Safe & Sound has a high success rate. "If we have an over 50% success rate, we're doing good because 50% of baby animals don't make it in the wild," explains Caryl, who cares for all kinds of mammals, including squirrels, woodchucks, chipmunks, skunks, fishers, possums, porcupines, and weasels. "Release has got to be the best," says Caryl. "When you see a little squirrel you've raised since they were a pinkie going out in the trees, it is beautiful. When you see raccoons playing in the water, climbing up a tree, there's nothing like that feeling.

"You have that [sad] feeling, but the alternative would be to keep the animal in the cage. I don't want to hold hostages, so it's not a hard decision. Yes, I have that feeling of 'oh, no, my baby,' but it's nothing like keeping them in a cage for the rest of their lives. That's not an option."

"One of the most difficult things is when a baby dies," adds Caryl. "That's way harder than release."

According to Caryl, there are many resources for her work now. "When I first started, we didn't have anything," she remembers. "We made our own formulas, made our own electrolyte solution; we did everything by ourselves. Now you just go in a store. There's all kinds of animal products."

Currently there are approximately 10 rehabilitators in Cumberland County and perhaps 100 throughout Maine. Caryl says that now it's easy to find information and share tips with each other because of the Internet and animal rehabilitation conferences.

Caryl was born in Massachusetts and moved to Gray about 30 years ago. Her home is also the location of Safe & Sound. Animals in weaker condition stay in small cages inside, and for healthy animals there are outdoor cages that prepare them for a natural habitat. "All my children have fur. I'm the only human being who lives in this house," she muses.

Caryl works part-time jobs so that she can pay for Safe & Sound. She stays busy feeding each animal their specific diets several times a day and keeping detailed records of their care. When asked how she finds the time and money for her work, she responds, "Well, I've decided that that's what I want to do with my life."

Caryl has advice for people to find animals that may be sick, injured, or orphaned: Don't touch the animals. Call a wildlife rehabilitator, who can better assess the animal's condition. All too often baby animals are safely waiting on their mothers, yet humans assume they are orphaned and essentially kidnap them.

Safe & Sound receives no funding from the state and runs solely on donations. For those interested in more information or making a donation to Safe & Sound, contact Caryl at cwnature1@juno.com or 657-2094.