Nestled in a quiet area off Mondon Hill Road in Brooksville lies 100 Acre Wood. It’s named after author A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh’s home in Ashdown Forest in England and serves as a safe haven for animals that are sick, injured, orphaned or abandoned in Hernando County.
Linda Christian, who is a State and Federally licensed wildlife rehabilitator, founded 100 Acre Wood in 2006 and lives onsite as “keeper” of the wood. Christian says her mission in life is to “rescue, rehabilitate and release” the scores and scores of mammals, birds and reptiles that are injured or displaced locally.
“I knew when I was very young that nature and wildlife was very special to me,” said Christian. “When I was 5 years old, I helped my father raise an injured baby tawny owl. I took it to school with me every day,” she said, “and the local newspaper in England featured me.”
Christian’s days usually begin when concerned citizens call in the dead of night to tend to a sick or injured animal. She’s the one who will venture out at 3 a.m. to rescue and bring back to the sanctuary an animal who has been run over and in serious need of treatment.
“As a wildlife rehabilitator, I have a lot of responsibility and willingly give up a lot of privacy and free time into saving wildlife, Christian said. “I get a lot of pleasure from operating the sanctuary and my rewards are nursing wildlife back to health and returned to the wild.”
“Sometimes, it’s just a simple case of educating people about wildlife,” she said. “Like finding a fawn that is all alone – the mother doe will return to its fawn in a little while,” she said.
Christian who hails from Leeds in Yorkshire, England, first came to the U.S. in 1977. Apart from the wildlife in her sanctuary, she has 6 cats and 3 dogs that live with her in the house. She is also hand feeding a baby pigeon and a beautiful black and white domestic rat suffering from an inoperable tumor.
”The greatest problem facing wildlife is its loss of habitat and those that have been injured in man-related accidents because of land clearance or new construction,” she said.
“Right now, I am taking care of a fox that came in with multiple breaks in its tail,” said Christian. The tail had become severely infected and it had to be amputated by a local vet that I work with. I kept the fox in the house for 8 weeks because it had to be protected from further infection,” she said.
“But it’s completely healed now and I have him in a soft release cage way at the back of 100 Acre Wood,” she said. “I should be able to release him back to his habitat in a couple or more weeks.
Christian’s interest for animals and preservation is not solely devoted to the wildlife in the U.S. She is actively involved with a UK-based nonprofit organization serving to help humans and wildlife in need.
“Last year, I went to Cambodia and volunteered with the elephant project in the Mondulkiri province,” Christian said.
According to Christian, the sanctuary provides an alternative lifestyle for the domesticated working elephants closer to their natural living conditions in the forest. The elephant keepers are provided with an alternative income and the rescued elephants are provided a sanctuary with veterinary care and no longer have to work long hours.
“I was able to bring a microscope to Cambodia for use in the project,” said Christian. It was donated by Karen Taylor Sorensen a local vet at the Animal Medical Center of Brooksville.
“I wrapped it up in baby diapers for safe transport and soon found the diapers were in demand as much as the microscope,” she said.
In 2013, Christian went to Indonesia and worked with the orangutans in the forest. The project was specifically for research gathering data for the University of Java.
“Our task as volunteers involved trekking in the jungle for 8 hours each day to find orangutans in the wild, see how many hammocks they made for themselves and then look for stool samples,” she said.
“We had to get there before the dung beetles did, gather what vegetation the orangutans had consumed and then analyze it,” she said.
“The mission of the research was to analyze what they were eating and how it self medicated them from disease and if it could perhaps be used for humans in the future,” said Christian.
Christian said one of her most memorable places she volunteered was in the Galapagos Islands working to protect the giant tortoises on San Cristóbal.
San Cristóbal is the easternmost island in the Galápagos archipelago and is where naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin first went ashore in 1835.
“San Cristóbal has a remarkable preserve and controlled breeding center for the tortugas, said Christian. “It’s vital to protect and increase the number of tortoises so that they are no longer an endangered species,” she said.
Christian’s next volunteer trip is planned for the rainforests of Peru where she will be working in a wildlife rehabilitation center primarily dealing with the behavior of sloths.
“Each year, I usually go in October and spend 1-2 weeks volunteering and donating to a specific project,” she said.
“Then for the final week, I take some R&R and backpack so I can get to know the country and people,” she said.
Christian’s passion in Florida is protecting and rescuing injured tortoises and turtles.
“I get so many calls to help tortoises and turtles injured in car related injuries,” she said. “I have a tortoise currently that had its leg chewed and eaten by a dog.”
“Fortunately, she is doing really well now but I’ll keep him with me for a few more weeks until I’m sure she will be OK in the wild,” she added.
“When a tortoise is hit by a car, the shell cracks and the veins in the membrane underneath can bleed profusely, Christian said.
“The blood attracts the flies and that’s when infection begins,” she said. It can signal a very slow death for the creature.”
“I am looking at new ways to heal the shell and seal that crack so no infection can set in,” she said.
“I’ve been very successful so far.”
Christian said that anyone who sees an injured tortoise should always contact Fish and Wildlife and get the name of a local rehabilitator who can help save the animal.
“People love to help, but they should ask how, and that’s what I’m here for,” she said.
“Part of my mission is to educate others on wildlife and I hold workshops and programs at local schools and libraries,” she said.
“I take along a certain species to show participants and then I elaborate on its rehabilitation and any environmental issues that affect local wildlife in the county,” she said.
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Sue Quigley can be reached at 727.808.9587 or via email at saffronbleu@hotmail.com.Contact her if you would like to see your business featured in The Hernando Sun.
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100 ACRE WOOD WILDLIFE REHABILITATION, INC. is located at Kohen Road, Brooksville, FL and was incorporated as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation in 2006.
To volunteer or make a donation: email Linda Christian at: 100acrewoodwildlife@gmail.com or call her at (352) 650-2892