The Wildlife Center of Virginia, an internationally acclaimed teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine located in Waynesboro, admitted a total of 2,534 animals for treatment during 2009 – injured, ailing, and orphaned wildlife from all across Virginia.  

      The 2009 caseload was the highest number of patients treated at the Center since 2004.

       As expected, the 2009 total included many common species – 280 Eastern Cottontail Rabbits; 252 Virginia Opossums; 210 Eastern Gray Squirrels; and 107 American Robins. 

        Also admitted for treatment were a number of threatened species, or species designated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries as species of special concern.  Leading that list were the 40 Bald Eagles admitted during 2009 – a single-year record during the Center’s 27-year history.  Among these 40 eagle patients were three birds from West Virginia and 37 from Virginia, including a bird that had become trapped in asphalt tar at the King and Queen County landfill, an eagle struck by a truck on I-95, and an eagle chased into the Rappahannock River by an Osprey. 

        Among the other “notable” cases of 2009 were:

•  Several Black Bear cubs, orphaned when their mothers were struck and killed by cars;
•  Four Great Horned Owl babies that were given “foster care” and training by Mama G’Ho, a resident owl that serves as a surrogate mother.  All four of these owlets were released back into the wild;
•  A Pied-Bill Grebe that literally had swallowed hook, line, and sinker [actually, two sinkers].  Center veterinarians operated and carefully removed this fishing gear from the grebe’s stomach.  The grebe recovered and was released;
•  Nineteen patients that had been shot, including two American Crows, two Bald Eagles, a Canada Goose, a Raccoon, two Red Foxes, four Red-tailed Hawks, a Tufted Titmouse, and six vultures [two Black and four Turkey];
•  Two Peregrine Falcons.  The peregrine is regarded as the fastest animal on earth; the speed of a diving peregrine has been measured at 217 miles per hour.  By the early 1960s, the falcon was believed to be extinct as a breeding species in Virginia and all areas east of the Mississippi River.  A program of peregrine reintroduction began in Virginia in 1978; there are now about 20 known breeding pairs of peregrines in the Commonwealth. On December 22, Wildlife Center President Ed Clark released a Peregrine, treated for about six weeks at the Center, at the Grandview Nature Preserve in Hampton. 
•  A Gray Treefrog, admitted just after Christmas.  This frog was discovered when some outdoor plants in which it had sought shelter were brought indoors, out of the wintry weather.  

 [A complete list of 2009 patients by species follows.]

       During 2009, patients were admitted from 92 counties and municipalities from all over the Commonwealth [a complete list of 2009 patients by city/county follows].     Most animals are brought to the Center by concerned citizens; others are brought in by animal control officers, other federal, state, and local officials, from humane societies, etc.

       Animals are admitted to the Wildlife Center for a variety of reasons, including animals that are struck by cars and trucks [127 cases], birds that crash into windows [80 cases], and animals with infectious diseases or parasites [71 cases]. 

       During 2009, 222 animals were brought to the Center after they were attacked by free-roaming cats.  Birds and other animals that survive an initial cat attack are still in danger; unless treated, infections from the toxic bacteria found in a cat’s mouth kill a significant number of animals. 

        During 2009, 324 animals – or one in eight cases – were patients classified as a “kidnap” victim – a young animal brought to the Center that, in fact, needed no help from humans.  These are animals still receiving care from their parents, or young animals ready to live on their own.  “Despite our natural inclinations, the BEST chance of survival for a young uninjured animal is often to leave it in its parents’ care,” Clark said. 

        Center staff works with citizens who find young animals to assess whether these animals really do need human intervention.  [The Center’s website includes a special “I Need Rescue Advice” section to help citizens assess the health-care needs of animals.]  “The Center encourages those who care about wildlife to ask questions FIRST about the most appropriate course of action,” Clark added.  The Center’s front desk is staffed seven days a week from 9 a.m.  to 5 p.m.; one of the Center’s veterinarians is on call 24 hours a day.

       The busiest months during 2009 at the Center were May [472 new patients] and June [524 new patients].  The busiest single day was June 4, when the Center admitted 48 new patients. 

       Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Wildlife Center has cared for more than 54,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. 

      The goal of the Center is to “treat to release” – to restore patients to health and return as many as possible to the wild.  The Center provides state-of-the-art medical care for the sick and injured, and sustained, quality foster care so that animals may be returned to the wild with the ability to survive, and thrive, in their native habitats.

        The Center trains veterinary and conservation professionals from all over the world, and wildlife rehabilitators across Virginia, and is actively involved in comprehensive wildlife health studies and the surveillance of emerging diseases. 

