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.
My memory of choice from 2025 is my veterinary shadow day—a whirlwind of helping to “unbox” Eastern Box Turtles, gingerly lifting Snapping Turtles from their tubs for treatment, swabbing a Central Ratsnake’s scrapes, and decoding radiographs. My veterinary shadow day reinforced every desire for compassionate conservation that I had nurtured. Though exhausting, it was the perfect combination of intensity and measured concentration.
While the day often felt like a trial by fire, my favorite moment was certainly the "trial by Eastern Screech-owl." Every Monday, the vets record "feet and feathers" notes — checking talons for abnormalities and counting the flight feathers of our raptor patients. Entering the raptor pens felt like stepping into a quiet fortress, broken only by the sound of boots on the floor. Sliding open a towering barn door revealed our next patient. Tucked into the corner, 15 feet into the air, an Eastern Screech-owl squinted down at us. Had a vet intern not pointed him out, I would've assumed the enclosure vacant!
This was the moment my online training in proper bird handling was meant to kick in ... right after I unconvincingly squashed second thoughts. No matter how many times I'd heard that most birds weigh only a few pounds, if not just ounces, I was still shocked by the fragile, feather-light body of the screech-owl. Holding it during its check-up felt oddly awkward, like holding chopsticks for the first time, only with consequences more severe than dropping a dumpling.
In feisty fashion, the screech-owl grabbed my glove in his beak. Though my gloves thwarted any nibbles, it was a sharp reminder that I was holding a living creature! How easily I was lulled into amazement (mingled with a little fear, of course). We quickly wrapped the patient in a cloth for weighing, which felt like a forbidden interaction, much like all my other close handling with patients that day. This swirl of emotions deepened my sense of connection to the natural world. It’s a reminder that we have responsibilities to keep the beautiful threads of our ecosystems intertwined and reinforced.
Even after 10 hours of treatments, observations, and cleaning, I had to peel myself away with glazed eyes. An electrical current had carried me throughout the day, and I wasn't sure how to unplug. As I emotionally downshifted on the drive home, I found an incredible respect for our team of veterinarians and rehabilitators that transition deftly between energetic states throughout the day, every day. While it's easy to glamorize a single day helping our patients, I have no doubt that the work demands challenge its gratification. Embracing this work in its entirety makes our team beyond incredible and deserving every ounce of support and care. I will forever be in awe of their selfless dedication to conservation and animal welfare. And while I may never hold another Eastern Screech-owl, our recovering patient instilled enough respect and admiration for a lifetime. I hope future experiences will carry the same feeling.
– Cat Orescan, Advancement Associate