Working with Wildlife While Caring About the Wild Part

by Luca Masetti

I have been working in wildlife rehab for more than two years now and on two different continents. I started in Northern Ontario, in a busy wildlife centre near Sudbury, and now am in Italy with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The job involves caring and interacting daily with wild animals, creatures that, under normal circumstances, should stay as far away from humans as possible. That's why it's so important to keep them that way, instead of getting them used to human contact. I like to fool myself into believing that people in my line of work always know these rules and behave accordingly. If anyone asks, I have never named an animal ever (looks around nervously).
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Jokes aside, I have seen many people doing the right thing and adopting a proper behavior. But what about the general public who bring these animals to us? Well, that's where things get complicated.

Don't get me wrong, I do see people bringing in animals while wisely avoiding any kind of unnecessary contact.

That said, it is apparently extremely difficult to NOT get a selfie with the newly found, cute looking baby owl. Or at least one, because you have to make sure you get the right light. I also understand how easy it is to get attached to rescued animals, but comparing a crow found just hours before to your child still sounds a bit weird to me. You might think I am exaggerating a bit here, but these situations actually happened. Like that one person that brought us a bat, but demanded to check our intensive care unit before entrusting it to our care. This same person phoned one day later to complain about such a reasonable request being denied (despite us still taking the bat in). Or those several people that tried to keep a newborn animal in their own house, only to realize months later that the deer/crane/groundhog did not suddenly turn into a pet, at which point they were forced to ask for our help.

I get it, I do this job because I love animals. I understand how every single one of them is unique, special and worth remembering. But at the same time, in the very same word ''wildlife'' there is a strong suggestion about how we should keep that delicate life we decided to take care of.

About the Author

​Luca is a biologist specialized in animal behavior. After several years working in wildlife rehabilitation, he is now starting a new path as a secondary school teacher, sharing his love for nature and science