Wild Heart Ranch is located in Claremore, Oklahoma. We provide medical or infant support to any indigenous wild animal in need of assistance and release it into suitable wild habitat once care is completed.

My Beloved Scars

I look down at my hands
There are more scars than skin
For some it might be unsightly
To me its where my memories begin

This one was from a bobcat
Who one day escaped from his cage
With no claws for him to hunt with
I caught him barehanded and felt his rage

These layers and layers of slices
From my hands all the way up my arm
Are hundreds and hundreds of raccoon kits
That scratched without meaning harm

Here was a baby black bear cub
Who was hungry beyond belief
He clung to my arm in a frenzy
'Til I learned welding gloves saved me that grief

This hole in my arm was a tree
That embedded its branch as I charged
Into the thick brush for a deer
That had just been hit by a car

And under the hair of my head
four slashes grooved into the bone
I was changing my cougar cub's bed
And she wouldn't leave mommy alone

But the scars that I cannot show you
The big ones that tore me apart
left behind from so many I've loved and then lost
Are the scars that once were my heart...


Written from a wild heart by:
Annette King, Animal Rescuer
Wild Heart Ranch Wildlife Rescue
Claremore, Oklahoma
www.wildheartranch.org