2009 Patient Admissions

Mammals  [1,083 patients]

American Beaver   2
Bat   27
Black Bear  7
Eastern Chipmunk  9
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit     280
Eastern Fox Squirrel    11
Eastern Gray Squirrel         210
Gray Fox    7
Mink  1
Mouse 45
Raccoon     54
Rat   2
Red Fox     13
Shrew 3
Southern Flying Squirrel      17
Striped Skunk     25
Virginia Opossum           252
Vole  2
White-tailed Deer 101
Woodchuck   15

Reptiles and Amphibians [160]

American Bullfrog 2
American Toad     3
Black Rat Snake   9
Common Musk Turtle      1
Common Snapping Turtle  31
Copperhead  1
Eastern Box Turtle      81
Eastern Garter Snake    3
Eastern Hognose Snake   1
Eastern Mud Turtle      1
Eastern Painted Turtle  23
Five-lined Skink  1
Gray Treefrog     1
Marbled Salamander      1
Rough Green Snake 1

 Raptors [294]

American Kestrel  12
Bald Eagle  40
Barn Owl    6
Barred Owl  13
Black Vulture     9
Broad-winged Hawk 2
Cooper’s Hawk     35
Eastern Screech-Owl     45
Golden Eagle      1
Great Horned Owl  23
Merlin      1
Osprey      3
Peregrine Falcon  2
Red-shouldered Hawk     18
Red-tailed Hawk   64
Sharp-shinned Hawk      7
Turkey Vulture    13

 Passerines (Songbirds) [682]

American Coot     1
American Crow     26
American Goldfinch      20
American Redstart 1
American Robin    107
Belted Kingfisher 1
Blue Jay    51
Brown Thrasher    1
Brown-headed Cowbird    2
Carolina Wren     56
Cedar Waxwing     10
Chickadee   2
Common Grackle    54
Common Raven      1
Common Yellowthroat     3
Eastern Bluebird  17
Eastern Meadowlark      1
Eastern Phoebe    5
Eastern Towhee    1
European Starling 79
Gray Catbird      4
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
Great Crested Flycatcher      1
Hermit Thrush     1
Hooded Warbler    1
House Finch 32
House Sparrow     42
House Wren  11
Indigo Bunting    1
Northern Cardinal 29
Northern Mockingbird    24
Orchard Oriole    1
Ovenbird    1
Pine Siskin 8
Purple Finch      2
Purple Martin     1
Red-eyed Vireo    1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1
Scarlet Tanager   1
Slate-colored Junco     6
Sparrow     27
Tufted Titmouse   16
Unidentified Passerine  26
White-crowned Sparrow   1
White-throated Sparrow  1
Wood Thrush 2
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher     1

Other Birds [315]

American Woodcock 4
Barn Swallow      11
Black-billed Cuckoo     2
Canada Goose      19
Chimney Swift     24
Clapper Rail      1
Common Loon 1
Common Nighthawk  2    
Common Snipe      1
Domestic Duck     6
Downy Woodpecker  4
Duck Hybrid 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove  2
Great Blue Heron  8
Great Egret 1
Green Heron 2
Horned Grebe      1
Mallard     42
Mourning Dove     76
Northern Flicker 10
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Pigeon      28
Pileated Woodpecker     9
Red-bellied Woodpecker  6
Ring-billed Gull  2
Ruby-throated
   Hummingbird    10
Wild Turkey 19
Wood Duck   18
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker      2

 2009 Patients by City/County

Accomack    3    
Albemarle   303
Alleghany   27
Amherst     10
Appomattox  4
Augusta     507
Bath  11
Bedford     7
Botetourt   7
Brunswick   1
Buckingham  11
Campbell    3
Caroline    3
Carroll     1
Charles City      2
City of Charlottesville 178
City of Chesapeake      8
Chesterfield      6
Clarke      1
City of Covington 1
Culpeper    5
City of Danville  1
Dinwiddie   2
Essex 3
Fairfax     1
Fauquier    1
Floyd 4
Fluvanna    32
Franklin    5
City of Franklin  2
City of Galax     1
Gloucester  3
Goochland   4
Grayson     5
Greene      39
Greensville 1
Halifax     2
Hanover     12
City of Harrisonburg    104
Henrico     1
Henry 1
Highland    25
James City  2
King and Queen County   1
King George 1
King William      2
Lancaster   1
City of Lexington 30
Louisa      21
City of Lynchburg 4
Madison     14
City of Manassas  1
City of Martinsville    6
Mathews     2
Middlesex   2
Montgomery  13
Nelson      86
New Kent    1
Northampton 3
Northumberland    1
Orange      27
Page  34
City of Petersburg      4
Pittsylvania      4
Prince Edward     12
Prince George     5
Prince William    1
Pulaski     3
City of Radford   1
Rappahannock      1
Richmond    15
City of Richmond  1
Roanoke     30
City of Roanoke   2
Rockbridge  78
Rockingham  215
City of Salem     2
Shenandoah  8
Smyth 1
Spotsylvania      17
Stafford    4    
City of Staunton  174
City of Suffolk   2
Surry 1
Sussex      1
City of Virginia Beach  1
Warren      1    
City of Waynesboro      259
Westmoreland      2
City of Williamsburg    2
Wythe 5
York  2
Out-of-state/unknown    79