WILDLIFE CENTER OF VIRGINIA TO TRANSFER ADULT BALD EAGLE, BOBCAT KITTEN TO MAYMONT

August 12, 2008 On Wednesday, August 13, the Wildlife Center of Virginia, the nation's leading teaching and research hospital for native wildlife, will transfer two of its non-releasable patients - an adult Bald Eagle and a Bobcat - to the Maymont Nature Park in Richmond. Each of the two animals will ultimately be on public display at the Richmond facility. Representatives of Maymont are expected at the Wildlife Center in Waynesboro at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday to pick up the two animals. The two animals being transferred are: #07-2292
This adult Bald Eagle was admitted on December 9, 2007 from King and Queen County, Virginia. The bird was found near a roadside garbage collection site with a broken wing [open fracture at the wrist joint]. The individual who found the eagle amputated the part of the wing that was dangling and kept the bird for three days before it was transferred to a conservation officer.Upon admission, Wildlife Center veterinarians operated on the Bald Eagle to clean the wound and prevent further infection. As the eagle has no wing or flight feathers beyond the wrist, it cannot be returned to the wild.  
[+] Patient 07-2292
The eagle will have a permanent home at the new Bald Eagle exhibit opening at Maymont on September 13. Wildlife Center President and Co-Founder Ed Clark will be participating in the opening of this new exhibition. Additional information about the exhibit is available at www.maymont.org/animals/eaglehabitat.asp. [Animals admitted to the Center are given sequential patient numbers - in the order in which they are admitted. Patient #07-2292 was the 2,292nd patient admitted to the Center during 2007, out of a total patient-count for the entire year of 2,333 animals.] The eagle to be transferred on Wednesday is one of seven Bald Eagles currently being treated at the Wildlife Center. Among the other current eagle patients is a baby Bald Eagle, hatched at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, which has created a worldwide following through its online appearances on "Eagle Cam". That eagle, hatched in late April, was admitted to the Wildlife Center on May 22 with a severe case of Avian Pox. The eagle underwent surgery on July 12 to remove remnants of a pox lesion and to correct a significant misalignment in the bird's beak. During 2007, the Wildlife Center admitted and treated 36 Bald Eagles - a record in the Center's 25-year history. Thus far in 2008, the Wildlife Center has admitted 20 Bald Eagles. #08-1114
This baby Bobcat was found along Route 29 in Bath County, Virginia on May 15. The Bobcat was probably about one week old at that point - his eyes were not yet open. He was picked up by a local couple who thought he was a domestic kitten; he was kept in their home and fed Friskies and cow's milk.After about three weeks, the couple realized that they were not caring for a domestic kitten. The Bobcat was picked up by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and brought to the Wildlife Center on June 6. Because of his habituation to humans, the Bobcat has been deemed non-releasable.  
[+] Patient 08-1114
During his time at the Center, the Bobcat has grown from an admission weight of 760 gms [about 1.7 pounds] to his current weight of 2.62 kgs [about 5.8 pounds]. He was progressed from an initial diet of a milk-substitute formula to meals of rats, mice, fish, and quail. Every year, about 2,500 animals - ranging from Bald Eagles to opossums to chipmunks - are brought to the Wildlife Center for care. Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Center has cared for more than 50,000 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. Additional information about the Wildlife Center is available at www.wildlifecenter.org. Maymont includes a 33-room mansion, a nature and visitor center, an arboretum and 100-acre park, gardens, a children's farm, and a 40-acre wildlife park. Additional information about Maymont is available at www.maymont.org. January 2009 photos of the Bobcat:  

March 2009 Update

On March 31, 2009, Wildlife Center staffers Amanda Nicholson and Suzanne Doell stopped by Maymont to visit Bob.  Amanda filed this report, "Bob is doing really well -- he has gotten SO big.  He is still living in an inside enclosure and not yet on public view.  He is taken out several times a day, for work with his trainers.  He still purrs when he sees people and is friendly.  His lead traner took us in, and he demonstrated that Bob can "sit" on command [which is amazing ... could I teach MY cats to do that?].  His trainer was able to pick him up, and Bob tolerated that for about five minutes before getting rambunctious. "

Bob, March 2009

  Hello, My Name is Bob, News Leader [video] An Eagle Gets a Home, News Leader [video] Cute & Cuddly, For Now, News Virginian