Dr. Karra grew up on the west coast of Canada, near the city of Vancouver. She completed her Bachelor of Science in biology at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island. During this time, she started working as a staff wildlife rehabilitator at a large wildlife rehabilitation center. Here, Dr. Karra fell in love with wildlife rehabilitation and wildlife medicine. Following her undergraduate degree, Dr. Karra moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to attend the Western College of Veterinary Medicine with the goal of becoming a wildlife veterinarian. During this time, she continued to dedicate herself to working with wildlife. After receiving her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, she did a one-year small-animal rotating internship at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and then joined the team at the Wildlife Center of Virginia. In her time at the Wildlife Center, she has held the position of veterinary intern, senior veterinary intern, research fellow, and is currently the director of veterinary services. Dr. Karra loves teaching interns, veterinary students, and wildlife rehabilitators from all over the world about wildlife rehabilitation and wildlife medicine. She enjoys all aspects of her job but is particularly fond of treating all things tiny. You will often find her creating micro-bandages and miniature splits for her littlest patients. Her professional goals are centered around advancing the profession of wildlife rehabilitation and learning as much as we can from the patients that come through our doors. Dr. Karra spends her free time with her ever-changing menagerie of pets and her partner, Dr. Patrick, who is also a veterinarian.
Meet the Staff
Veterinary
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Dr. Karra Pierce
Director of Veterinary Services -
Dr. Emily MacArthur
Veterinary InternDr. Emily grew up in a small town in upstate New York and, at age four, told her mom that she was going to be a vet. She completed an undergraduate degree in neuroscience (with minors in music history and psychology) at the University of Rochester. She earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (only 30 minutes from her hometown). She has always had a passion for wildlife medicine and spent the majority of her time during vet school at Cornell’s Wildlife Health Center. She spent time at the Wildlife Center of Virginia during her clinical year and fell very much in love with Waynesboro, the animals, and the people. Dr. Emily does not have a favorite species to work with; she has been known to cry tears of adoration when treating infant squirrels and has a special interest in neonatal animals. Dr. Emily’s hobbies include baking, watching rugby, eating French fries, caring for her houseplants, and taking obsessive photographs of her menagerie of pets at home.
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Dr. Jennifer Yu
Veterinary InternDr. Jenn was born and raised in northern California. She earned her undergraduate and veterinary degrees from UC Davis, then went on to pursue a masters in conservation medicine at Tufts. During her education, she has volunteered at or completed externships with several wildlife rehabilitation centers in California, and spent time in externships in zoo medicine and wildlife agencies during her clinical year of vet school. Following a short stint in small-animal general practice, she went on to serve as an intern, then a fellow with the Global Health Program at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, where she learned about international conservation research and capacity-building. Dr. Jenn has an interest in population medicine, and hopes to be able to apply what she learns here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia broadly to wildlife conservation.
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Kelsey Pleasants
Wildlife Rehabilitation SupervisorKelsey was born and raised in Waynesboro, Virginia and has always had a passion for animals. She earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Longwood University in 2013. During her time at college, Kelsey completed a wildlife rehabilitation externship at the Wildlife Center of Virginia and upon graduation, she completed a year-long wildlife rehabilitation internship. It was during her time at WCV that she realized her biggest passion was working with wildlife. From 2014-2017, Kelsey worked at a wildlife center in south Florida doing wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. She returned to Virginia in the fall of 2017 to re-join the team at the Wildlife Center as a wildlife rehabilitator, eventually becoming the wildlife rehabilitation supervisor. In this role, Kelsey oversees the staff rehabilitators and students, and the care and rehabilitation of the thousands of patients the Center receives each year. Kelsey loves working with Black Bears, baby opossums, and American Robins. In her free time, Kelsey enjoys attending concerts and traveling.
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Katie Attas
Wildlife RehabilitatorKatie is originally from St. James, New York, and has always been passionate about animals of all types, both wild and domestic. In 2015, she graduated from Alvernia University with honors with a B.S. degree in biology. In 2016, Katie completed a wildlife rehabilitation internship at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, New York. During her internship, she traveled to Costa Rica to gain additional experience with wildlife rehabilitation and learn more about the importance of conserving both wildlife and the environment. After her internship, Katie worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, where she performed recreational fishing surveys and collected catch data to aid in fisheries management. She also obtained her personal wildlife rehabilitation license in New York. Katie joined the Wildlife Center team in November 2019 as a wildlife rehabilitator and is excited to work with native Virginia species. In her free time, you can find Katie traveling in her converted school bus, hiking, and spending time with all of her furbabies.
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Jess Dyer
Licensed Veterinary TechnicianJess is originally from Baldwinsville, New York, a small suburb outside Syracuse. She graduated in 2015 from Unity College, with a B.S. in captive wildlife care and education and a minor in zoology. After graduating from Unity, she completed a six-month fellowship at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation for Wildlife (C.R.O.W.) in Sanibel, Florida, which solidified her love of wildlife and veterinary medicine. After completing her fellowship at C.R.O.W., Jess went back to school to pursue a degree in Veterinary Technology at Genesee Community College in Batavia, New York. Upon graduation from GCC, she was hired on at the Wildlife Center of Virginia as the LVT diagnostic intern for the 2018-2019 season and was then subsequently hired as one of the full- time LVT staff in July of 2019. Jess loves working with all wildlife but is especially fond of Barred Owls. In her spare time, Jess enjoys spending time outdoors with her fiancé, Anthony, and her beloved dog, Bonnie-May.
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Ace Eid
Licensed Veterinary Technician -
Alyssa Lakota
Veterinary Technician InternAfter years of working in film, television, and radio on shows such as "Free to Good Home" and "PAWS to Consider," Alyssa changed careers to become a valuable team member in the health and welfare of animals, especially wildlife. She obtained a Veterinary Technology degree from Colorado Mountain College in May of 2019. After graduating, she volunteered in Uganda with Mission Rabies and Clinician’s Brief, vaccinating more than 4,000 dogs in some of the most remote villages where people, mostly children, die each year from this deadly virus. She then spent 10 months working as a CVT at The Animal Hospital of Telluride before heading home to Vermont in preparation for a 13-month internship at The Wildlife Center of Virginia. During her few years in Colorado, Alyssa volunteered at Pauline Schneegas Wildlife Foundation, caring for orphaned and injured wildlife species, as well as Colorado Animal Rescue. Alyssa helped relocate 44 cats and 14 dogs when Targhee Animal Shelter in Idaho closed their doors after running out of operational funds. Here at WCV, Alyssa Lakota’s dreams are truly in motion. “Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly.” – Edward Albee, Zoo Story.
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Ben Cole
Wildlife Rehabilitation InternBen is a Charlottesville, Virginia native who grew up hearing field guides instead of bedtime stories and visiting the Wildlife Center of Virginia on field trips and open house days, making the opportunity to be a part of the team at WCV an absolute dream come true for him. Ben graduated from The University of Hartford in 2012 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting, which launched him into seven years of working as a New York-based professional actor, appearing in theatrical and film productions all around the country. Returning to the central Virginia area after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Ben completed the Center's rehabilitation externship in the late summer/early fall, thrilled to have the opportunity to explore a passion previously deferred. He is now very excited to have the opportunity to continue that exploration through the WCV’s one-year wildlife rehabilitation internship, which he began in January 2021. Ben is thrilled to get to work with such a remarkably wide variety of native Virginia species but particularly enjoys working with raptors. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, watching bad movies, and cheering on his beloved University of Virginia Cavaliers.
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