly concerned that there has been mismanagement of infectious disease."

Hughes also said there is documentation of how management has not adhered to a consistent policy to guide employees in protecting healthy animals and in controlling the spread of disease.

Two months before the commissioners' meeting, APS had come under criticism when recently hired Executive Director Laura Walters fired wildlife veterinarian Bobby Schopler.

The center was then left with no veterinarian to care for the injured wildlife brought there.

Employees and volunteers rallied behind Schopler, citing Walters' actions as unfair and ungrounded, said Christy Dixon, a former volunteer at the center.

Dixon said that the remaining employees at the center were trained in some areas of wildlife care but that they were not trained veterinarians.

"The care went down immediately after Dr. Schopler left," she said.

Walters said she will be searching for someone with the right expertise and background to take over the clinic when it is reinstated.

The APS will lease the facility for an undetermined amount of time to a private veterinarian who will oversee and provide care for the APS animals and wildlife, but the center will not accept more animals for treatment until the practice is established.

Anne Rogers, a home wildlife rehabilitator, said she is concerned about what is going to happen to the animals.

"I really worry about it because there aren't many people left who (rehabilitate) at home," she said.

Rogers said she is concerned with the fact that Walters would fire a veterinarian with wildlife training and eliminate all the trained employees.

Walters refutes the rumor from employees and local news affiliates that she is firing all the employees from the center.

She said APS is transferring the responsibility of the center to the independent veterinarian, who will use his discretion to decide whether to keep the employees.

She also said that although some people seem to think the animals at the clinic will be abandoned, this rumor is not true.

"We are taking care of the animals that we have," she said. "They will be placed out when the time is right."

Walters said the reorganization will help the APS better serve all the animals.

"This is a good opportunity to make some changes and do what is best for the animals."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.