Voices of the Bay

Aiding All Creatures Great and Small

A wildlife rehabilitator on injured animals, releasing them into the wild and her personal sacrifices

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Since 2003 Kristin (Komiega) Fletcher has been the Executive Director of The Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island (WRARI) a non-profit agency licensed by the state of Rhode Island to provide medical care and rehabilitation to injured and orphaned wild animals and birds. The agency’s Wildlife Clinic of RI is in Saunderstown and licensed rehabilitators are located throughout the state. Kristin received a Bachelors Degree in English and Anthropology from Rhode Island College and worked for many years in Human Services for the Maher Center. A licensed rehabilitator with the state, Kristin also holds a Federal Migratory permit. The Bristol native has lived in Portsmouth’s Common Fence Point the last five years with her husband Paul. The couple has two grown daughters Kate and Chelsea.

The organization’s 12th Annual Wild-stock Benefit Concert will be held Saturday October 24 at Jacky’s Galaxie in Bristol. To get tickets or learn more about WRARI check out www.riwildliferehab.org. Kristin can be reached at 401-293-5505.


I was a kid who hung around with animals growing up. I became a wildlife rehabilitator while still working in human services. In 2003 WRARI came close to folding. The dilemma was that without licensed and trained individuals all injured or orphaned wildlife must be killed. It is against state and federal law for the average individual to take care of the animal. There is a lot involved on both sides. I was in a position that I was able to leave my job and assume the position full-time for WRARI. We are all volunteers – the rehabilitators, founder and President Dr. Meredith Bird and Vice President and primary Veterinarian Dr. Chi Chan.

A rehabilitator is trained and licensed to assist injured and orphaned wild species to get them back to be released into the environment. That is the ultimate goal. If they can’t then they are euthanized humanely. These animals are wild and do not make good pets; they consider humans predators. A rehabilitator license includes taking a Department of Environmental Management (DEM) sponsored course and a state test and working with a Veterinarian and a Level 2 rehabilitator for a year. We get the animals mainly because of human development. They get hit by our cars, dragged in by our cats, kids find them and think there is something wrong and there isn’t, they hit telephone lines or are removed from roof lines. People will say let nature take its course. It’s a rare occasion when we see an animal come to us because of something “natural.”

We are on the front lines of saving wildlife. We handle every single wildlife species in the state: baby mice, snakes and turtles, bald eagles, fisher cats, barn swallows, swans. We get calls from residents, town animal control officers, DEM, Audubon. The number of animals is increasing. We saw 3,500 animals last year. That is a huge number for 15 to 16 rehabilitators. What is hopeful is that… 3,500 people stopped during the day and picked something up and brought it to us. It mattered to them.

I specialize in birds. It is an intense process and there are only three of us who do it. For baby birds the season is May to July. They need to be fed every 15 minutes. I use my timer and start at 6:15am and go to 9pm at night. People ask, “When do you go to the beach or how do you go to weddings in the summer? Well I don’t. Why do this? It’s pretty simple. There are not enough people to do it. There are a committed group of people who put their lives on hold to try to help these animals but not enough. The ramification of this means that animals that could be fixed and released would have to die, and that is not acceptable.

Kristin (Komiega) Fletcher, Kristin Fletcher, The Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island, Wildlife Clinic of RI, 12th Annual Wild-stock Benefit Concert, Nina Murphy

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