Caring For Our Wildlife

A day trip to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre, located in the small community of Errington on central Vancouver Island, reveals the many ways the centre helps the Island’s valued animal population.

There are a number of reasons why black bear cubs are orphaned on Vancouver Island. On my tour I am told that it’s difficult to say for sure why there are so many. “The mother bear chooses how many cubs she will have, probably determined by conditions which affect the food source,” says Julie Mackey, a biologist and the assistant manager of the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association (NIWRA). “Another possibility is poachers, or the mother being hit on the highway. We don’t know for sure, but maybe she left the smallest and weakest cubs behind.”

Mackey continues to share some additional details about how the orphaned bears are cared for once they arrive at the centre. Because it is crucial for the bear’s future survival in the wild to remain fearful of human smell, the centre is strict in keeping the bears from associating food with human presence. There is no interaction with people, and meals of fish, fruit, berries, and meat are kept in place at all times with enough so they don’t fight. Sounds of the forest are piped in with a chorus of wind, birds chirping, water splashing, and other natural sounds bears would experience in the wild. The cubs are monitored by video surveillance in order to watch behaviour and patterns.

Along with aiding orphaned black bears of the Island, Birds of Prey are also a specialty of the wildlife centre. Mackey and I move on to a tour of the flight centre – one of the largest in North America and home for recovering Eagles. “They fly easily and naturally here so it helps them to rehabilitate and prepare for release,” Mackey says.

As we enter the treatment centre in the same section, a digital x-ray machine displays a skeletal image of a bird and nearby there are treatment tables and several incubators with small nest-shaped cloths to hold the wee ones. It is modern technology and is well-equipped with capabilities for anesthetic and blood work.

“It is not like a small animal vet, it is highly traumatizing for these animals to be handled,” Mackey says of the delicacy in which each animal requires. However, some of them love it, she adds as we head to visit the permanent residents. I meet Walla next. She is a female Raven and smart enough to win friends by pushing her food up out of her wire so the wild birds will come to visit. Sandor is a Bald Eagle that arrived with a broken wing, and Emily, a Saker Falcon, came in with a head trauma and eye injury. “She is a talker and very cheeky,” Mackey says.

I meet several of the raptors that day, like the Barred Owls, Peregrine Falcons, a Swainson’s Hawk named Elvis, two Great Horned Owls, a Red Tailed Hawk, a short-eared Owl named King Alfred, and a Golden Eagle who answers to Queen Alfreda.  I meet Oliver too, a three-year-old Barred Owl who was found in a fallen tree. His wing tips were damaged so he is a permanent resident and helped show me around on the rest of my tour.

The recovery centre in Errington was started in 1986 by the non-profit North Island Wildlife Recovery Association, and is currently overseen by a Board of Directors and wildlife manager, Robin Campbell. The NIWRA is approaching its 26th year of operation, thanks to the financial support it receives from public and private donations. “It is crucial to create awareness and education for the public in an effort to be of the greatest assistance to the raptors and bears that we are trying to protect,” Mackey says.

The NIWRA actively promotes the centre at local schools in an interactive way to promote learning and engagement of students. The centre’s property is well-suited for self-guided tours as well as group tours, and the interactive Museum of Nature with displays of indigenous west coast animals and habitat provides valuable information and a fun learning environment.

This article was written by Dona Naylor of Island Times Magazine.
For more information on opportunities within the NIWRA, visit the website at www.niwra.org

The centre is located at 1240 Leffler Road in Errington and is open to the public daily from March to December from  9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call 250.248.8534 for general inquiries or if you come across wildlife that needs assistance, contact the NIWRA wildlife manager directly at 250.248.0845.

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