CHIMACUM — Veterinarian Tony Rogstad is realistic about his efforts to rescue and rehabilitate thousands of wild animals found injured, sick or abandoned over the years — from beavers, otters and porcupines to barred owls, eagles, hawks and blue herons.
As long as man moves in on wildlife habitat, it will be a win-some, lose-some proposition, as he sees it.
But that won’t stop him and his wife, Jeannette, from helping all wild things whenever they can through TJ’s Wildlife Center, he said.
“We’re all guardians, and we’re all fosters for the wildlife and wildlife habitat,” he said.
“The work we’re doing is irrelevant” in slowing the gradual decline of wildlife and animal habitat, he said. “We’re not making a dent.
“What we do overall is foster a sense of stewardship. Anything that somebody wants us to help, we will help them with that. We are unworthy to judge. We just want to help.”
He does not advocate stopping development that invades or disrupts wildlife habitat but said it is good to remember “there’s a consequence to our actions.”
Eagles in December
Of the more than 100 wild animals the center handled last year, TJ’s Wildlife Center took in two eagles, one injured when a vehicle hit it on state Highway 104 in early December, and State Patrol troopers discovered it.
Rogstad said that bird, about 5 years old and weighing 20 pounds, died shortly after surgery.
Another eagle about 3 or 4 years old and weighing about 15 pounds, was trapped at about the same time by state Fish and Wildlife agent Sgt. Phil Henry at Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island, where it was found starving in the brush.
That eagle is doing well in recovery at his Chimacum Valley home, Rogstad said.
The veterinarian plans to build a “mews,” a pole barn-like structure of about 40 feet by 100 feet and 20 feet high, which will be large enough to protect the eagle and allow him to fly short distances.
He plans to panel it with sliding doors to protect wild birds that cannot be released back into the wilds because of their severe injuries.
He is accepting donations of lumber to build it, and can be contacted at 360-385-4488.
Wildlife center
TJ’s Wildlife Center evolved over time.
“It started out serendipitously,” Rogstad said in the quiet surgery room of his Chimacum Valley Veterinary Hospital on Chimacum Road which, along with Pet Townsend in Port Townsend, helps finance the couple’s quest to help wild animals.
Together, the Rogstads have operated TJ’s Wildlife Center in Chimacum since 2005, but they have actually operated the center for 28 years, starting it in 1981 in Southeast King County near Seattle.
It was the largest such center of its kind, he said, handling thousands of wild creatures with 40 to 50 volunteers and six veterinarians involved.
“I grabbed my first eagle when I was 21,” he recalled, saying he was careful not to lose a finger in bird’s powerful talons.
He and his wife found the Chimacum area while on vacation and chose to move to the valley and relocate the center, which today handles far fewer animals than in King County.
He estimates about 45 percent recover to be healthy enough for release back into the wild.
Injured wildlife is given medical attention at the Chimacum Valley Veterinary Hospital.
Then, Rogstad said, artificial habitats are constructed in an isolated location to provide medical attention, nutrition, exercise and stimulation.”
Wildlife is released after it is determined it can live on its own, he said.
Some volunteer property owners provided hacked out areas for wildlife rehabilitation.
Those who find injured birds or animals should not attempt to handle them unless they are obviously endangered, he said, adding that his organization will respond to an injured animal if contacted at 360-385-4488.
While raccoons and gray squirrels are the easiest to rehabilitate, woodpeckers and common red-shafted flickers are bird that get highly stressed in captivity and are the most difficult.
Rogstad, who has placed playful baby beavers in a bathtub among his earliest experiences with handing wild animals, said porcupines and blue herons are perhaps his most unique encounters.
“Blue herons are the most prehistoric animals you will ever meet,” he said, adding that porcupines are the exact opposite — docile, friendly and easy to pet; they flare their quills only when threatened.
“No threat, no flare,” Rogstad said with a smile.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
