From Rescue to Release at the Wildlife Center of Virginia

We are excited to share Faith Satern’s experience below, funded by Charlie’s Angels fund.

My time at the Wildlife Center of Virginia was very busy and very educational. I stayed in a student house with fellow veterinary externs, funded by the scholarship, and grew very close with my housemates. Each day we would start by giving all of the medications to inpatients. This included everything from giving eyedrops to a box turtle to stuffing pills down a turkey vulture gullet. Around noon we would have rounds, reviewing all the inpatients and their needs with the whole team. The afternoon was normally filled with new patients coming in, their examinations, treatments, and diagnostics. It had the clinical culture of an emergency room, but was adapted to minimize stress for wild animals.

Learning at the wildlife center was always hands on. We learned quickly what strategies and personal protective equipment was needed for each species, handling every patient personally. We talked through each plan and treatment with a doctor before carrying it out ourselves and grew familiar with common presentations of sick or hurt wildlife. We saw window-stunned songbirds, snakes with fungal disease, turtles with upper respiratory infections, and eagles with wing fractures- to name a few. The rehabilitation department of the center was well equipped and well-integrated with the veterinary patient care. Each bird with a repaired bone would go through a long process of gradual reintroduction to flight, giving time to rebuild up the bone and muscle strength necessary for survival in the wild before release. It was very valuable to me as a striving wildlife veterinarian to witness the effort necessary to make a wild animal truly releasable after recovery.

My experience at the Wildlife Center of Virginia was essential to equip me for wildlife rehab and veterinary work in the future. I plan to use the medicine and strategies I learned there at other wildlife centers as a volunteer and possible future wildlife veterinarian.