JONESBORO — Jonesboro veterinarian Archie Ryan has removed shotgun pellets from bald eagles, repaired broken wings of red-tailed hawks and driven Mississippi kites to Louisiana so the birds could catch up with their migrating flock after they’ve recuperated.
The efforts are par for the course for Ryan, who has been a wildlife rehabilitator for 25 years.
Ryan, 55, is one of 11 people in the state approved by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to help injured migratory birds back to health.
The number of bird-rehabilitation professionals is dwindling, commission spokesman Randy Zellers said. The commission requires people to register and undergo an apprenticeship with an established wildlife rehabilitator before venturing out on their own. The commission does not pay the rehabilitators.
Ryan has spent thousands of dollars feeding the animals, building appropriate shelters for them and transporting them back into the wild.
“They are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts,” Zellers said. “It’s truly a labor of love.”
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Ryan, a Houston native, earned his veterinary degree at Louisiana State University in 1987. He moved to Jonesboro with his wife, Jayne, in 1991 after the two visited the Craighead County town and liked it.
He opened a veterinary clinic, built a large raptor cage and other facilities for animals at his north Jonesboro home and soon began taking care of the wildlife that people would present to him. He treats about 125 birds and well over 100 animals each year.
Recently, he released a redtailed hawk that he nursed back from an injured wing. He also helps four to five bald eagles each year, as well as scores of bobcats, raccoons, opossums, foxes, otters and other animals. Ryan even rescued a turtle that was struck by a car by repairing its shell with a metal plate.
“It’s rewarding,” he said. “Most of the time you can’t affect the population of animals. This does not affect the overall population, but it does affect each animal.”
Ryan said he has a success rate of about 60 percent. Some animals, he said, are far too injured to recuperate and have to be euthanized.
“It’s hard, but it saves them the suffering,” he said.
Ryan had treated deer, but because of an outbreak of chronic wasting disease, a neurological disease that is fatal to deer, he no longer takes them in. In June, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission banned the rehabilitation of deer because of the disease.
“The infection stays forever,” Zellers said of the disease. “Infected deer cannot successfully be taken back to the wild.”
In an interview with the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
in June about the ban, Diana Evants, a deer rehabilitator in Russellville, said she treated 14 deer in 2015 and four in 2016 before the commission initiated its ban.
“It’s hard to put a little animal down if you see it,” she said. “I think people will still take care of them even if there is a ban.”
It’s an ethical dilemma Ryan faces. He said he also doesn’t treat skunks, because of the possibility of them having rabies. Nor does he treat coyotes, because they do not interact well with humans and are “untamable.”
“It’s difficult to work with some animals,” he said. “If they are sick, they don’t want to be treated. You’ve got to come up with ways to help heal them without a lot of involvement. It’s challenging.”
Ryan said he also won’t treat bears.
“Bears are large carnivores, and they present danger,” Zellers said. “You get people who see bears in the wild and they leave feed out for them. They think it’s a novelty and they shoot pictures of the bears. It’s neat the first time.
“After a while, they realize bears are wildlife. They aren’t ‘cute’ anymore. They are not domesticated. Bears can become a nuisance.”
The Game and Fish Commission has regulations for people who care for bears. Those doing so must install double-fenced enclosures and be subjected to inspections.
Ryan said he plans to rehabilitate animals as long as he can.
As birds continue their migration south, he said he may soon have to transport some rehabilitated Mississippi kites.
“I drove the kites down to Mississippi and Louisiana before so they could catch up with the other birds,” he said.
“You’re never really glad to see any animal go,” he said of releasing them back into the wild when they are healed. “You become attached to them. But you know you are helping them.”