This red-tailed hawk was hit on the right wing by a line drive golf ball. Fractured his ulna. Recovering after surgery.

One of the things that I love best about the New England Wildlife Center is that we are able to reach out to so many different people to educate them about wildlife.  People come from all over, and everyone learns something every day.  Interns are able to learn hands-on what wildlife medicine is, and every visitor to the Center is able to see everything happening first-hand.

In this photograph, Dr. Andrew Cartoceti is operating on a small bird while being assisted by several interns.  In the background, a group of visitors is watching the procedure with Safari Steve from the Center’s hallway which allows visitors to view into all of the medical wards.  This picture encompasses a lot of what the Center is trying to do: educate the public about wildlife while teaching future veterinarians about wildlife medicine, all while improving the lives of injured animals.”

– Sarah Wengert, Animal Caretaker

Spring and Summer are baby seasons at the New England Wildlife Center.  We receive an incredible diversity of orphaned native birds that require hand feedings every few minutes.  Our devoted interns provide the constant care, cleaning and love to raise these animals to a releasable age.  Pictured here are two nestling Eastern Screech owls that are enjoying a “vacation” from their cage while it is being cleaned.  They loved the view from the second story window where they could see the woodlot behind our hospital.  A few weeks later, these owls were moved into an outdoor cage in the woodlot, and once they acclimated to life outdoors they left the cage on their own accord to return to a life in the wild.

Summer and Fall of 2011 –  18 orphaned raccoons from a very young age.  All but two of them were released.  Raccoons require a lot of care, as they develop very slowly and take a long time to reach an independent stage.  In the wild, some raccoons will stay with their mom through their first winter. 

 Although they do not hibernate, they will seek shelter in the den they were raised in until mom kicks them out the following spring to raise a new litter.

These photos show two of this year’s raccoons being released back into the wild.

Some objects, like this rock, they are experiencing for the first time.  At first they are timid, but they quickly adapt to the environment around them.

These raccoons have a nice thick fur coat and extras stores of fat to give them the best chance of surviving their first winter on their own, since mom is not around to help.

All photographs are courtesy of Ashley Kramer, Student Intern.