The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge and Rehabilitation Center (www.adirondackwildlife.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of animals and wildlife education. Adirondack Wildlife Refuge staff are available to do presentations for schools, churches and other organizations.
[Our mission is to] rehabilitate and, whenever possible, to return to the wild, injured or otherwise disabled wildlife, working with local veterinarians and volunteers. In addition, we run educational programs and presentations, primarily working with non-releasable birds of prey and wolves, to foster compassion, tolerance and understanding of wildlife, particularly with respect to safely interacting with wildlife, and understanding the valuable role predators play in the over health of our eco-system. (About the Refuge (Facebook))
All the animals used for educational purposes make their home at the refuge and due to lasting injury are not able to be released into the wild. The 3 R’s of the refuge are rescue, rehabilitate, and release. However, sometimes animals heal the best they can, but not to an extent that would allow them to survive in the wild. If this occurs the animals remain cared for at the refuge and can be used to foster wildlife education.
The Refuge Center says this about the animals they rehabilitate:
When you work with support from local veterinarians to care for sick or injured wildlife, there are three common outcomes: naturally, some animals die despite your best efforts, while others recover to the point where they are able to forage and/or hunt, and can be released into the wild. The birds of prey who remain in our care, and are used in educational demonstrations and displays, are raptors who are generally healthy, but unable to hunt for themselves, due to partial blindness, permanent wing injuries, etc. (www.adirondackwildlife.org)
The Refuge has a variety of birds of prey that are used as educational birds including: Red-Tailed Hawks, Broad-Winged Hawks, Rough-Legged Hawks, Swainsons Hawks, Peregrine Falcons, Kestrels, Merlins, Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls, Screech Owls, Saw-whet Owls, Barn Owls, Ravens, and more! (Click on a link to learn more about a particular bird and see photos of them at the Refuge.)
The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge and Rehabilitation Center is a 501c3 non-profit rehabilitation and education organization and receives no government funding. If you want to support their efforts you can make a donation. Donations help build enclosures for non-releasable animals, and pay for medical procedures and supplies.
Visit the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge
The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge and Rehabilitation Center is located at on 50 acres of land at 977 Springfield Road, Wilmington, NY (near Whiteface Mountain). The center is open to the public from 10:00 am through 4:00 pm and is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday (except for Wolf Walk).
The Refuge Center includes a one mile educational hiking trail, which also serves as a Public Fishing Access trail, and winds its way along the river and river sloughs, through forest and meadow. (www.adirondackwildlife.org)
Visit their website for more information at www.adirondackwildlife.org. Or email the Refuge at info@AdirondackWildlife.org. You can also follow them on Facebook.
[The photos used in this post represent types of animals who are being or have been treated at the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge and Rehabilitation Center.]Update:
The photo to the right was shared with us by Eve Ticknor who took it while visiting the Wildlife Refuge.
If you have photos you’d like to share let us know! And feel free to share stories in the comments.
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eveticknor says
The Refuge is a remarkable place of healing run by the Hall family. I have been there several times as well to various locations where they were doing educational presentations. I would encourage you to visit the Refuge, to see what they have accomplished there, volunteer opportunities, and to invite them to do a presentation, complete with animals, at a school, library, church, etc.
Eve
Katie Shepard says
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Eve. And for the beautiful photo—we added it to the post so everyone can enjoy it!