It’s time to look back on 2023! Check our blog between Christmas and New Year’s for a variety of stories and memories of 2023 from the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
I’ve only been at the Wildlife Center since May, but I have learned and experienced so much in these seven months that picking key memories is extremely difficult. Each day, when I show up for work, I never know quite what to expect. Yes, we have many of the same patients and tasks overall, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned that has become the guiding principle in wildlife rehabilitation is that our patients will keep us on our toes at all times!
If I had to pick one memory that exemplifies that principle, it would have to be from our five Black Bear cubs that we’ve been raising this year. I was so excited to meet these little ones, but I never could have guessed just how rambunctious they could be. My supervisor, Alex, took me up to their enclosure with bottles and bags of food in hand. When she opened the door, all I saw were two flashes of black fur, and suddenly felt a strong tug on both of my legs. The two cubs – known as One-Ear and Double Lavender – were eager to have their daily bottle of formula and knew exactly where to get them. I gave them what they were begging for (dousing my legs along the way) and tried my best to stay standing while both cubs attempted to climb up my entire body. If this experience didn’t shock me enough, imagine my surprise, when, once the bottles were empty, the cubs didn’t seem to believe it. They stayed adhered to my legs for the rest of the interaction hoping for just one more bottle. Imagine walking around with two seven-kilogram weights attached to you!
From that point on, I worked on my confidence when it came to learning how to care for these little menaces (said with all of the love, of course). I always say that no task was ever cut and dry when it came to the cubs. A simple feeding would entail being splashed with water from their playtime in the pool, having one attempt to steal my phone from my pocket, being the target of play-fighting, or just having three cubs underfoot while trying to do regular cleaning. Needless to say, it was always an adventure. Even when they became too big to go into their crates, they always found a way to cause a ruckus. From being weaned off the bottle to currently getting ready for winter dormancy, these cubs have never ceased to surprise me. I cannot wait for this spring when we get to release the cubs back into the wild!
– Grace Richey, Wildlife Rehabilitation Intern