The door of the wooden barn swings open, and three bald eagles swivel their heads toward the opening.
Loki, Duncan and Odin had come to Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators following different calamitous injuries. Loki and Duncan had been hit by cars, while Odin had been shot.
The animals are no longer healthy enough to live in the wild. But at Utopia’s Hope-based facility, they’ve found a new life helping teach the surrounding communities about nature.
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“People can come here and visit with them,” said Kathy Hershey, co-founder of the wildlife rehabilitations facility. “We educate any way and any how we can. So many people are surprised by the things they learn here.”
For the past 17 years, the staff at Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators have worked to mend and heal injured Indiana wildlife that is brought to them. The animals and birds have been hit by cars, caught in traps, or abandoned by owners who originally tried to raise them as pets. A majority of the creatures brought to the facility are released back into the wild.
Those that are not able to survive on their own anymore become vital pieces of the organization’s other goal: education. The group will be bringing some animals to the annual Johnson County Garden Celebration on May 4.
“People don’t go outside anymore; they don’t have any good information about nature,” Hershey said. “On a given day in the spring and summer, I’ll answer 60 to 70 questions about how nature works. Any opportunity get to teach, we take.”
Coming down the long gravel drive, it takes a minute or so before reaching the faded wooden sign emblazoned with the words “Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators.” Just beyond the sign, a faded green house is surrounded by huts, pens and other structures, each containing different animals or birds in varying stages of rehabilitation.
Owls, foxes, squirrels and raptors such as hawks and eagles were housed in their own areas. Turkey vultures and a sandhill crane were recovering in separate sections of the facility. A specific block of pens held turtles that had been injured and were healing.
Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators was founded by Hershey and veterinarian Dr. Melissa Newcomb in 2002. Hershey had worked for the Indianapolis Zoo, and often encountered injured animals that people had brought in hoping to get treated. She would check out the animals and then release them to rehabilitators in the area.
When the West Nile Virus reached Indiana in 2002, she and Newcomb were sought by animal control officials and conservationists to help care for all of the sick birds, particularly raptors, impacted by the disease.
They named their organization Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators, but not because the term inspired warm and fuzzy feelings, Hershey said.
“’Utopia’ stands for ‘Up to our posteriors in animals,’” she said.
The facility is state and nationally licensed as a wildlife rehabilitation facility. The goal is to give veterinary care, rehabilitation and release to native Indiana reptiles, mammals, birds and birds of prey.
“We don’t take care of lions or tigers or bears, or anything like that. We take care of the things that are normally found in the fields and farms and backyards of Indiana,” Hershey said.
The organization works with Dr. Jennifer Waggoner Clarke and Hillview Veterinary Clinic in Franklin to provide immediate care to the injured animals and birds brought to them.
The goal is always to return the animals to the wild, if possible. Utopia staff members use zoo formulas and the most current dietary information and research available to provide their myriad species with the highest quality food as they recover.
Different animals also have different social needs, and the staff tries to recreate those during recovery.
For example, baby hawks, owls and other raptors are raised by foster birds — non-releasable animals that live at the facility. Utopia collaborates with other nearby rehabilitators who specialize in different species to try to get the orphaned babies into a group with the same species, age and development.
Once they have healed, the creatures are assessed to see if they will be able to survive on their own.
About 70 percent of the animals that come to the facility are able to be released, Hershey said. Some are too injured or sick to recover and have to be euthanized. But a small population of animals are unable to function in the wild, but can live in captivity. Those become Utopia’s resident educators.
The facility’s resident groundhog, Grubby, is a local celebrity who stars in Hope’s annual Groundhog Day event every year. A massive sulcata tortoise named Gus lumbers around a grassy enclosure when the weather is warm enough.
Momma is a fox who was hit by a car and suffered an injured back. Cloud the coyote was raised illegally by people as a pet, and loves to run to people.
“She changes people’s attitudes. To put a name with a face helps people,” Hershey said.
One of its most famous permanent residents is Parker, a turkey vulture who had been recovered in Columbus about five years ago. He was going to school yards, looking into classroom windows, and untying kids’ shoelaces.
“He had apparently been released by someone who tried to raise him illegally, and he is fixated on people. He doesn’t associate with other turkey vultures. Animal control couldn’t catch him, because he’d recognize their cars and uniforms,” Hershey said. “I went out to get him one day, throwing mice at him, and we eventually caught him.”
Because of his affinity for people, Parker is often one of the main features in Utopia’s educational programs.
“He loves his job. He’s the most incredible bird. He spreads his wings and preens and makes faces to the crowd,” Hershey said.
Utopia offers a summer camp to teach more about nature, visits schools and local civic organizations for presentations, and hosts open houses on the first Saturday of every month from spring to fall.
The Johnson County Garden Celebration was an example of those educational opportunities.
Officials at Utopia are active in partnering with groups around the area in its work. They work with Franklin College and provide an internship program for students at the school. Scout groups often come to do work or special projects; many of the pens around the facility were the results of these projects.
Cummins holds work days at the facility, where people can meet the animals and understands what Utopia does, Hershey said.
Recently, Utopia was able to construct a new building on the grounds to serve as a hospital building, office and classroom. The new space will give the staff more room to work than currently exists, and provide additional opportunities to host community members and provide education.
The interactions with the public are valuable, because many people don’t understand how intertwined in the natural world our communities are.
“It can be frustrating. Wildlife lives in people’s backyards, and a lot of people aren’t willing to accept that,” Hershey said. “I have conversations with people who want to trap everything and take it out of their yard. I tell them, if they do that, more things will move in.”
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Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators
What: A state and federally licensed facility specializing in rehabilitation and release, as well as education for all ages.
Where: 18300 E. County Road 200N, Hope
Founders: Kathy Hershey and Dr. Melissa Newcomb
Year founded: 2002
Educational opportunities: Utopia offers open houses every month during their First Saturdays event. The next one will be held at 1 p.m. May 11 at the facility in Hope. Included will be a live animal program, tour, music and kids activities. First Saturdays continue through October.
More information: utopiarehab.wixsite.com/utopia or Facebook.com/utopiarehab
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