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Early in 2022 Medicine River Wildlife Centre, along with other facilities in Alberta, received protocol guidelines from Canadian Wildlife Service should avian flu arrive in the province. We felt prepared but did not expect the virus to hit quite as hard as it did.

We are very grateful however, for the advance notice and that our new facility is equipped with a fully dedicated quarantine room. Other facilities in the province were not as lucky, either reducing the patients that they would accept, or in a couple of cases, simply stopping admitting certain species altogether.  

It was a fairly steep learning curve to be able to understand, diagnose, and treat avian flu but staff at MRWC experienced a fairly smooth and safe transition to the new protocols. The results to date have been more devastating than many realize and MRWC staff are looking forward to seeing official statistics when the year is over. What we are seeing now in our wildlife hospital is a sharp decline in admittance of ducklings, goslings, and also birds of prey. A hungry raptor would happily scavenge from dead ducks and geese or bring the treasures back to their young in the nest. Entire families have been wiped out and the majority of owl and eagle nests that our staff have been monitoring have gone silent. Our large raptor intensive care room would normally be incredibly full and busy this time of year but currently, is completely empty.

Wildlife however, are amazingly resilient and we look forward to information on whether they develop an immunity to this virus. We also know that when numbers of wildlife decline, as long as there is a good food supply, decent weather, and a lack of virus next year, we could see birds having maximum clutches to help replenish the numbers.

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More and more often, the staff of MRWC are being called out to help with abandoned, domestic pets. It’s very hard to turn the finders away as often they have few resources to turn to. 

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It's that time again! With spring on our doorstep, the orphaned and injured wild babies will be filling our ICUs any minute and your help is needed.

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Every April hosts National Wildlife Week and this year we want to celebrate by helping our wild neighbours. You can be a part of it!

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MRWC sees a large number of Great Gray Owls admitted annually as our facility is right within their range. We are even fortunate enough to have a pair of Great Gray Owls nesting on our property. The most common injury is impact related damage such as concussions and fractures as a result of collisions with vehicles.

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We regularly receive a few pigeons each year, but the cold last December brought more than usual. 20 injured, freezing, and orphaned pigeons have come to us in the past couple of months.

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Commit to a monthly donation of whatever amount your choose and help us reach our goal of 50 new donors in February.

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Our summer intern program is fully back and will be up and running April through October of this year.

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Can you spare a few hours a month? Our Drink Container Pickup Service is need of more volunteers in the Central Alberta region.

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Looking for a beautiful, nature inspired gift and want to give back to wildlife at the same time? Limited time only!

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Migration can be a difficult time for some birds as the juveniles sometimes are not strong enough to make the long journey.

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The end of August at MRWC is year end for patient stats as both federal and provincial permits are due in September. Each year, it’s interesting to see how the patients, injuries, and successes compare to previous years.

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This is Oscar, the newest addition to our education team. He is a baby Great Grey Owl and lost the ends of both his wings and will never fly again.

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When returning wildlife back to nature after their stay in a wildlife hospital, there are actually a few styles of releases. Examples include, a release back into the same family that a juvenile has come from, calling in a new parent to take care of a juvenile when their parents are gone, the release of an adult into appropriate habitat, and then there is the "soft release".

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Our small reception and gift shop will be opening to the public again this Tuesday, July 6th!

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A huge congratulations goes out to Amanda Haustein from Erskine on her big win in our 50/50 Cash Raffle. She is the lucky winner of $4745!

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Sales have opened today for our very first online 50/50 raffle and we're so excited!

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As long as winter may feel here in Alberta, it never ceases to amaze us as to how quickly spring arrives on our doorstep.

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Our virtual auction gives you the opportunity to not only get a beautiful item, but give back to our wildlife hospital operations as we approach the busy spring and summer seasons.

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Each year our staff make use of special deer masks to disguise themselves when raising orphaned deer or moose.