Beaufort mourns ‘fierce warrior’ who rehabbed Lowcountry wildlife. ‘It’s a tremendous loss’

The Beaufort area is mourning the loss of Dixie Stevenson, a well-known wildlife advocate who — for almost 50 years — saved thousands of injured and abandoned animals in the Lowcountry that most probably would have overlooked.

Stevenson died Monday after a battle with colon cancer. She was 84.

“It is a tremendous loss,” said her husband Tom Stevenson, “for our wildlife and everyone who knew her.”

The Stevensons, who had been married 53 years, started the Little Friends Wildlife Center in their Beaufort home 48 years ago. Ever since, the not-for-profit, which relies on donations, has been rehabilitating injured, sick or orphaned wild animals.

Dixie was its face, heart and soul.

“She was a soft touch for animals of any kind,” Tom Stevenson told The Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet Friday.

It all started with a baby rabbit that the couple’s black lab brought home. They raised it and released it back into the wild. After that, they realized there was a need, and Dixie would help “any animal that has four legs, feathers or creeps and crawls or climbs or sings.”

If she could not help the animal, she found somebody who could, using rehabilitation contacts she developed across the Lowcountry and even across the country and Canada. Local law enforcement and veterinarians and tree trimmers knew her well.

“If you say the words, ‘Where can I get help with wildlife in Beaufort County,’” Tom said, “the answer you are going to get is, ‘Dixie Stevenson.’”

The bulk of the animals that came to the wildlife center were raccoons, squirrels, opossums and deer. While rehabilitation help is readily available for domestic animals and birds of prey, Tom Stevenson pointed out, there is little assistance for many types of wildlife or funding for organizations such as Little Friends Wildlife Center that focus on rehabilitating them.

Before she died, Tom said, Dixie’s desire was to see a school open where people could get training in wildlife rehabilitation. She was self-taught.

“There’s really no formal training for this that’s available,” Tom said.

Some 5,000 messages flooded in through social media after news of Dixie’s death was posted.

“She was an amazing caregiver for the animals of our small town, said Kelly Cranfill, remembering that Dixie once showed up to an event with a fanny pack around her waist filled with tiny opossums she had to feed.

Julie Steinhardt Potts described Dixie as a “fierce warrior” for abandoned animal babies.

Animals that end up at the center are usually involved in some sort of animal-human interaction, like a mother being hit by a car and leaving behind babies, or a tree trimmer accidentally hitting a nest or den, Tom said.

Once, for example, in a case highlighted on the center’s website, a simple discarded aluminum can became “a dangerous and crippling weapon” for a raccoon after it got stuck on its front foot, causing severe cuts.

“To the natural curiosity of a raccoon,” the website notes, “the hole in the top of a can is an opening to the secrets held within.”

Another case Dixie dealt with involved a young family of opossums.

The babies had to be removed from the pouch a few hours after the mother was struck and killed by a car. Dixie raised them. A photo shows four of the animals climbing on Dixie’s back. She’s smiling.

But the memory that Tom says best illustrates Dixie’s devotion was a particularly busy stretch when there were 64 baby raccoons, 15 baby opossums and 23 baby squirrels in the house — all at the same time. They all needed to be bottle fed.

Tom and Dixie held other jobs, too, but Dixie’s calling was the wildlife, Tom said, because “she was so heart-driven into this rehab stuff.”

“She just enjoyed being able to help those that we could,” Tom said, “and get them back where they could survive in the wild.”

There will be a celebration of life on at noon Saturday, Dec. 3, at Praise Assembly of God Church, 800 Parris Island Gateway. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to a charity of choice in the name of Dixie Stevenson and Little Friends Wildlife Center.