03/22/2026
I found Penelope a foot from the highway completely blind and helpless. I didn’t know what happened to her but I knew I had to help her. I tried looking up wildlife rehab centers near me and learned there aren’t any for hundreds of miles so I called game fish and parks and got a voicemail that said they would be back from vacation on February 15th (it’s a month past that) so I scooped her up and took her home.
I placed her in a warm box in my garage and thought “even if she passes away, at least it could be peacefully instead of being hit by a car or torn apart by something” but to my surprise everyday she got stronger! On the third day in our care her eyes opened and she was acting like a wild pheasant again! She began walking around my garage and hiding and I knew she was ready to go!
I waited until the next morning to release her so she would have the most amount of daylight to find some food, water, and shelter! We picked a spot near where we found her but farther from the road with everything she would need!
I asked a lot of people for advice with Penelope, because I really wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing and taking good care of her. Almost everyone I talked to said I should have just killed her and that’s what they would have done.
I’m really glad I found her when I did and I was able to give her a safe place to recover. It was so beautiful to see her turn into a completely different girl and release her back into the wild. It is a memory I will treasure forever