OTISVILLE—Sticking a hand into a bear’s mouth is not a recipe for staying alive—unless you’re Jim Kowalczik and you’re playing with one of the teddy-like bears he and his wife Susan helped raise at their wildlife sanctuary in Otisville. The couple, who have been licensed wildlife rehabilitators for two decades, became an official non-profit last year, calling their 109 acres of land that houses everything from deer to chipmunks to ducks and bears, the Orphaned Wildlife Center.
Their goal is to rehabilitate all the wildlife that comes through their door, but if an animal is not able to survive in the wild, like the couple’s 11 bears, they have a forever home at the Center.
