PEOPLE OF INTEREST
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A curious coatimundi, top left, keeps an eye on Winnie while she checks
on orphaned raccoons and squirrels in the Creature Safe Place nursery.
Nearby, a colorful parrot announces what any visitor can see: “I’m a pretty
boy. Pretty boy.”
Name: Winnie Burns
Occupation: Wildlife rehabilitator
and founder of Creature Safe
Place of Fort Pierce.
Personal: Married to Bob Burns;
daughter, Amber Franklin, 40;
grandson, Tim Franklin, who
plans to take over the wildlife refuge when Winnie retires.
Inspiration: “Before an animal is released … I tell them that
now they will have a chance to taste the dew and run in the
fog as the clouds touch the earth. I tell them that they will be
free to a new life … It is a bittersweet goodbye.”
How you can help: Contact Creature Safe Place by calling
(772) 468-6616, or send donations to P.O. Box 12276,
Fort Pierce, FL 34979-2276. Donations of wet cat food (not
fish-based), bleach, old towels and other suitable bedding,
stamps, stationery or any animal supplies are appreciated,
as is financial support.
Web site: www.creaturesafeplace.org
Email: creaturessafe@aol.com
Tank, for instance, is a 50-to-60-year-old sulcata, the
third-largest living tortoise in the world. He is a constant
reminder of what happens when wildlife becomes entangled
in plastic-ring drink holders carelessly discarded by humans;
his shell still bears the indentation where it was bound by
one in his youth.
“We give him a bowling ball to play with and he thinks
he’s in love,” Winnie says, laughing.
Volunteers feed the baby critters, clean cages, and care for
the wounded animals at the refuge, which also relies on donations
of food from Life’s Abundance, Walmart, Publix and
Thomas Feed Store, among others.
Port St. Lucie veterinarian Dr. Patrick Kelly, whom Winnie
describes as “indispensable,” has volunteered his services for
nearly 20 years.
“I go when I’m needed,” Kelly says. “But she helps me out
too, when I have injured wildlife I need her to take. The best
part is when you get to return one to the wild. That’s what
really makes it worthwhile.”
Both Winnie and Kelly say the released animals always
look back after they leave the cage.
“It’s like they’re saying, ‘Thank you.’ It gives you a great
feeling of accomplishment,” Kelly says.
The success stories are what keep Winnie and her Wild
Bunch going.
“I don’t think people really realize what a service (Winnie)
provides to the community,” says Kim Dean, a Fort Pierce resident
who serves on Winnie’s advisory committee, and spends
most of her volunteer time at All Pet Rescue in Fort Pierce.
“My passion is for domestic animals, but I’m still there
for her if she needs me. If she called tomorrow, I would go
— especially when the baby deer come in. You just feel so
good afterward.”
A full-grown nanny goat, blinded with chemical burns and
stuffed into a parrot cage, now munches carrots as she wanders
around her enclosure, bumping into walls along the way
but growing stronger every day.
A white pit bull mix named Charlotte came to the refuge
with a gash circling her neck, exposing a 6-inch band of
muscle beneath it. The scar around her neck was stitched
and healed quickly, and she became friends with all the other
animals. But learning to trust people requires more time and
gentle encouragement; Charlotte is still wary of strangers.
“She’s come a long way,” Winnie says, “but she still has a
way to go.”
And Winnie Burns has a motto: “Always give a miracle a
second chance, and there is no discrimination between the
eagle and the ant.”
/www.indianriverstore.com
/www.creaturesafeplace.org
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