NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There are only a few places around Middle Tennessee that take in injured or orphaned wild animals, but there soon could be one more in Nashville.
Harmony Wildlife is building a rehab center in West Meade.
The rehab center for birds, fawns, foxes and other small wild animals once operated in Williamson County.
One big reason Harmony Wildlife is moving to Nashville is to help animals turfed out by development.
"There are so many wild animals that are being displaced by development here or getting injured with their interactions with humans, so it seemed like the right place at the right time," said Stasia Kudrez, a resident of West Meade who has helped rehabilitate animals for roughly twenty years. "These wooded lots are becoming sites for really beautiful homes, but when a home is built it cuts down all these trees that displaces the birds that lived in the branches and the animals that had dens in the grounds beneath it, and as those animals need places if they get injured during construction or displaced and injured they need a place to go and recover."
Kudrez is working with long-time wildlife rehabilitator Carol Burgess. Burgress ran Harmony Wildlife out of her home in Fairview.
"There's not anything that brings me as much joy as this," said Burgess.
The address to the indoor/outdoor facility won't be made public, but they will educate and arrange drop-offs over the phone.
"I think that humans have interfered with wildlife's livelihood and their habitats. So, my passion and my motive was always to compensate for the damage that humans have done," Burgess said.
Harmony Wildlife has most of the permits it needs to open in March. There is a zoning meeting with the city this Thursday.
