Because They Matter.

My husband, Chuck, and I are the resident managers of a large wildlife rehabilitation center in Ramona, California, northeast of San Diego in the mountains. The center is owned by the Fund for Animals, Inc. founded by Cleveland Amory - no stranger to people who read good books or to those who love animals - who is our boss. For more than ten years we have cared for ill, injured or orphaned native wildlife. We have made ourselves available twenty-four ours a day, seven days a week, for emergencies involving wildlife. We have cared for them and treated their injuries or illnesses with great diligence. We have set them loose with unimaginable joy in their hearts and ours. We have also watched he light leave their eyes in death. The stories in this book reflect only a few of the thousands of animals that have come to us. Some of these stories are happy and some are sad, but all are meant to give insight into a world that too few of us are able to witness.

Cindy Fisher Traisi , born in Florence, Alabama, received a bachelor's degree in elementary eduacation and a master's degree in health education from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She taught school for 10 years and lived in Pozzuoli, Italy for three and a half years with her husband, Chuck.

Since 1985, they have been resident managers of the Fund for Animals Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Ramona, CA, fulfilling Cindy's lifelong dream of working with animals.