After about two and a half years of plans, permits and paperwork, Mountain Top Wildlife Clinic is gradually opening on land just 15 minutes from White Salmon. Mountain Top, sister clinic to Rowena Wildlife, will provide the only local wildlife rehabilitation center for Washington animals, which can no longer cross the state line to Oregon clinics.
“The Oregon State wildlife permits team decided that wildlife cannot cross the border starting in 2024. So no wildlife can go into Oregon and no wildlife can go out of Oregon,” said Ash Harris, Mountain Top’s licensed rehabilitator. “So we realized quickly that we needed some kind of clinic in Washington.”
She added, “That was one of our challenges this past year was receiving a lot of calls and having to let people know that we [Rowena staff] just are unable to help them at the moment,” Harris said, “and it’s been fuel for us to work as fast as possible.”
Dr. Dave Staffacher, Ash Harris, and Dr. Jean Cypher on Mountain Top’s land in 2022.
Photo courtesy Ash Harris
The new clinic will include a surgery center, enclosures for almost every Washington species, and a hotline for wildlife calls. It's supported entirely on donations and grants. Someday, an education boardwalk beside enclosures for ambassador birds is in Harris’ thoughts, if funding is adequate.
While Rowena Wildlife staff can no longer accept many creatures from the Washington shore, an extension from Oregon Fish and Wildlife enables them to keep rehabilitating songbirds and raptors from Washington until Mountain Top is permitted. “I would say half of our birds come from Washington,” Harris noted. “We get a lot of cat-caught birds and window-strike birds.”
The two clinics are legally separate entities. Rowena’s Wildlife’s founder and veterinarian, Dr. Jean Cypher, is mentor to the “sister clinic’s” new team, as they take Rowena Wildlife Clinic’s vision to a new state. Veterinarians Dr. Dave Stauffacher and Dr. Jonit Greenberger complete Mountain Top's team.
Drs. Dave and Jean taking radiographs (X-rays) of a juvenile Bald Eagle, a former patient at Rowena Wildife Clinic.
Photo courtesy Ash Harris
Cypher, meanwhile, will continue Rowena's operation. “She wants some other clinic ... to be available to the wildlife so that she can retire at some point,” Harris said.
The extension on bird rehabilitation is exciting, Harris said, because the Gorge is on the Pacific Flyway, and injured migrants are plentiful. Many are cat-caught songbirds, which “have a harder time surviving,” Harris explained. “We really try to advise people to keep their cats indoors if they can just because the bacteria in the cat’s mouth are so detrimental to birds.” In winter, ground-feeding species, like dark-eyed juncos, are often caught. Window-strike birds have better chances.
Raptor injuries, for instance to inexperienced juvenile bald eagles, are also not unusual.
Mountain Top is already accepting small mammals. Harris hopes to accept fawns, songbirds and small raptors by spring. “Our goal is by the end of 2025, to be able to rehabilitate almost all species in the Gorge,” she said. “It’s dependent on being able to find construction crews to help us build our enclosures.”
Ash with a Great-Horned Owl, a former patient at Rowena Wildlife Clinic.
Photo courtesy Ash Harris
Multiple layers of instruction and permitting govern each step. “When you try to explain it to people, they’re like, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of paperwork to, you know, yeah, rehab squirrels. ... it is very complex,” Harris said, later adding, “I wish it was as easy as just, like, you build something and then you can take the animal in, but it’s like, so complex.”
The new clinic requires federal permits to work with migratory birds, among other paperwork. Harris herself recently acquired her Washington license and got a facilities review. More permits and inspections are required for each enclosure — and different species have unique enclosure needs. “We get many, many baby squirrels when the spring comes around,” Harris said. “And fawns, fawns, we’re itching to start building our fawn pen ...”
Harris expects the enclosures to hold creatures from as far north as the Vancouver area, Yakima County, and several counties to the east. Currently, the nearest clinic to is a three- to four hour-drive.
But despite the complications, Harris has been drawn to this work since rescuing an injured California quail chick in her backyard some years ago. “I ... took it over to Rowena Wildlife Clinic,” she recalled. “And when I walked in, it felt like the most magical place ... there were these wild animals being rehabilitated ... a goose honking, and baby songbirds in an incubator. And Dr. Jean Cypher took my injured quail and put it in an incubator with another injured quail, and it just, I don’t know, something spoke to me inside that ... made me feel like that was where I was supposed to be.”
A Northern Flying Squirrel, a patient at Mountain Top in 2023.
Photo courtesy Ash Harris
So Harris made it hers. “I asked Dr. Cypher if she needed help, and now I’m here,” she said. It took years of volunteering, experience and training.
Harris hopes to train a “really robust” team of local volunteers to take on routine tasks like talking to community members who call in. “I’m hoping it starts small and very manageable,” said Harris, who routinely spent two hours a day on the phone during her time at Rowena Wildlife. “It’s an immense amount of work. I mean, just getting it started from where we’re at right now is, it has been so overwhelming.
“We really want to make our clinic a place where the public ... can come and learn about wildlife, and how they can be better friends to the wildlife,” Harris added.
Mountain Top’s land after initial excavation. This will be the location of the clinic building.
Photo courtesy Ash Harris
People in Washington can now call Mountain Top at 541-615-1565 with injury, sick, nuisance, or other wildlife questions. “I would advise people to always call ... never hesitate to call,” Harris said. “That is what we are here for.”
If you find an animal in Oregon in need of help, you can call Rowena Wildlife at 541-478-2584. In Washington, call Mountain Top at 541-615-1565.
For more information on Rowena Wildlife Clinic, go to rowenawildlifeclinic.org, sign up for an annual newsletter, or find the clinic on Instagram and Facebook.
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