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PAGE 20-PLAINDEALER-FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1980 . XV\Vll Story by Joel Wakltsch Photos by Wayne Gaylord Foster Mother An eight-week-old woodchuck named Ms. Woody sucked on an eyedropper filled with a formula, specially mixed by her keeper. On the living room floor, raccoons and squirrels squirmed in their cages, awaiting their turn to eat. In the back yard, wooden crates and wire cages house another 40 or so animals ranging from fox to deer. It may seem like a zoo, but to Sally Joosten it's something quite different: it's her life. Ms. Joosten, Wild Life director of the McHenry County Conservation district, feeds and cares for orphaned wild animals in her home northeast of Woodstock to prepare them for their trip back to the wilderness. As director for the last five years, she has accumulated these animals from a number of sources and must care for each creature individually. She said that although most of her animals are "legitimate orphans" whose mothers were killed by a car or gun, many of them are acquired from children who kept wild animals for pets. "Many children catch wild animals because they are so cute and keep them as pets," Ms. Joosten said. "The so- called 'Bambi Syndrome' can get them in a lot of trouble though." Ms. Joosten explained that many times children who take in undomestic animals must later let them go> because they grow so rapidly. They can't feed and protect themselves against predators. "Many animals are abused by children who have good intentions," she explained. "One squirrel was fed popcorn before she was supposed to be off her mother's milk." Joosten warned that wild animal owners must also be aware of other dangers. She said there are no known rabies inoculations for wild animals and that some animals are not found to be rabid for two or more years. Another aspect of Ms. Joosten's job is educating the public via radio and television talk shows about the dangers of keeping wildlife as pets. Owners of wild animals could face a $500 fine if found by the police, according to Ms. Joosten. There is no one way to train these animals for the wild, and she depends on her long experience with animals to help her decide when to let the animals go free. . Outside, 20 raccoons between four and eight weeks old, fight over seven plastic baby bottles filled with Ms. Joosten's own formula. As each little critter gets his fill, their benefactor caresses the raccoon's stomach to see if it has had enough to eat. Three times a day, all the animals are sprung from their cages to meander about the swamp and raspberry bushes set deep in back of her house. Ms. Joosten hides smelt in strategic spots around the swamp so the animals can get use to hunting for their own food. Joosten summons her furry clan with a sharp, throaty call which brings the amimals scurrying back to their cages. Watching carefully, she spots those that seem independant enough to be set free in carefully selected parcels of land in McHenry county where no hunting is allowed. Ms. Joosten said she is careful not to get too attached to any one animal. She would not classify her relationship with them as love. "They trust me, and I respect them," MS. Joosten quipped. Since receiving her first rabbit when she was 9-years- old, Ms. Joosten knows what it's like to fall in love with the cute face of pn animal. People should realize that keeping a wild animal i^selfish and not thinking of the animal's good. "Wild animals have to live with others of its ownkindin its natural habitat," she said. "If people love the animal, they should let it go." Sally Joosten and Erika Frey (at right) clutter the kitchen to mix the special formula for the wild animals. No wild animal should be fed regular milk, according to Joosten. At far right, Joosten is saddened by the death of a racoon that she had just taken in one day earlier. A bad diet was the cause of this coons death. To Wildlife. . . She serves Nature's > 4 Abandoned creatures Erika Frey, Joosten's assistant (at left), feeds formula to a six-week-old raccoon that was shunned away from the crowd of hungry raccoons. Cuts on the wrists and hands are all part of the job. but Foxy (bottom) makes her keepers day more pleasant by toying with Joosten's nose.