By ADAM LAPIERRE
News staff writer

At just over five feet tall, Dr. Gene Cypher is a small woman with an enormous heart; and after spending just a few minutes with her, it’s pretty easy to see she’s a rare breed.

Half of Cypher’s scenic log home — on a hillside between Mosier and Rowena — is fairly typical: tidy kitchen, desk and computer overflowing with papers, cozy sofa, pictures on the walls and a few nice plants.

The other half of the house is a different story, and in it Cypher has unabashedly dedicated her life and career. 

On one counter a beautiful, well-mannered hawk stands next to a few small cages, one of which has an injured squirrel in it, staring lazily down at the hawk with its feet hanging out through the bars of the cage. In the outside world, the two would be predator and prey, but in Cypher’s home they are both patients.

In the same room a fox, a porcupine, a mama and baby possum, a deer, and several other birds live side by side, all with injuries that have brought them to Cypher, and the Rowena Wildlife Clinic.

A few seagulls and a goose in another room make quite a racket together, and although they can walk in and out of the house through a doggie door, they like it inside where it’s safe and sheltered from the wind.

After several years of practicing veterinary medicine and working to rehabilitate injured animals, Cypher founded the Rowena Wildlife Clinic in 2000. With the help of her husband, Zahid Shahzada, Cypher converted half of her home and surrounding property into a rescue and rehabilitation clinic that takes in about 200 injured and orphaned native animals each year.

The inside facilities at the clinic are for “intensive care” and surgery. Other than a pet parrot that oversees things from its perch, the animals inside are either fighting for their lives or recovering and lucky to be alive. RWC’s outdoor facilities include several large aviaries and housing for animals farther down the road to recovery.

The ultimate goal for most animals that come into the clinic is for them to be treated and re-released back into the wild; a happy ending that comes true under the care of Cypher and her volunteers.

“I’m sure that what we do here has absolutely no effect on wildlife populations,” Cypher said about the clinic. “We are dealing with such a small slice of wildlife that is affected by the human/wildlife interface. We are trying to help people connect with their surroundings on a deeper level. When people have made a connection with an injured animal, it is a special moment we feel we should support. And when people help save an animal’s life, I think they can come away with a deeper connection to their surroundings. That is our goal: To connect people with wildlife on an emotional level; to help people realize the importance of living more peacefully in the habitat we share with animals.”

With dozens of animals to care for at any given time, Cypher gets help from volunteers and veterinary students who cycle through the clinic. Funding for the student program has been provided by the Kinsman Foundation and the Kenneth A. Scott Trust. Funding to keep the rest of the clinic afloat comes mainly from donations, which are always gladly accepted.

See the clinic’s Web site at www.rowenawildlifeclinic.org for information on how to help or make tax-deductible donations.