From the time she was a child Rita McMahon had a passion for helping wild things, nursing tiny birds and rabbits and mentored by the local vet. It was no surprise that, as an adult driving on the New York State Thruway, Rita pulled over to help an injured Canada Goose. She bundled the goose into her car and drove into Manhattan to find help for the ailing bird. Unfortunately, care was hard to come by - there was no wildlife rehabilitation hospital, and the veterinarians she consulted either refused to treat the goose or lacked experience. The goose died, and Rita resolved to fill the gap in wildlife care. She interned with a wildlife rehabiilitator and gained licensure herself. Word spread, and eventually she was treating as many as 50 birds in her New York City Apartment. As this number was likely to grow, Rita and a like-minded spirit co-founded the Wild Bird Fund in 2005, and, on her husband's birthday, the wildlife patients were moved out to the Columbus Avenue storefront in 2012. This year, Wild Bird Fund is on track to treat almost 10,000 wildlife patients, most of them brought to the hospital by New Yorkers who are rescuing a creature for the first time.
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