About Us

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Sherri McNary, a native of Sabetha had a reputation for taking in unwanted pets and in 2009, a man dropped off a sick baby raccoon. He had been keeping it as a pet, but it was sick and he couldn't find help. She quickly learned why. Call after call yielded the same response: "It's illegal to possess a raccoon. Put it back. Nature will take its course."  Unwilling to accept this answer, she eventually connected with Dennis Dinwiddie, Director of Northeast Kansas Wildlife Rescue (NEKSWR) in Topeka. He instructed her to bring the raccoon to him. Upon arrival he repeated the same message: "It's illegal to possess wildlife..." Upset, Sherri answered "then what are people in my area supposed to do?"  His response was an invitation to join the NEKSWR team. 

Sherri became a certified wildlife rehabilitator (CWR) with NEKSWR later that summer. In 2015, Dennis Dinwidee, Director of Education at the Topeka Zoo invited her to join the Topeka Zoo as an education docent with the Gary Clark Education Center. There, she helped with animal education programs at the Gary Clark Education Center. Then, in 2016, she suffered a broken neck. As they took her to surgery she made a promise to God that if she could walk again, she would care for every sparrow in the sky and beast in the fields. She returned to her docent position at the zoo after a short recovery and looked for ways to keep her word. Unfortunately, there were not many options for rural Kansas communities. Distance, stress on animals and cost associated seemed  insurmountable issue. Then, Pat Silvosky, Director of Milford Nature Center suggested Sherri should start a program in Sabetha, Kansas. 

So she did - but not without the help of an amazing network of experts in the field. Throughout 2016, she continued to volunteer at the zoo and was mentored by Dennis Dinwiddie, Director of Education at the Topeka Zoo & Conservation Center, Rachel Rost, former Educator and National Geographic Certified Educator at the Topeka Zoo, Pat Silvosky, Director of Milford Nature Center and falconer Vanessa Avara, also from the Milford Nature Center in Junction City. 

In the summer of 2016, she met Wendell Ganstrom of Robinson after he called the hotline requesting wildlife help. She quickly recruited him to the NEKSWR team as a transporter and told him about her "wild" idea. Wendell immediately offered his talents as an educator to ARC Wild and became a certified wildlife rehabilitator the following year. Her longtime friend, Julie Krebs also joined the ARC Wild team in 2017 as Treasurer and event volunteer.  Rich and Kathy Bure of Topeka (education docents at the Topeka Zoo) traveled to Sabetha to help.

In the spring of 2017, Sherri traveled to Tennessee to pick up the organization's first animal ambassador and ARC Wild held its first community education program at the Klinefelter Farm in Hiawatha, Kansas. It was an immediate success and in the first two years, ARC Wild reached more than 10,000 youth through live wildlife education and hands on activities.

As demand for ARC Wild programs continued to grow, Sherri began to recruit help with wildlife rescue. Volunteers Amber and Kinsley Bletcher joined after attending a community program and continue to work as Animal Caretakers. Brianna Gruber of Sabetha and Ashley Stalder of Humboldt, NE joined the education team. In 2020, Sherri met Connie King of Wetmore after an owl fell from its nest in her backyard. Connie joined NEKSWR as an animal transporter. That same year, Daniela Rippe of Sabetha joined the ARC as an educator after attending a community program. In October, ARC Wild hosted its first Back to Nature family campout in Robinson at Upper Wolf Farm. 

In December 2019, a new disease began spreading in Asia. In 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a public health emergency. With a wary eye on the developing crisis, ARC Wild continued to provide programs until May 2021, when the governor issued  a stay-at-home order. ARC Wild's rehab team never stopped providing a place of rehabilitation for wildlife in need despite the risks involved. 

The ARC Education department began streaming programs. That fall, Connie King and Daniela Rippe became certified wildlife rehabilitators with NEKSWR. Sherri became a certified National Geographic educator.  

ARC Wild resumed programing in 2022. Sherri decided to break away from Northeast Kansas Wildlife Rescue and expand ARC Wild's services to officially include wildlife rehabilitation so that she could manage rehabilitators in the northernmost regions of the state. During this period of transition, the education department slowed temporarily as additional licensure and training was required. ARC Wild was put into torpor for the winter months and Dr. Jessica Stallbaumer and Clint Tegtmeier joined the ARC Wild team (Dr. Stallbaumer has since received her own license and operates her own rehabilitation group in Nemaha County).   

Like many of the animal ambassadors in our care, we used the cold winter months to improve facilities, construct an outdoor education area for Rangers and recruit new volunteers. Then, on December 7, 2022, an oil pipeline in Washington, Kansas spilled more than 650,000 gallons of oil into the creek. ARC Wild offered its assistance, working behind the scenes with the wildlife response team. In October 2023, ARC Wild was invited to put together a First Responder team in the event of future oil spills in Kansas. We proudly accepted as it is an extension of our mission to prepare our northeastern counties for emergencies and protect native wildlife. 

In 2024, we welcomed Cheyenne Colborn  of White Cloud as transporter. At the end of that first year, she too, became a certified wildlife rehabilitator. The Ranger program was expanded to include youth in 4th and 5th graders when Kim Shaffer, STEM teacher at Sabetha Elementary School joined the group and Ashley Stalder focused on youth in 6th-8th grades. ARC also provides internships and scholarships to older students interested in careers in wildlife conservation or biology. To date, we have impacted nearly a decade's worth of youth. Two have graduated college and are working in scientific careers and one other is in college.

The current year has been a bit rough for ARC Wild. Baby season arrived and ARC rehabilitators were keeping busy when disaster struck. On April 8, 2025 the ARC's wildlife rehabilitation facility burned to the ground. The cause of the fire was not determined but it is suspected that the excessive winds may have caused a short and set the blaze. The fire burned so hot and fast that nothing escaped despite efforts by neighbors and the Sabetha and Bern Fire Departments. In the end, four fox kits, a barred owl, a momma opossum and her babies, one duck, a Spanish rooster and his hen and 1 cat were lost. Fortunately, the humans were spared. "I will forever be haunted by my last words to the foxes when I left that morning. I told them that 'tonight, you are getting a new mom.' I had recently rescued a kit from a brush fire in which all his siblings but one were lost. The goal was to release the kits to the momma fox who lost her others. I never got that chance," said Sherri McNary, CWR. Once the flames were extinguished ARC Wild immediately set to work cleaning up the debris and within a week the site was cleared and ready for a new building. Then baby season exploded. In just one week, more than 70 babies arrived. "We plan to rebuild, but right now, there are many mouths to feed first," says Sherri McNary. "We are so thankful for the outpouring of support from the wildlife community. Wildlife Response Services and TC Energy have pledged equipment for the new facility. Milford Nature Center has offered cages. Now I just need a building to put it all in." ARC Wild is currently accepting bids. "I started this organization with nothing and I'll do it again. ARC goes on."