By Robbie Fearn
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, community means "the people with common interests living in a particular area." Ecologists say "a group of organisms occupying a particular area; the connotation is of a co-acting system." Plants that co-act—or act together—respire oxygen and inhale carbon dioxide. Their exhale becomes our inhale, and vice versa.
Plants and animals not only enrich our lives, they ensure it. We are but one strand in the web of life. At the Cape Wildlife Center, we strive to bring together our human community with our ecological community, to increase understanding, and to improve interactions with our wild neighbors.
Albert Einstein said, "Our task is to broaden the circle of compassion." We want our community to become a model for others. The Cape Wildlife Center heals the wounds of animals who suffer from interactions with our human community, and lends a hand to animals in need. But we'd rather prevent these wounds in the first place, so we work to change our community as well.
In 2005 we mark the tenth anniversary of our first patient's admission. Through the years we've made many friends and have become a part of the human community caring for the Cape's wildlife. We celebrate those connections, for just as it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a community to improve itself. Each new friend who brought us an injured or orphaned animal; who delivered newspapers, dog kibble, and towels to the clinic; or who spoke up for better treatment or wiser policy demonstrated how a humane ethic is growing in our community.
As we move into the future we have many aspirations: expanding our clinic; educating the young and old, the novice and the expert; ardently advocating for animal well-being; advising community planning to reduce impacts on wild habitants; and assisting others to find humane solutions to conflicts with their wild neighbors. You'll be hearing a lot from us, seeing us more often. We'll look for your help. We're here to help you as well.
Symbiosis is an ecological term literally meaning "living together." The lowly lichen has it figured out. It is two cooperating species, an alga that photosynthesizes food and a fungus that prevents drying out. Assisting each other so closely, they appear as—and in many ways are— one. Our interactions are more complicated, but they must strive toward the same mutual benefit.
Bill Bryson says in the conclusion to A Short History of Nearly Everything, "It's an unnerving thought that we may be the living universe's supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously." It's up to us to choose which end of that spectrum we want to be on.
We're all living together. Community is how we help each other.
We believe that humans must be a force for the well-being of the living present and future. We celebrate the progress we're making while we urge our community to do more. We're proud to see the good works of our neighbors and friends on Cape Cod. And we're proud to call this community home.
Robbie Fearn is the director of the Cape Wildlife Center. This article originally appeared in the Winter 2005 edition of Back to the Wild, the newsletter of the Cape Wildlife Center.
