Meet Bella: The Barn Owl Helping Protect Wildlife At A Marlborough Wildlife Center

MARLBOROUGH, MA — A local wildlife center in Marlborough that helps injured and orphaned animals is hoping to educate people, all with the help of a feathered friend.

Bella, who has become an ambassador for the Giaquinto Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, helps founder Alyssa Giaquinto succeed in her mission to inspire people to protect and coexist with native wildlife in Marlborough.

The nonprofit wildlife center takes in hundreds of wildlife calls each year, working with Marlborough police, animal control and residents. Giaquinto takes in anything from chipmunks to gray foxes. The center raises them until they are healthy or old enough to be released back into the wild.

Bella, who was transferred from West Virginia, became imprinted on humans at a young age, so she cannot survive in the wild. Instead, she travels with Giaquinto to schools, libraries and public events.

"Her job now is an educational ambassador," Giaquinto said. "Our main goal is just basically try and inspire the next generation to learn about wildlife and want to protect wildlife."

To educate the community, the center hosts free public programs. They have "Family Owl Prowls", which are in partnership with the Sudbury Valley Trustees on Oct. 9 and Nov. 6.

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Giaquinto said one of their main goals right now is to educate people on the dangers of rodenticides. Bella, the owl, comes to every program to demonstrate how raptors are nature's most effective pest control. Earlier this year, Giaquinto said that she co-authored a city ordinance banning second-generation rodenticides on Marlborough city property.

"That was a really huge win for our wildlife here in Marlborough," she said. "I was really happy that the Marlborough City Council supported our mission with that."

For Giaquinto, who balances the work with raising her 4-year-old daughter, the impact is both professional and personal.

"She is learning so much from this," she said. "Seeing her profound love for nature and wildlife through what I'm doing has really been the most meaningful part of this."

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