Meet our Staff

After a fifteen-year career in education, Ms. Duncan became involved in wildlife rehabilitation in 1997 at the urging of her young daughter. To support her daughter’s dream, Ms. Duncan and her daughter volunteered together at various wildlife centers in northern California. In 2000, Ms. Duncan was hired as the first employee of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue and was subsequently promoted to Executive Director. She has served as a board member for the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators and the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee – an appointment by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. She is currently a member of Oiled Wildlife Care Network and International Bird Rescue Center’s Oiled Wildlife Response Team. In 2004, Ms. Duncan launched a pilot nuisance wildlife exclusion service – “A Wildlife Exclusion Service.” (AWES)  She now mentors other wild rehabilitation centers to start their own exclusion services. Ms. Duncan especially enjoys hands-on work including wildlife rescues, oil spill response, designing and building wildlife enclosures, and working with other professional and passionate people in the field. 

​​Danielle is the Animal Care Director at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue. As Animal Care Director, Danielle has overall responsibility for the hospital, all volunteers that foster animals or work in the hospital, and the care of all animals in the temporary or permanent custody of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue. Danielle is also the main interface with the ten Good Samaritan Veterinary practices that care for the most serious cases of animal injury or sickness. Danielle has over 10 years of hands-on experience with animal rescue and care: first as a volunteer, then as an Animal Care Assistant, and in 2010, as the full time Animal Care Director. Danielle is a Registered Veterinary Technician. In addition, she has certifications in Animal Capture and Transport and Wildlife Emergency Response. She is also 24 hour HAZWOPER certified and is on the Oil Spill Emergency Response team.

Katie was born and raised here in Sonoma County where she developed a dutiful appreciation for all aspects of nature through camping and hiking throughout her childhood and into adulthood. In 2012, she graduated California State Polytechnic in Pomona with a BS in Environmental Biology. While in college and after graduation she worked as a keeper at Safari West in Santa Rosa. In April 2015, she was hired on at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue as an Animal Care Assistant where she realized a deep passion for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. Working closely with the Animal Care Director, she fell in love with the work and decided she was in it for the long haul when promoted to Assistant Animal Care Director. She now spends most of her time in the hospital and around the property working closely with animal care staff and volunteers making sure the wildlife that come through our doors have the best care we can possibly give them while enjoying everyone’s mutual compassion for our furry neighbors in need. 

Dr. Dan Famini has been the veterinarian of record for Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue since he graduated from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2005. Over the past 15 years he has provided medical, surgical, and preventative care to many thousands of patients including dozens of native species. 

Dr. Famini’s delights in the diversity of the veterinary field and his other current employment includes directing and instructing the Santa Rosa Junior College’s Veterinary Tech Program, working as an emergency veterinarian every weekend at Petcare East Animal Hospital, and providing shelter medicine services for Pets Lifeline in Sonoma.  Dan lives with his wife, two daughters, and a dozen pets and enjoys gardening, card games, and hammocking.  

Casey has lived in Sonoma County his whole life and has loved spending time outside and exploring the outdoors for as long as he can remember. He started working with wildlife as a sophomore at Casa Grande High School in the United Angler Program, where he had hands hands on experience catching chinook salmon from local creeks and spawning them in the student-run fish hatchery on campus. After high school, he attended the Santa Rosa Junior College where he received an associates degree in Environmental Studies. He enjoys being part of the wildlife rescue team and thinks that the raccoon is the most interesting of all the species he works with.

Taylor was born and raised in Sonoma County, where she had the opportunity to experience wildlife in both a natural and suburban setting. She then moved to San Francisco, where she got her bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism at San Francisco State University. While living there, she observed wildlife’s exceptional capacity to adapt to a human environment. A first-hand experience with city dwelling coyotes awakened Taylor’s passion for protecting animals that are being displaced by human behavior. She is fascinated by animals’ unique adaptations; for example, opossums’ evolved immunity to rabies and Lyme disease. This marsupial and hawks are Taylor’s favorite animals to work with here at SCWR. 

Austin grew up in Sonoma County and moved to Salt Lake City to get a Bachelors degree in Environmental Civics. His passion for the outdoors began when he was eleven from going on backpacking trips. Since then, he has expanded into a variety of other outdoor sports including rock climbing, mountain biking, and caving. Along with this, Austin gained an appreciation for wildlife and natural resources. Inspired by personal encounters, his favorite animal (for the time being) is the black bear. After having worked a wide variety of jobs, he is thrilled to be working with wildlife and meeting more people passionate about animals and the environment.

Kelsey works with volunteers and community members alike to care for wildlife in need. Kelsey has found that her greatest pleasure within her role is helping our community better understand the wildlife that surrounds us, including the benefits they provide both our human-made and natural world, and using that knowledge to teach others to better co-exist alongside our wild neighbors. Starting with the rescue in 2019, she has gained significant experience in human-wildlife conflict resolution and loves working with our Barn Owl Maintenance Program. Outside of rescue work, Kelsey enjoys cooking, gardening, playing board games with friends, and spending time with her husband, Ben, and Australian Cattle Dog, Maisel. 

Tiffani has been the bookkeeper for Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue since Spring 2017. She was born and raised in Santa Rosa, CA where she developed a passion for animals and nature from a very young age. She even created her own snail sanctuary to rescue the snails that emerge from their homes during the rainy season. Her childhood dream was to become a veterinarian. She started at Santa Rosa Junior College in 2010 and struggled for many years to pick a major. She went from Engineering to Biology and finally stumbled upon Business Administration in 2015. Her mom Christine is an independent bookkeeper and she taught Tiffani basic accounting techniques and gained experience from working summers with Christine’s clients. Soon Tiffani realized she had found a career path that combined her skills and passion. Tiffani graduated Santa Rosa Junior College with an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration in Spring 2017. She transferred to Sonoma State University in Fall 2017 and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting in Fall 2019. She is on track to pursue her ultimate goal of obtaining a CPA license in the next few years so she can better serve the needs of SCWR and the community she loves.