The Wildlife Center staff recently received a report on a former Bald Eagle patient – Bald Eagle #11-1234, otherwise known as KS!
News
As one of the world’s leading teaching hospitals for wildlife medicine, the Wildlife Center of Virginia has a core mission to teach the world to care about and care for wildlife and the environment. This news page collects stories of the Center’s expertise in action.
The Wildlife Center of Virginia family has sustained a major loss this week with the death of our beloved Board Chairman Emeritus, Dr. Erwin Bohmfalk, who passed away earlier this week at age 99.
Erwin was one of those figures who is larger than life. With a PhD in Chemistry, he spent his career with the DuPont Corporation. His work with DuPont took him all over the world, and eventually landed him in Waynesboro, VA.
On the morning of March 15, the veterinary team examined Buddy, the Center’s education Bald Eagle ambassador. Early in the week, the outreach staff had noticed dried blood around Buddy’s beak. At first, it seemed like he had food remnants stuck to the left side of his beak, which, while not entirely unusual for a bird of prey, was out of the ordinary for Buddy.
As temperatures in Virginia steadily rise during the spring, many Virginians notice more and more American Robins appearing in backyards and at bird feeders. Some people consider robins the “harbingers of spring”, which means they are right on time. From early-to-mid-March, these birds seem to be everywhere!
On March 1, Center staff received a call about an injured beaver in Lyndhurst, Virginia. The caller reported that the beaver had a significant limp and crawled underneath a vehicle. Usually, the Center relies on the public to bring in injured wildlife, but the beaver's location was only a five-minute drive from the Center, so front-desk supervisor Michael Adkins and wildlife rehabilitator Ben Cole drove to the scene, contained the injured mammal, and brought it back to the Center for an exam.
On February 27, a private citizen observed a Bald Eagle on the ground and unable to fly near the side of a busy road in Chesterfield County. Wildlife Center Front Desk staff coordinated with permitted rehabilitators at Tidewater Wildlife Rescue to locate and rescue the eagle, which was transported to the Center the following morning.
Founded in 1982, the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (NWRA) serves as a nationwide organization that connects wildlife rehabilitators across the country with one another, helps to establish standards for the care of wild animals, and facilitates the sharing of wildlife science and information.