Wildlife center supporters gather in Berryville Sept. 16

The Blue Ridge Wildlife Center. Photos courtesy BRWC

The new hospital for native wild life near Boyce has celebrated its first birthday and a large group of Blue Ridge Wildlife Center (BRWC) supporters will gather at a high-end fund-raiser in Berryville on Saturday, Sept. 16, to celebrate. Appropriately, the event is called the “Hills Are Alive! Soiree” and many thousands of dollars will be raised.

Dr. Jennifer Riley tends to an injured hawk.

“The Difference a Year Can Make” is the title of a celebratory article written by Dr. Jennifer Riley, DVM in “The Ridgeline”, the center’s most recent issue of its newsletter, in which she says this first year in the brand new facility “has enabled staff to provide immediate and improved care for wildlife with traumatic injuries.”

Riley runs the hospital and newcomer Chris Scott is in his first few months as executive director of the center.

The Royal Examiner interviewed Scott the day before his first day on the job last May. He describes his first four months as a “whirlwind”, his responsibility a “weighty one”, but with his life’s work in nonprofits, he comes well equipped to complete his mission.Scott and his family are Winchester residents. His wife, Heather, is an art teacher at Handley High School.

The skunk, Beeker, hospital mascot.

Slightly more than a year ago, the wildlife center was operating in an ancient and falling down house less than a mile from the year-old quarters at 106 Island Farm Lane which is off Route 50. Its contact number is (540) 837-9000. The BRWC routinely provides assistance with wildlife emergencies and concerns, and also rescue and rehabilitates injured, orphaned and sick native wildlife. It also has educational facilities for local school kids.

In the past, surgeries were performed at a local small animal hospital. Today, Riley runs her own show and in the past year performed more than 100 surgeries at the new hospital which provided shelter to more than a thousand injured wild animals, 25% of them turtles.

In addition to its permanent staff, president Linda Goshen reported that 15 “dynamic, committed interns” (mostly college students)  worked at the hospital during the summer “and our rescue, rehabilitation and release activities are at full steam.”

Also, four additions to the board of directors were voted in. Timothy Bates, Susan Galbraith, Judy Landes, and Russ McKelway. They join Goshen; vice chair Beatrice von Gontard; secretary Hilary Davidson; treasurer Mike Morency; and Tricia Booker, Andy Ferrari, and Patricia Robinson, on the board.

Interested visitors are encouraged to stop by. There are numerous permanent residents to see, including a bald eagle, a skunk, and an Arctic fox. A viewing area is under construction.