It’s time to look back on 2025! Check our blog between Christmas and New Year’s for a variety of stories and memories of 2025 from the staff of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
One of the perks of working at the Wildlife Center is getting to spend time shadowing the different parts of our operation — the front desk, the hospital, and rehabilitation. Since most of my work happens behind the scenes in communications, I was especially excited for the chance to step away from my computer and see what wildlife rehab looks like up close.
My rehab day landed on a frosty Thursday in January. We started in the animal kitchen, where the morning meal prep was already underway. I dove right in, helping to chop food, portioning out diets, and making sure each patient’s meal matched their specific needs. It felt a bit like taking a culinary crash course, complete with perfectly plated portions of nutrition.
From there, we headed outside, where I followed Kavya, one of our former Wildlife Rehabilitators. They walked me through feeding and weighing routines, and explained the process of flight training to help our avian patients regain strength. Helping with flight training that day was memorable in its own right, but the moment that eclipses everything else was catching and holding an Eastern Screech-owl.
I was initially caught off guard when Kavya asked if I wanted to try catching our next patient.
“I’m allowed to?” I exclaimed.
I’m a former librarian with a background in marketing and communications — not exactly a regular wildlife wrangler — so the invitation was both surreal and thrilling.
With a nod, Kavya handed me a net and told me to give it a go. After a few focused tries, I managed to catch the owl. I twisted the net just as Kavya had demonstrated, preventing the owl from escaping, then brought the bird down to the ground. As I gently folded my hands around him, the little raptor puffed up his feathers, and angrily clacked his beak at me in what was the most adorable threat I’ve ever received. I marveled down at him, this creature that I had only ever observed before as a bystander.
That is the moment that stays with me. Holding that screech-owl was such a small thing in the grand scheme of the day, but I felt so genuinely honored. And it is just that — an honor — to hold a wild animal in your hands. It’s unnatural, a brief interruption in the order of things, when this bird should be flying free, and I should be appreciating its existence from a respectful distance. But for that short, extraordinary moment, our paths crossed, and I was granted the privilege of handling a wild patient the way my colleagues do every day.
In the end, my rehab day experience reminded me that even when my work happens behind the scenes, I’m still a part of a team doing something profoundly meaningful — caring for wild animals and, in turn, the world in which we all call home.
– Tara Wall, Communications Coordinator