Dedicated Mom, Conservationist, Animal Lover

Lorna Steele is a conservationist at heart, with a deep love for animals as the owner of Gentle Paws Pet Sitting in Barrington.

The daughter of a diplomat, Steele spent most of her childhood in places other than the U.S., with stints in Vietnam, Thailand and England. After completing her undergraduate degree in classical archeology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., she went on to post-graduate studies in archeological conservation at Princeton University, working in Greece for many months.

Steele's first marriage was to a Rhode Island native. She had been living in Virginia where she was involved in wildlife conservation. After several years of nursing animal babies back to health - primarily small mammals like squirrels, opossums, rabbits, foxes and chipmunks, Steele moved to Bristol to marry and start her own family, while still caring for animals in need.

Daughter Katie, now 17, is headed to Cornell to study education and theater, and son Ian, now 15, attends Barrington High School. It was while pregnant with her twins, Connor and Aidan, now 12, that Steele and her husband made the decision to move to Barrington, in large part because of the schools. Son Cameron, now 10, followed after a couple of years, and even though Steele's first marriage ended a little while later, Steele said she and her former husband are good friends.

Steele is now remarried, and although her husband, Patrick Fahey, has a day job at a Ford dealership, she said he shares her passion for conservation.

Eight years ago, Steele became licensed in Rhode Island to care for Rabies Vector Species (animals such as raccoons and woodchucks), a two-year licensing process. Caring for young RVS animals is incredibly time consuming. Young raccoons take four to five months to learn the behaviors necessary to survive in the wild, and every spring Steele would end up caring for babies whose mothers had been trapped and removed by pest-control agents contacted by homeowners. That work would entail not just night-time feedings for those babies, but also teaching them such skills as how to forage under rocks for crayfish, or how to climb down out of a tree.

Steele said people often forget about the consequences to young animals when the parents are removed, and she views her work in caring for them as “an apology to the animals for the way humans have treated them."

Steele said people often misunderstand the habits of animals and misinterpret normal behaviors to view them as dangerous. She said a prime example is the incorrect notion that skunks and raccoons out in the daylight means the animals have rabies. In fact, she said, these animals often go looking for food during the daytime, particularly in the spring, as they stay with their babies at night to keep them warm.

As part of her commitment to peaceful cohabitation between humans and animals, Steele goes into schools, community centers and libraries to educate kids and adults about natural animal behavior and history.

Steele's dedication to animals extends to marine mammals, and domestic animals too. She studied marine mammal biology at URI and spent several years working for Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, as part of their seal rescue and rehabilitation team. She also worked at a Veterinary ER in Swansea before starting her pet-caring service from her home.

Gentle Paws Pet Sitting specializes in animals with special needs, like diabetes, although she is happy to provide service to any owners in need of care for their pets.

Part of the reason Steele began her own business is because it will allow her the flexibility to continue  her work with wildlife rehabilitation while providing foster care for kittens and puppies.

She is a “foster mother” for rescued cats and kittens as part of Cat Adoption Team Services (CATS), an organization started in Riverside. It performs about 800 cat rescues annually.

Steele cares for young kittens, and also older cats, helping to socialize them so they become adoptable.

Steele is also a foster mother to Pyrenees puppies for National PYR Rescue. She regularly cares for young dogs that arrive from the south, where puppy mills are rampant due to “less regulation and oversight,” she said.

Steele has a Great Pyrenees herself, so she also cares for older dogs that have been abused or rescued from shelters. She works to to socialize them so they can be adopted.

“The dogs are enormously popular in New England, so we can find homes for them pretty easily here,” said Steele.

Steele said she finally made a further commitment to animals about a year ago. She became a vegetarian. It wasn't easy, she said, but she couldn't reconcile her love for animals with eating them. There are many people who support animal rights who are not vegetarians, Steele said, but for her, it was time.

As for the people who are not advocates of animal rights, Steele said, she thinks that mostly comes from a lack of understanding, and she has committed herself to changing that. Steele has some advice for anyone wondering how they can respect and enjoy their animal neighbors.

“Although they're beautiful to watch, don't try to habituate them by feeding them,” she said.