Wildlife saviors on a shoestring budget Animal attraction

By JoAnn Jones

news@vindy.com

WARREN

When Heather Merritt was just a toddler, her father taught her to hunt and fish while also teaching her to respect wildlife.

“In the long run, you eat what you kill,” said Merritt of Warren. “We were very poor so my father hunted and fished. But I actually raised a three-legged deer when I was just tiny. I also had to get a rabies shot when I was 4 because I saved a chipmunk and got bit.”

Merritt’s early introduction to respecting wildlife has led to a labor of love, saving birds and other animals at her state and federally licensed facility, Birds in Flight Sanctuary Inc. Located just a few minutes from the Eastwood Mall, the sanctuary is at the rear of her parents’ house, where she lives with her mother, stepfather, and two sons.

Merritt’s rescue work started in 1991 when neighbors had an injured great horned owl in their yard. The bird was very thin and ill, and Merritt was able, after a lot of research, to help the bird.

“I went to the ODNR [Ohio Department of Natural Resources], and they had no place for it to go,” Merritt explained. “The officer said I’d better find my own way. That’s when I started taking classes.”

The amazing thing about Merritt’s sanctuary is that it receives no funding, and Merritt and her two sons, Cameron and Anthony, are not paid. Cameron, 20, is a full-time volunteer, and Anthony, 23, also works at Pet Supplies Plus.

“We’re not allowed to charge, so we recommend a donation,” Merritt said. “It’s a free service for 18 counties. Private donations are all we get ... nothing through the county or state.” She added they are allowed to charge a small fee for the educational programs they present.

“This takes 14 to 18 hours a day,” said Merritt, who is a 1986 graduate of Warren JFK and a lifetime area resident. “We’ve even gone out on Christmas to rescue an animal. We just wish people knew what we did.”

What Merritt and her sons do, along with a few faithful volunteers and generous veterinarians, is help the injured and sick animals so they can be set free again. Most people bring the injured animals to the Merritts, but as a last resort, the Merritts will go get them.

“When people find an injured animal, some will call a vet or the nonemergency 911 number and they’ll call us,” Merritt explained. “But a lot of our animals come to us by word of mouth now.”

Emphasizing that it is against the law for birds being rehabilitated to be photographed, the Merritts brought out some animals they use in their education programs that have already been healed.

Kevin, a turkey vulture that is just over a year old, has been restored to health and is part of the education programs the Merritts take to schools, sportsman groups, and scouting events.

“He’s like in his terrible 2’s,” Merritt said. “He’s a brat. He tests you to see what he can get away with.”

“Most birds in between their first and second years are just like a child,” explained Cameron Merritt, adding that turkey vultures are very helpful creatures, too.

“A vulture eats enough botulism that would kill 500 people,” Cameron Merritt said. “It takes a lot for them to get diseases.”

Another bird who has been rehabbed and is now used in the education programs is Muddy, a barred owl.

“He calls out for me when I walk through the kitchen at night,” Merritt said. “He thinks he’s human, and I’m his mate. We’re buds.”

The Merritts take in all sorts of wildlife — squirrels, chipmunks, snakes, turtles and even a monkey — in addition to birds, but no deer, raccoons, bats, or coyotes.

“We had a monkey about two years ago,” Cameron Merritt said. “It was addicted to cocaine because it had been in a house where the people were taking drugs. We were allowed to take it in and then after we checked it over, we had to send it to another facility.”

“Once we had a baby snake that had come in contact with a cactus,” Merritt said. “We spent four hours picking thorns out of it.”

Merritt said she has made friends with the ODNR officers in various counties throughout Ohio as she has built her reputation for helping injured and sick animals.

“These officers are my lifeline,” she said. “They’re like my brothers or sisters. We’re like a family and talk all the time. Even though we don’t work for the ODNR, we still have to represent them and stand behind them.

According to an informational flier that Merritt passes out, the family now rehabilitates an average of about 1,000 animals per year; therefore, getting private donations to keep the sanctuary going is a must.

“I’ve been doing this almost 23 years,” Merritt said. “I’ve used everything I have. The back cages, the barn — I built all that. The front cages were built by Eagle Scouts.”

“We’re growing out,” she continued. “We don’t have any space, and we really need to move. If I got the money tomorrow, I would have it built today.”

Merritt’s brother, a construction worker who lives in Arizona, has said he is willing to build a new facility with an education center whenever she gets the money to build it.

“Everything is set,” she said, “but we would also have to have our house there because we care for the animals 24/7.”

“Right now we’re surviving day by day,” she added. “My parents pay the utilities, people donate wood for us to build cages. We don’t throw very much away.”

“Our main goal is to be able to fully rehabilitate eagles,” Cameron Merritt said. “Now they have to be shipped to Kentucky after a certain time. It would take about five acres for us to have a decent amount of space.” Currently the Merritts are housing two eagles that are on the “threatened” but not “endangered” list.

She said the organization is selling tickets for a gun raffle that could potentially raise $15,000 for the facility.

“That could make us the money to pay the water bill or electric bill for a year,” she added.

Does Merritt get discouraged with the amount of work she and her family do for no pay?

“It gets tiring, overwhelming sometimes,” she said. “We come back from helping somewhere, and my mother has 28 phone calls for me. ‘Here’s your list,’ she says. Trust me, I’ve thought about quitting, but if we weren’t here, the animals would die.”

“Last year we took in 1,600 animals,” she added. “We’re going to let 1,600 die? I couldn’t sleep at night. I love ’em.”