By Judith Leroux Photography by Stan Hill
The cage door opens and one foot steps slowly forward, as if questioning if this can really be happening. Who can blame him, after a month on the inside? Another foot soon follows, and his huge brown eyes slowly scan the landscape, blinking as the afternoon sun hits his face. But the majestic barred owl’s time behind bars is really over, and as delighted human onlookers watch, he spreads his powerful, now-healed wings and soars away.
A beautiful and uplifting sight indeed and not an uncommon one at The Ark Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation’s center in St. Augustine Beach, the only such government-licensed care center in Northeast Florida. Freedom flights over their 15-acre property and its shimmering pond are easy to appreciate as who doesn’t love a happy ending? But the passion for helping these wounded birds and the hard work that has sustained the mission since its founding in 1999 by Karen Ward-Lynch is the best part of the story.
“This was never a plan of mine,” Ward-Lynch says by phone, as baby birds squawk loudly in the background.
Though a dual biology and math degree had led to an internship at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Science, at the time of her first rescue she was a young mother teaching exercise and yoga classes. She was also a new churchgoer, and her pastor’s sermon on finding your calling resonated with her. After prayer, she quickly got what she came to recognize as an answer. “My kids found a nest that was attacked by a cat. Only one baby was alive, and for some reason they brought it to me.” A friend with wildlife experience advised her, and within months as “word got around,” she was caring for hundreds of birds.
