Inside the Rescue Mission That Saved Hundreds from Fur and Urine Farm

Earlier this year, over 330 animals were saved from a fur and urine farm in Ohio. The rescue shed light on the disturbing realities of the fur and urine industry. Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, a non-profit operating out of Texas, was one of the many organizations that assisted with these efforts. The organization labeled the mission: “Rescued From Hell… and Finding Sanctuary.” You can read more about it on their website. We spoke with Lynn Cuny, founder of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, about the non-profit and its recent “rescue from hell.”

When Was Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Founded?

Lynn Cuny founded Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation back in 1977 in San Antonio, Texas. At the time, she was in her 20s and felt moved to save wild animals who were abused, injured, orphaned, or displaced. 

Originally, Cuny started the rescue in her own backyard. Now, thanks to generous donors and supporters, the organization’s main property sits on 212 acres near Kendalia, Texas. Thanks to generous donors and supporters, the organization’s main property spans 212 acres near Kendalia, Texas. Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation primarily serves San Antonio, Austin, and other surrounding communities. However, its staff often participates in national rescue efforts, such as the recent operation at Grand River Fur Exchange in Ohio.

What Is Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation’s Mission?

Many people consider certain animals, like opossums, skunks, squirrels, bats, and snakes, to be pests and nuisances. To Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, no animal is considered unworthy of saving.

“If a wild animal is in trouble, people just kind of dismiss it as not being worthy of help,” Cuny tells A-Z Animals. “People are so accustomed to and attached to dogs and cats. They don’t think of wild animals as anyone who is worth their time or their concern.” 

The organization’s mission is to save all native species of wildlife, from birds to mammals to reptiles. The staff and volunteers provide veterinary care and behavioral assessments, as well as plenty of space to roam and all necessary resources. They treat, raise, and—if it is safe for the animal—release them back into the wild.

However, some animals are unfortunately taken out of their native land, ripped from their mothers at a young age, and never socialized. Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation has saved plenty of animals from pet trades, Renaissance shows, fur and urine farms, and other horrific settings.

In many cases, these animals are unable to acclimate back into the wild. Rather than neglecting these animals, the rescue keeps them in large, permanent enclosures with compatible groups. These enclosures offer a slice of nature, with an abundance of trees and grass. WRR workers then scatter-feed the animals to replicate their natural habitats.

Cuny explains that they don’t name or closely interact with the animals, except to ensure they are fed and healthy. “We simply let them have a life that is as close to nature as we can recreate for them.”

Rescuing Animals from the Fur and Urine Industry

Recently, Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation assisted with a national rescue mission, helping save over 330 animals from a fur and urine facility called Grand River Fur Exchange.

“These places exist free of any regulations,” Cuny tells A-Z Animals. “Anybody can set these up … [They] exist all over the country.”

Some fur and urine farms have been documented trapping wild animals, breeding and confining them for their fur, urine, or to sell as pets. Reports from recent rescues indicate that animals in some of these facilities were kept in poor conditions and fed inadequate diets.

“People who do this see these animals as a way to make money,” Cuny said. “They don’t see them as anyone who matters.”

When Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation arrived at the scene in Ohio, they found hundreds of animals caged in their own waste.

“We cannot even fathom what that would be like,” Cuny says.

Yet, many humans remain ignorant of the realities behind this industry. Plenty of people purchase products like deer repellants that include coyote urine. These individuals seem unbothered by—or perhaps just unaware of—where that repellent comes from.

“That living hell is where it comes from,” Cuny reveals.

“Every time you buy this stuff, you’re giving these horrible, horrible places and people money,” she adds. “You are supporting and promoting and prolonging the suffering for every single solitary one of those animals every time you buy that stuff.”

Updates on the Rescued Animals

As part of the nationwide rescue mission, Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation took in 15 skunks, six coyotes, and six foxes from Grand River Fur Exchange. The professionals at WRR provided the animals with immediate medical care before placing them in spacious enclosures. Originally, Cuny says, they were concerned about the foxes’ bone and tooth conditions due to severe malnourishment. Although the initial situation appeared grim, the animals are doing well today.

“What’s so wonderful about these animals—about all animals—is that they get out of that unbelievably horrific setting, and we place them in grass outside in the sunshine with the breeze blowing, and they just stop,” Cuny says. “And the looks on their faces look like they just melt into where they are and say, ‘Okay, now I can begin to live.’”

And—thanks to rescues like WRR—that’s exactly what they do.

Giving Back to Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation relies on donations to continue its work. “We really do exist on the kindness of others,” Cuny says. You can donate to the organization here. However, aside from financial support, what matters most is being a good human and caring for the Earth and all its inhabitants.

“As a whole, we’re terribly lost,” Cuny says of her fellow species. “And the more lost we become, the more remote, distant, unfeeling, and unseeing of the natural world we experience.” 

Since her 20s, Cuny has worked to provide a sanctuary and individualized care to animals in need. Her non-profit now receives over 10,000 animals annually for rehabilitation and accommodates more than 530 permanent residents.

“It’s been my life’s work, and I can’t imagine my life without it,” Cuny confesses. “I can’t imagine the many lives that are being lived every day that don’t connect to doing something for someone else, whoever that someone else is. It doesn’t matter whether it’s trees or your fellow humans, or the poor. But we gotta get outside of ourselves.”

An Important Reminder from the Founder of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation

There is no doubt that we are conditioned to believe one life is more important than another. We are taught humans are the superior species, and animals only exist to add value to our lives. We cower at the spider in the corner of our room; we don’t carefully side-step the worms on the sidewalk; we hire exterminators for the mice in our homes; we support industries that threaten the well-being of wildlife.

Yet, we fail to realize, as Cuny puts it, “Every single solitary life, no matter their size, no matter where they live on the planet, every one of them matters.”

Cuny truly upholds this sentiment. She does not discriminate with her rescue missions, offering help to even the smallest of creatures. In fact, she tells A-Z Animals of a particularly heartfelt anecdote: Some kind individuals once brought a caterpillar for rescue, and though they’d assumed she would turn them away, Cuny was happy to assist—because every life is an important one.

“That’s what we ask people to remember,” she continues. “That they all matter, and they all matter deeply and intensely. They’re so important, not just because they keep the planet healthy. They matter because they’re living beings who want to be alive.”