Audrey Richardson

“I’m heading out back,” Keirstie Carducci said to her husband, Lee Carducci.

That was the phrase that expanded into a full-time job of taking care of wildlife from her backyard. Out-Back Wildlife Rehab Center was officially founded in 2003, but Keirstie has taken on the role of wildlife rehabilitator for over 40 years.

Keirstie Carducci, 61, of Ottawa Lake, always had an affinity for animals.

“I was the neighborhood kid that everyone brought them to,” she said. She still is.

Carducci officially started in the field by fostering a couple animals per year for Michigan’s Humane Society. Last year, her organization, Out-Back Wildlife Rehab Center, took in 719 animals. Online, the operating hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but most days Carducci receives calls as early as 5:30 a.m. and doesn't expect to eat dinner before 11 p.m.

Out-Back takes in fawns, woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, rats, moles, voles, shrews and bunnies. Her collection of animals is not limited to her rescues, but her 10-acre property in Ottawa Lake in Monroe County is also home to more than 150 domesticated animals. To name a few, two geese (Remmi and Gimpy), who are the “babysitters” of Carducci’s animal kingdom, 45 cats and a 40-year-old donkey named Simon, whom she refers to as her “little old man.”

Carducci speaks of the animals on her land like they are part of her family.

“This is Delilah, Earnie’s girlfriend,” Carducci says, while introducing one of her chickens. “All chickens fight over her.”

She treasures her Flemish Giant bunny, Clover, who was found in the dumpster at a dollar store.

“He’s one of the best pets I’ve ever had,” she said. “Lenny too, of course,” referring to her turkey standing nearby. Lenny wandered into the Carduccis’ home a week after Thanksgiving last year and hasn’t left.

“You really never get lonely,” Carducci said.

Summertime brings an extra level of chaos in the Carducci home because it is squirrel and fawn birthing season.

“It’s 18 hours a day, seven days a week,” Carducci said. Along with “200 phone calls every day.”

Carducci works closely with the animal control officers and conservation officers that regulate her work, some of which attend her infamous Nacho Night at her home each year.

"It makes it more worth it because we have their respect," Carducci said. "We're all working together to try to save these animals."

The same can't be said with the state's involvement. Instead, it enforces regulations that are difficult to meet.

"The state should train rehabilitators, but they dump it on us," Carducci said. "If we got to have a say in some of the decisions from the state level it would make things run a lot better."

Carducci has had helpers in the past, but this year the state denied her helpers licensing, due to their distance from Ottawa Lake.

"Shouldn't it be their decision if they want to drive here to help," Carducci said.

Additionally, Carducci was told that if she wants helpers, she needs to train them herself, but she simply doesn’t have the time.

“The state is so far removed from what we do with these animals,” Carducci said.

Rehabilitators do not receive money from the state either, so the businesses are funded straight from owners’ pockets and donations.

Perhaps Carducci's biggest help comes from her husband, Lee. He supports Out-Back by funding the animals' care as well as helping with stall and horse duties.

“He never complains, no matter what I get in here or how much it costs,” Keirstie Carducci said. “He’s even taken up cooking.”

Lee first heard about Keirstie when she was still working as an economic analyst at Chrysler.

“She was the crazy lady on the 12th floor that had kittens under her desk,” Lee said.

Keirstie said she “would like a little more freedom” to visit her daughter in Florida or go on a date with her husband, but the constant influx of animals prevents any sense of normalcy in her personal life.

“It’s exhaustive, expensive and time-consuming, but nobody forced me to do this,” Keirstie Carducci said. “I do this ‘cause I love it.”

Carducci’s love shines through as soon as she steps outside to see the animals. Her voice rings like a bell to the wildlife.

“Hi, guys!” she repeats while making her way through her vast backyard.

“This is the best job in the world,” she said.