Statements

Mission

We help wild animals and the people who care about them.

Harmony Wildlife provides a temporary place for injured and orphaned animals to mature or recover with the goal of release into their natural habitats. We believe that helping humans understand and peacefully coexist with native wildlife makes the world a better place for everyone

Background

Harmony Wildlife Rehab's goal is to be a resource for local residents who have questions about wild animals they encounter, and a temporary place for injured or orphaned animals to recover and mature with the goal of release into their natural habitats. We focus on Tennessee native wildlife, including songbirds, hawks, owls, foxes, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, squirrels, and many more.

Harmony's founder, Carol Burgess, has been a wildlife rehabilitator since 1986. She started this work in Plano, Texas, and New Jersey. When her family settled in Tennessee, she opened Harmony Wildlife in Fairview. Over the next 20 years, she saved thousands of animals in her home-based facility.

Harmony's operations paused in 2013 until Carol's long-time friend and rehab volunteer Anastasia Kudrez spearheaded an effort to reopen Harmony. From its new location in West Nashville, Harmony sought to address a specific need: helping wildlife in the West Meade neighborhood. As an official resource licensed by Tennessee Wildlife Resources we have now helped people with animal issues across the entire state, whether by sharing advice, connecting them to the most appropriate rehabilitation facility, or accepting the animal into care.

Now in our second year at the new location, Harmony has a team of animal care staff and more than 75 volunteers. The animal care program is directed by Laurie Campbell, who brings 15 years of experience to our program.

We are members of the The National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and permitted under the auspices of Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Impact

Harmony reopened its doors in Nashville on March 7, 2022. By year's end, we cared for hundreds of wild animals and answered thousands of phone calls, emails, and texts from Tennesseans who needed help with wild animals.

Some of our notable accomplishments from 2022 include:

Caring for 326 wild animals from 44 different species. In addition, we fielded more than 4,500 phone calls, emails, and texts from Tennesseans who needed help with wild animals. We were able to help people find the best options, depending on their situation. This ranged from arranging to bring the animal to Harmony or another licensed wildlife rehabilitator to connecting a homeowner with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency when a bear cub was trapped in her dumpster.

We completed construction on two large pre-release enclosures for raccoons and other medium-sized mammals. These enclosures have been in non-stop usage for a variety of animals including raccoons, squirrels, opossums, a box turtle, and a red fox.

We completed construction on a squirrel pre-release enclosure. This structure was built by a group of volunteers who pitched us on the project. They spent every weekend, for months, building this beautiful enclosure which is now being used for a flying squirrel that was found injured on the Nashville Greenway. She is expected to make a full recovery and be released.

Starting with only three people, our animal care team grew to six in the first year. Our volunteer program had more than 75 people by the end of the year! Our volunteers range from high school students aspiring to pursue careers in veterinary medicine and environmental law to retired medical care professionals who bring their skills, experience, and hard work to the team.

We affirmed our commitment to preserving Tennessee's woods by starting the process for placing Harmony's property under a conservation easement through a partnership with TennGreen Land Conservancy. (little teaser: the conservation easement became official in June, 2023!).

Our goals for 2023 include:

Expanding our school education program. Our first ambassador, Frodo the opossum, visited a Nashville public elementary school in the spring and he was a hit! We hope to bring him to more schools and other interested organizations this fall. Frodo helps people learn about Tennessee's native wildlife (and share our love for this sorely misunderstood creature).

This year we are focused on building a strong, diverse, passionate board of directors. Our newest board members include Liz Lago and Katie Conklin, DVM. Liz has grant and fundraising experience and is excited to join Harmony to help us connect our education program with LatinX students in Nashville schools. Katie is the Medical Support Director; she is excited to help support Harmony's medical care program.

Completion of two new pre-release enclosures: a songbird aviary and a dedicated skunk enclosure. These specially-designed enclosures will allow us to accept more species and provide appropriate housing. The aviary's construction is being supported by The James & Wanda Hollensteiner Foundation. We hope to raise additional funds to help complete the project.

Continue our efforts to protect the environment by closing on a permanent conservation easement (completed June 2023). Now our efforts will focus on bringing the forest to full health by removing invasive plants and trees that negatively impact Tennessee's native plants and animals. We hosted our first "Invasive Termination" event in the spring. More than a dozen people joined us to clear the forest of hundreds of honeysuckles. We are planning another event in the fall months.

Finally, we are working with a civil engineer, draftsman, and a carpenter to develop a site-specific plan for a future flight barn. This critically important enclosure will allow us to care for large birds of prey.

We are grateful for the overwhelming community support for our work and excited for the work ahead!

Needs

Harmony's five most pressing needs include:

1) Financial support for animal care staff and veterinary services, medical supplies, specialized animal diets, and supplies. At this time, the estimated need is a minimum of $150,000.

2) Financial support to expand our animal education program. These funds would allow us to develop curriculum and materials used for our presentations, provide ongoing care for the education animals in our care, pay for travel expenses, and hire trained animal education staff who can bring the animals to schools and other organizations.

3) Specialized veterinary medical equipment that would allow us to treat larger animals. This includes equipment like an anesthesia machine, an X-ray machine, and a dedicated exam room inside our clinic building.

4) Additional pre-release enclosures built to contain species like red foxes, grey foxes, bobcats, and opossums.

5) Finally, we are in the planning stages for building a flight barn. This critically important enclosure will allow us to care for large birds of prey. This is a significant project and will require a capital campaign to bring to completion.

CEO Statement

Hello, my name is Stasia Kudrez. I'm Harmony Wildlife Rehabilitation Center's Executive Director. Harmony has been helping injured and orphaned Tennessee wildlife since 1992. I started as a volunteer in 2001, helping our founder, Carol Burgess, run the center in Fairview. Our center is just one piece of a network of local organizations that care about animals. We work in collaboration with the other licensed rehabilitation facilities and assist the public when they need help with wild animals they encounter.

We are unique, geographically. West Nashville did not have any wildlife rehabilitation resources, and as this area develops more animals are injured, orphaned, and displaced. We provide a free resource for local residents who want to help the native wild animals they encounter.

Board Chair Statement

I'm Carol Burgess, founder of Harmony Wildlife. I care deeply about all living things, and I've spent my life trying to help others. Professionally, I was a physical therapist, working with many people including children with physical and mental disabilities. In my spare time, I care for wildlife. It started in 1986, in Plano, Texas, when I learned about an elementary school that had a "library" of education animals. Teachers could "borrow" animals for their classrooms, including some wildlife. I helped care for the animals in that program.

After that experience I caught the bug for wildlife.

I started caring for injured and orphaned animals brought it by the public. At the time, wildlife rehabilitation was relatively new, and rehabbers did the best they could with limited information and resources. It's been exciting to watch this change over the years. We are now members of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, sharing ideas, information, and experiences with other rehabbers across North America.

One of the greatest successes I've seen is the improvements in animal care protocols. The field has come a long way since I started and outcomes and release rates have significantly improved. We share the same challenges experienced by many non-profits: financial resources. If we do not have the necessary funding to provide food, medical care, and staffing, we are limited in the number of animals we can accept into our care. It's heartbreaking to have to turn away an animal in need, especially when the outcome is a likely success. We respectfully ask for your support, so we can help more animals-and the people who care about them.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Animal Related  - Animal Protection & Welfare
Secondary Category:	Animal Related  - Wildlife Preservation & Protection
Tertiary Category:	Environment  - Environmental Education

Areas Served

TN - Davidson