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Baby animals must be weighed daily to be sure they are growing properly.
Every year about 40 wild turtles are rehabilitated at the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center. Most of them have been hit by cars.
Painted turtle with a shell fracture from a car.
Each turtle needs to be housed separately to prevent the spread of disease. They all require special diets and housing, including heat and natural light.
Yes, we treat snakes too!!
Wildlife rehabilitation is the process of caring for injured, sick, and orphaned wild animals with the goal of releasing these animals back into their natural habitat.
These wild species have very different needs than our pets, and handling them can be dangerous. This is why it is necessary to have special training and permits to care for these animals.
Our center rescues and rehabilitates 1000 mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians each year.
Sanitation is very important to protect
these animals from infection.
We raised and released 26 orphan
red fox kits in 2008
Many baby opossums come in
every year after their mothers
have been killed by cars.
Baby skunks do not have a bad odor
and are very cute!
Every baby wild animal needs to be raised with members of its own species, even if they are not exactly the same age. This allows them to
practice their natural behaviors.
Screech owls are frequently hit by vehicles. Most of them have head trauma and injuries to their eyes, but most can be successfully rehabilitated and released.
Many of the animals brought to our center are so sick they need to be tube fed, like this eagle with lead poisoning.
Our smallest patient in 2008, this ruby throated hummingbird weighed only 4 grams.
Baby hawks and owls must be housed with members of their own species while we are raising them or they can become imprinted on humans.
Animals are given natural cover to hide in so they feel more comfortable while in captivity.
This is a radiograph of a hawk that developed a bone disease because the person who found her fed her only red meat. This nearly killed her. It is extremely important to feed proper diets to these animals.