For 17 years, Woods has schooled herself in the field: nursing stray and sick animals, reading the latest books, trolling for donated supplies, attending seminars and keeping in touch with local wildlife vets. In 2000, after earning licenses from the state and federal governments, she used her own money to start up the Phoenix Wildlife Rescue, a nonprofit outfit next to her house on Manor Road.
One early mentor, wildlife vet Erica Miller, warned Woods early on that the work would be all-consuming. She was right. Woods works 14 hours a day caring for a barking, hopping, twittering menagerie-on-the-mend that currently includes songbirds, box turtles, crows, owls, rabbits, skunks, a fox and even a 6-month-old bald eagle from Calvert County, one of 400 that live in the state.
Every animal must meet its own legal "release criteria" before it can be returned to the wild.
Woods feeds baby birds every half hour starting at dawn, tends to splints, infections and medications, and answers more than 60 calls a day from members of the public who have found stunned birds, wounded dogs, lonesome fawns and disoriented owls and want advice or a chance to bring them in.
When Woods can't talk callers through a problem, she accepts the animals at Phoenix Rescue, giving them all the time they need.
"It's madness, but I wouldn't trade it for anything," Woods says.
A matter of fact
Matthew grew up to become a veterinarian. Curtis, a wife and mother of two daughters, Maddie, 12, and Maxine, 8, says she's blessed to be able to write about animals. "It's like being paid to learn," she says.
Like Woods, she has a passion for getting things right.
She generally begins a project by settling on a single animal or animal issue, usually one centering on a problem caused by humans - pollution, overcrowding, habitat incursion - and creates characters who can memorably tackle the problem in a fictional tale.
She's also known for exhaustive research. In last year's "Osprey Adventure," for example, a father and son find a fish hawk that has gotten tangled in fishing line. The story of its rescue is based on the experiences of Pete McGowan, a Chesapeake Bay biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Two years ago, though, she found herself thinking about owls. Enter Woods, who had worked with dozens over the years. Curtis learned about her through an Internet search.
