My Nonprofit Reviews

The Wildlife Center of Virginia won me over with those silly bear cubs. Baby bears climbing trees, swinging in hammocks, chewing on each other’s ears, turning over a plastic igloo and making it a rocking ride, stuffing into dens like clowns in a clown car, playing in the snow. These cubs were mostly orphans who were not old enough to survive in the wild on their own. They were being given a chance by the Wildlife Center of Virginia (WCV).

WCV serves so many different functions for varying audiences. Most obviously, they take care of injured Virginia wildlife, but this is only one piece of their mission. Teaching is their goal: going to schools and events with wildlife ambassadors to teach children, bringing vets and students from around the world to be trained on new techniques for healing wildlife, helping non-profits learn best practices in running their own charities, spreading the word about dangers for wild animals (lead poisoning, litter in the roads, protecting turtles on roadways.)

Another way of connecting people with wildlife is through their Outreach to the online community. Live webcams show the ongoing rehabilitation of different animals (owls, eagles, hawks, beaver, opossum, vultures, and, of course, the bear cubs). WCV brings us into their world though their monthly Hospital Cam where you can actually watch the vets, techs and students treat the patients (baby squirrels and baby bunnies are particularly adorable).

WCV treats its contributors as part of the family. We learn to accept the unhappy endings for some of the animals, but celebrate the amazing releases back to the wild. And seeing bear cubs run free is the prize for being a member of that family.

Wildlife Center of Virginia http://wildlifecenter.org/

I learned about Wildlife Center of Virginia in 2011 when they took in three eaglets whose mother had been killed. These eaglets had been on a webcam and had a large following. WCV worked very hard to set up a webcam for the many viewers of the eaglets in order to watch them grow. This webcam has morphed into a Critter Cam. This provides an amazing window on the recovery of injured wildlife. What I have learned about WCV during the past year is that they are an extraordinarily caring wildlife teaching hospital. Their staff works to save wildlife as diverse as snakes and bears and falcons (and lots of bunnies). They teach the public about wildlife ("don't throw apple cores out the window of your car. Birds will fly down to eat them and get hit by other cars."). And as a teaching hospital, they train new wildlife vets. Any injured animal is lucky if he or she ends up in the qualified hands of the WCV staff.

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