New IWRC Board Members

Welcome Kim Poisson and Kelly Donithan, recent additions to the IWRC Board. Kelly has been on the board since November, when she was appointed by the 2013 board to finish out a departing member’s term. Kim joined the board January 6th, elected by the IWRC membership. She will serve a three year term.

Kelly Donithan

Kelly is currently the Wildlife Rescue Program Officer for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, based at the international headquarters on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. IFAW’s wildlife rescue projects span the globe and include grizzly bear cub rescue and rehabilitation in Canada, orphan brown bear rehabilitation in Russia, Amur tiger rehabilitation in Russia’s Far East, raptor rehabilitation in China, an elephant orphanage in Zambia, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in India, and rescue and sanctuary placement of displaced big cats in the U.S. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona and a Master’s of Science in Conservation Medicine from the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. During her graduate studies, she completed a case study on the health and conservation concerns of international wildlife trade and investigated zoonotic disease risks at U.S exotic animal auctions. At IFAW, Kelly is also looking at the welfare concerns of live wildlife seized from trade and the potential of increasing rehabilitation and release efforts of such animals when feasible. She has been involved with wildlife rehabilitation and care in Arizona, Florida, and New England.

Kim Poisson, CWR

Kimberly Poisson is the executive director of A2 Raptor Rescue, a non-profit organization in Washtenaw County. A life long Michigan native, she resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and three children.

Kimberly has been working with wildlife since 1994 and holds state and federal permits for mammal and raptor rehabilitation as well as education. Her work with wildlife, along with the weaning and fledging of her children, eventually brought one of her long term goals of starting her own facility to fruition. In 2011 she founded A2 Raptor Rescue, an non-profit organization focused solely on raptor rehabilitation, with a strong emphasis on public education. As part of A2’s educational programing, a pilot program was started aimed at young children. Wings for Literacy began as a test project to see if first graders would have any interest in reading to the resident screech owls, much like the reading assistance dogs that provide similar services. The program was a huge success and now is in its third year and growing steadily.

In 2009 Kimberly was awarded her CWR by IWRC. Having long been a steadfast believer in IWRC’s mission to develop and provide quality courses and materials to rehabilitators internationally, she eventually joined the IWRC course development committee, which works to peer review, edit and keep current, all the IWRC curriculum and courses.

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