Animals receive rehab in central Mississippi

At the Central Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation Center animals such as beavers, foxes, and possums are brought in, for help.

“It all started with me growing up raising animals, and it’s just always been a passion of mine. There just became a need in our area with more and more animals becoming displaced, and so that brought about the wildlife center,” Hayden Burns said.

Burns, a Meridian native, started this wildlife center around three years ago in hoping to make a difference for wildlife in a more rural area such as here.

“Each species plays an important and different role in the ecosystem. The beavers, for example, they construct their habitats and create these beaver dams which so many different species benefit from. So, they’re extremely important,” Burns explained.

Matthew Chick is an air traffic controller for the U.S. Navy and has been volunteering at the center for two years.

“I grew up a hunter, and I’m still a hunter, so conservation, being around wildlife and saving wildlife is something that’s important to me. It makes you feel good about yourself when you take an animal and save it and you’re able to release it back into the wild. It’s how nature works,” chick said. “To get something in and to see it to the point where you’re not sure if it’s going to survive and to remember that moment at the release when you get to see them actually go free to their habitat and be wild. That’s my favorite part.”

Visit www.centralmswildliferehab.org for more details.