Northern Ohio woman gives care to injured animals

July 5, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

CASTALIA, Ohio

Mona Rutger is the modern-day Mother Nature.

Twenty years ago, she founded Back to the Wild, a nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation and nature education center.

Rutger’s love of animals started when she grew up on a farm. Her first official rescue was an eastern screech owl struck by a moving vehicle.

It was these two experiences with animals that dictated the course of her life.

Rutger has gone from a person who cared for animals to an aggressive advocate, doing all she can to preserve wildlife and educate the public.

“She is ‘Back to the Wild,’” said Laura Pearson, who first met Rutger 15 years ago when she asked her to save a screech owl in a backyard. “That has been her passion. She is devoted to rehabilitating, educating and bringing peace to the world.”

Nursing animals back to health so they can be returned to their natural habitat has been Rutger’s mission. Over the past two decades, she’s helped rescued 37,000 wild animals, 23,000 of which were returned to their natural habitats.

But Back to the Wild is as much a learning experience as it is a rehabilitation center. Each year, 70,000 visitors travel to Rutger’s headquarters to learn about wild animals.

Lesson one and two, for instance: Don’t keep wild animals as pets, and don’t stare down a wild animal.

Rutger offers free daily seminars to children and adults. She’s adamant about not giving wild animals names, or treating them like pets. She removes herself emotionally from an injured animal, in fact, so she can focus on helping the creature.