Jan grew up with a love of animals but did not discover wildlife rehabilitation until 1998 when she volunteered at a Nature Center in Connecticut. She went on to obtain her state licence there until she moved to Saskatchewan, Canada in 2001. It took several years to convince the government to issue a Wildlife Rehabilitation permit, but in 2005 Jan received her provincial permit and became the first to hold a Federal permit in Saskatchewan. She was a founding member of a provincial organization to run the hotline which continues to this day as WRSOS. She created Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation in 2010 where she continues to oversee the care of up to 2700 birds and small mammals each year, supervises staff and trains interns. Jan holds a banding sub-permit for songbirds and sits on the Western and Northern Canadian council for Animal Care Committee for Environment Canada. Jan finally obtained her CWR in 2021 and is excited to teach the Basic course for IWRC.
Jan believes in the need to appreciate and value all species for their unique role in the ecosystem. She is passionate about education programming to protect future wildlife, and advocacy to protect today’s creatures. Her “spare” time is spent traveling, birding, gardening and improving her wildlife knowledge to better care for the animals.