People and Urban Wildlife: A Meigs Award Evening

A surprisingly diverse collection of wild animals inhabit our cities: raccoons, opossums, eagles, owls, even coyotes. But these animals face unique challenges, including busy streets, outdoor cats, mange, window strikes, even well-meaning people feeding them inappropriately. How can people better exist alongside our wild neighbors? In a special town meeting, wildlife rehabilitators Leah Stallings of the Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Chalfont and our own Rebecca Michelin, along with Grid magazine’s “Urban Naturalist” columnist Bernard “Billy” Brown, answer your questions about navigating and improving the complex relationship between people and urban wildlife. 

To start the evening, the 14th annual Henry Meigs Award for Environmental Leadership will be presented to Mary Jane Stretch and Leah Stallings, the mother-daughter co-founders of the Aark, who together possess more than 70 years of experience. Founded almost 50 years ago, the Aark is the first and one of the few wildlife clinics in our region, serving more than 5,000 animals annually. They are the first wildlife rehabilitators to win the award.