Please share an early/childhood experience that was pivotal to your personal relationship to wildlife. From my earliest memories, I have always felt a close connection with all animals. As a young child, I was always bringing home stray animals and those in need of care, much to the dismay of my family. I started attending The Green River Preserve around the 3rd grade, which is a nature camp for gifted and motivated learners located in the mountains of North Carolina. There I was taught that our wildlife was to be respected, not feared, and I learned to walk through the...
23 October 2020November 4, 2021Kai
2020 Annual Members Meeting
IWRC held our 2020 Annual Members Meeting Oct 17. A full recording of the meeting is available to members (log in). President Adam Grogan provided a brief presentation on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our other activities this year. Active committees, including Membership; Course Development; Executive; International; Finance; and Development, provided brief updates on their recent work. We thanked our 49 volunteers! Adam then introduced the member slate for our upcoming board election, which will begin November 2: Ashley Ihrke and Lindsey Jones. We gave thanks to outgoing board members Laurin Huse and Lloyd Brown. Executive Director Kai...
13 October 2020November 4, 2021Max
2020 National Veterinary Technician Week
In the United States, October 11th to October 17th, 2020 is National Veterinary Technician Week, which according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, “provides an opportunity to recognize veterinary technicians’ contributions.” Not every wildlife rehabilitator is or has a veterinary technician. However, technicians are certainly part of the wildlife rehabilitation process whether they are on your team as staff, volunteer, or a crucial part of the domestic animal veterinary team which assists rehabbers with the medical care of wildlife. We want to take this opportunity to give a ‘shout out’ to veterinary technicians and nurses across the globe who dedicate their...
15 September 2020February 8, 2022Steven Deheeger
IWRC Member Spotlight: Kristina Madarang Stahl
Our Member Spotlights feature our incredible members across the world, rehabilitating baby penguins in South Africa, sea turtles in Cyprus, bats in the United States, brown bears in Kosovo, and beyond. We invite you to visit our map to meet more members and click here if you are an IWRC member who would like to be featured. Name: Kristina Madarang Stahl Organization: Bear Sanctuary Prishtina and the Bear Care Group Location: Prishtina, Kosovo IWRC: Hi Kristina! So, tell us a little bit about yourself… Kristina: I’m a bear biologist, philanthropy and communications officer, editor, and board member of the Bear Care Group. I received...
31 August 2020February 8, 2022Steven Deheeger
IWRC Member Spotlight: Frances Bell RVN, DipVNZS, CWR
Our Member Spotlights feature our incredible members across the world, rehabilitating baby penguins in South Africa, sea turtles in Cyprus, bats in the United States, brown bears in Kosovo, and beyond. We invite you to visit our map to meet more members and click here if you are an IWRC member who would like to be featured. Name: Frances Bell RVN, DipVNZS, CWR Organization: Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) Location: Capetown, South Africa IWRC: Hi Frances! So, tell us a little bit about yourself… Frances: I’ve been rehabbing wildlife for the last ten years in Australia, the UK and...
20 August 2020February 8, 2022Steven Deheeger
IWRC Member Spotlight: Michelle Watson
Our Member Spotlights feature our incredible members across the world, rehabilitating baby penguins in South Africa, sea turtles in Cyprus, bats in the United States, brown bears in Kosovo, and beyond. We invite you to visit our map to meet more members and click here if you are an IWRC member who would like to be featured. Name: Michelle Watson Organization: I’m between posts at the moment but run my own “Wildlife Rescue Johannesburg” Facebook page. Location: Johannesburg, South Africa IWRC: Hi Michelle! So, tell us a little bit about yourself… Michelle: I’ve doing rehab since 2007, have worked for all the local rehab...
14 August 2020February 8, 2022Steven Deheeger
IWRC Member Spotlight: Letitia Labbie
Our Member Spotlights feature our incredible members across the world, rehabilitating baby penguins in South Africa, sea turtles in Cyprus, bats in the United States, brown bears in Kosovo, and beyond. We invite you to visit our map to meet more members and click here if you are an IWRC member who would like to be featured. Name: Letitia Labbie Organization: Acadiana Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Location: Youngsville, Louisiana, United States IWRC: Hi Letitia! So, tell us a little bit about yourself… Letitia: I am one of four federally permitted Rehabilitators in the state of Louisiana. I founded Acadiana Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation in...
11 August 2020February 8, 2022Steven Deheeger
IWRC Member Spotlight: Lebanese Wildlife
Our Member Spotlights feature our incredible members across the world, rehabilitating baby penguins in South Africa, sea turtles in Cyprus, bats in the United States, brown bears in Kosovo, and beyond. We invite you to visit our map to meet more members and click here if you are an IWRC member who would like to be featured. Name: Samara P. El-Haddad Organization: Lebanese Wildlife Location: Beirut, Lebanon Important Update: On Tuesday, August 4, 2020, several days after Lebanese Wildlife completed their IWRC Member Spotlight, Beirut was hit by two massive explosions. The devastation caused by these explosions has been far-reaching and Lebanese Wildlife was...
24 July 2020November 4, 2021Max
Happy National Zoo Keeper Week! What does this have to do with wildlife rehabilitation?
This week (July 19th through 25th) the American Association of Zoo Keepers celebrates National Zoo Keeper Week (NZKW), focusing “on the need to protect and preserve our wildlife and vanishing habitats via conservation messages created by their institutions.” The debate about wildlife in captivity is a complicated issue that is being talked about more and more (link 1, link 2, link 3). Long term captivity is under constant scrutiny by those involved in the rehabilitation and zoo fields. Of foremost concern is the fact that animals placed in zoos via rehabilitators are in fact, wild, and unaccustomed to the challenges...
21 July 2020July 26, 2022Julissa
Fire Season Tips: Triage
(Part II of a short series) Animals in fires suffer from direct thermal injury as well as injuries from inhalation of chemicals and particulate debris. Certainly burns to the skin are the most obvious, but burns and damage to the respiratory tract from smoke inhalation should not be underestimated. If an animal is close enough to a fire to be burned, it has experienced respiratory injury. If wildfires involve human structures, the smoke plume may contain a mixture of concentrated toxins from incinerated plastics, petroleum products, and other chemicals. The particles can cause primary toxicity and pulmonary damage; external particles...