Our Founders and Directors:

John Davis, D.V.M
has beginnings in wildlife rehabilitation stemming from veterinary school, where he volunteered for two years at SERRC (South Eastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center) in Auburn, Alabama.  There, he worked with eagles (bald & golden), owls (screech, barred, barn, & great horned), hawks (red tailed, red shoulder, broad wing, harris, sharp shinned), Osprey, Falcons (kestrels, peregrine, prairie), and a few different wading birds (storks, pelicans, coots, herons).  He was involved with both the medical (surgical & treatment) and rehabilitation (physical therapy and release) aspects of the rehabilitation center.  He also spent some time volunteering at the Montgomery Zoo in Alabama where, under the leadership of Dr. Sandy Wilson, D.V.M., he provided physicals for mammals, reptiles and a few avian species.

Since graduating from veterinary college & returning to his native Arkansas in 1998, Dr. Davis has become a licensed veterinarian in the Yell/Pope County area.  His practice serves mixed species from domestic cats and dogs, to farm animals.  His interest in wildlife rehabilitation has intensified and he pursued and obtained his own federal permit to do wildlife rehabilitation.  He is one of a handfull of federally permitted wildlife rehabilitators in the state of Arkansas. Currently, he rehabilitates wildlife from his home and clinic, with 35 raptors & just a few mammals in 1999, and 45 birds & 10 mammals in 2000.  He expects that as HAWK develops, the case load will increase, but also will the opportunity to provide educational presentations.

Chris Kellner, Ph.D.
Dr. Kellner's extensive background in wildlife natural history includes a Bachelor's in forestry and wildlife from UC Berkeley, Masters in Biology from Eastern Kentucky University, a  Doctorate in Zoology from University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and post-doctoral research with Dr. Jim Karr at Virginia Tech.  As a federally licensed bird bander, Dr. Kellner is currently involved in several avian research projects including: post release survival studies of captively raised bob white quail, post fledgling survival of Loggerhead shrikes through the use of transmitters, and a study of why the population of Cerulean Warblers is declining.  Dr. Kellner is an Associate Professor of Biology at Arkansas Tech University, where he has been teaching courses in ornithology, herpetology, animal behavior, and forest ecology since 1990.

Lynne Slater
Her interest in wildlife developed strong roots during her childhood.  She started off “helping” a mother mocking bird by finding assorted insects and feeding the babies in the nest.  She also took care of numerous animals ranging from snakes and salamanders to praying mantis, baby songbirds, squirrels and rabbits.  Because of her interest, her mother encouraged her to volunteer at the local nature and science center.  There, she began cleaning cages and caring for the permanently disabled display animals.

In college, she began studying biology.  During this time, she served an internship in the Florida Everglades as an interpreter, giving guided walks and talks on various park trails on topics including alligators, aquatic plants, and native birds.  She took tourists on “field trips” to search for the elusive endangered Florida Panther, and into alligator holes (of course this was summer and the alligators were not in their holes). She spent her days off volunteering at the South Florida Research Center, located within the Everglades National Park.  There, she worked on various projects including a pink shrimp survey in the Florida Bay and a freshwater fish survey in the northern glades.  She also had the opportunity to work with a permanently disabled barred owl, which was used for wildlife educational presentations.

Several years later, Lynne saw an article in her local newspaper, which outlined the work of a woman doing wildlife rehabilitation.  Lynne contacted the woman, who gave Lynne approximately 20 hours of wildlife rehabilitation training.  From there, Lynne pursued her own state permit to take in wild mammals, beginning her official career as a wildlife rehabilitator.  Once permitted, she began networking and soon became trained enough to pursue her own federal permit to rehabilitate migratory birds.  She developed a working relationship with another local wildlife rehabilitator and as the caseload increased between them, they decided to incorporate, forming WOW (Wildlife of Wisconsin).  Lynne joined the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC) and the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (NWRA) and attended every annual convention held by the IWRC. WOW developed and grew by leaps and bounds over the next six years under the leadership of Lynne and her partner. The caseload nearly doubled every year, as the organization became known. Also, the opportunity for educating the public quadrupled every year.  By the time Lynne and her husband moved to Arkansas in 1998, WOW had an intake of approximately 500 animals per year and was providing nearly 3000 personal contacts.

Once in Arkansas, Lynne accepted the assignment as a member of the IWRC area representation committee.  Her job as area representative was to serve as an IWRC liaison to Arkansans by informing area rehabilitators of training opportunities and activities held by the IWRC (such as the annual convention and skills classes). She also became certified as an IWRC basic skills instructor in 2000, which involves a two-day seminar on basic wildlife rehabilitation. 

Lynne is also a certified “Project Wild” facilitator with a student-designed degree ( B.A.) in Cultural Diversity and Labor Relations from Silver Lake College, Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  This degree is a combination of Human Resources, Business, and Spanish.  Her focus was on non-profit administration, training and development.  She is bilingual in English and Spanish, backed up with a M.A. of Spanish (with an emphasis on linguistics & teaching English as a second or foreign language) from Arkansas Tech University.  Lynne is a consultant in Diversity Management and Non-Profit Development.