Cross-country bike ride to support wildlife center

Want to help?

Paul Rudershausen will leave Coos Bay, Ore., on Aug. 1 for a bike ride benefiting the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter.

His journey will take about five weeks and will end in Atlantic Beach.

You can follow his progress at www.pedal4wildlife.org.

Donations can be made online via the Web site. Sponsorships are also available.

Donations can also be made by sending a check or money order to Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter; 100 Wildlife Way; Newport, NC 28570. Designate pedal4wildlife on the payment.

Cross-country trip doesn't quite describe Paul Rudershausen's upcoming plans to bike from Oregon back to his home in Carteret County. He thinks of it more as a journey.

"A trip, in my mind, is like a vacation. A journey is like a spiritual awakening, if you will, because it has emotional and physical challenges," Rudershausen said.

His solo travels will take him through a dozen states, cover an estimated 3,200 miles and benefit countless orphaned and injured wildlife.

It's a personal journey with a community cause.

Rudershausen has turned his plans to bike across the country into a fundraiser for the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter, where he has been a volunteer for three years.

The idea to make the August ride a benefit for a community nonprofit organization came to him after making his first long solo ride in summer 2008, when he traversed 5,000 miles across Canada.

"The top questions people would ask were: Are you crazy? Where are you from? How far are you going? Are you biking for a cause?" said Rudershausen, a research technician at the N.C. State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology in Morehead City. "Now I don't have to answer ‘no' to any of those questions."

The staff and volunteers with the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter (OWLS) are excited to be a part of the ride.

"Paul is a dedicated volunteer here, and we're all pleased he has chosen to represent us," said OWLS Executive Director Trish Slape. "It takes a special person to take an idea like this and make it work."

Rudershausen said he's riding at his own expense, and all donations and funds raised through the pedal4wildlife fundraiser will go directly to OWLS.

OWLS, which has a facility located off N.C. 24 in Newport, is a nonprofit wildlife shelter that cares for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife native to North Carolina. The mission is to rehabilitate and release the animals back into the wild and to teach North Carolinians how to peacefully exist with wildlife.

Slape said one of their goals for the funding received through the bike ride is to build a large mammal cage to better treat larger animals.

"Right now, if we get anything large like a bobcat, all we can do is triage it and transfer it to a larger facility," she said. "Our goal is to rehabilitate and release animals in close proximity from where they came. We don't have the ability to do that with large animals."

But Slape said the bike ride across country is more than a financial benefit. OWLS will be getting exposure across the country and Rudershausen will be helping to educate the public about the importance of their work.

Contact Jannette Pippin at 910-382-2557 or jpippin@freedomenc.com.