Opossums, Owls, Hawks, Eagles, and a Python Named Monty ...
WILDLIFE CENTER OF VIRGINIA OFFERS 'CARING FOR CRITTERS' SPONSORSHIPS
Sponsorship Program is a Unique & Special Gift for the Holidays
The Wildlife Center of Virginia, the nation's leading teaching and research hospital for native wildlife, is offering a special holiday gift this year - the chance to "adopt" a wild animal.
Through the Center's Caring for Critters program, individuals may adopt one [or more] of the Center's nearly two dozen education animals. These animals cannot be released back to the wild - either because of injuries or behavioral modifications - and now serve as wildlife ambassadors
for the Center. Many appear with the Center's education staff at school assemblies, in classrooms, and at other events across Virginia. Others greet visitors to the Center's hospital clinic in Waynesboro.
Through a Caring for Critters sponsorships, individuals help support the feeding and care of the Center's education animals and the Center's environmental education programs. A sponsorship is a wonderful and unique gift and, at the same time, helps support the care of special animal in need.
"Caring for Critters is perfect for that person on the holiday shopping list who has everything. How about a Bald Eagle ... or an owl ... or, for something completely different, a Python named Monty," Edward Clark, President and Co-founder of the Wildlife Center, said.
Available for adoption through Caring for Critters are:
Eagles & Hawks
Owls
Other Birds
Opossums
Snakes & Tortoises
Each Caring for Critters sponsor receives:
- The sponsored animal's biography
- A photo of the animal
- Detailed information about the characteristics of the animal's species,, and
- A certificate of sponsorship
A six-month Caring for Critters sponsorship is $25. A full-year sponsorship is $50.
Additional information about Caring for Critters, including biographies on each of the Center's education animals and sponsorship information, is available at www.wildlifecenter.org or by calling the Center at 540.942.9453.
Every year, between 2,000 and 3,000 animals - ranging from Bald Eagles to chipmunks - are brought from all over Virginia to the Wildlife Center for care. "The goal of the Center is to restore our patients to health and return as many as possible to the wild," Clark said. "At the Wildlife Center, we treat to release."
The Wildlife Center of Virginia is an internationally acclaimed teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine. Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Center has cared for about 46,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. The Center's public education programs share insights gained through the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, in hopes of reducing human damage to wildlife. The Center trains veterinary and conservation professionals from all over the world and is actively involved in comprehensive wildlife health studies and the surveillance of emerging diseases.
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