About Toronto Wildlife Centre
Toronto Wildlife Center from Ben Badger on Vimeo.
Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC) was started by a group of volunteers on March 28th, 1993, because there was no organization in the Greater Toronto Area specifically dealing with issues arising when people and wildlife need to coexist in urban and suburban areas.
TWC remains the only wildlife centre in the GTA and is now the busiest wildlife centre in Canada. There is enormous demand for the centre’s services as a result of the high concentration of people and wildlife in the area.
The centre’s core programs include:
The Wildlife Hotline – The busiest one we know of in North America, TWC’s Hotline receives approximately 30,000 phone calls annually. In addition to calling about sick, injured and “orphaned” wildlife (about 50% are not actually orphaned, and Hotline staff ensure babies are returned to their parents), members of the public call TWC for advice about conflict situations involving wildlife (e.g., a family of ducks that has taken up residence in the pool yard), wild animals in need of rescue, and when they are simply seeking general information (e.g., they have seen an opossum in their yard for the first time, and are afraid of it).
TWC has built a reputation for excellence in preventative education via its Wildlife Hotline service. Sought after by other organizations to help them set up or develop similar phone information systems, TWC has just completed a groundbreaking 500 page manual to teach educators around the continent how to handle wildlife calls from the public.
The Wildlife Rescue Program – TWC is the only Canadian wildlife centre with a dedicated wildlife rescue program. Rescue staff are trained in swift water rescue, chemical immobilization, ice rescue, tree climbing, etc. Typically, rescue staff respond to calls about animals and / or situations that are too dangerous for the public to handle on their own. Examples of rescue situations include swans flash-frozen into ice, falcons caught in kite string dangling high in the treetops, beavers caught in oil spills, and sick (but still very mobile) coyotes.
The Veterinary Hospital – TWC is the only wildlife centre in Canada with a state of the art wildlife hospital and highly-trained veterinarians on staff. TWC has two part-time staff vets who have specialized knowledge and experience in wildlife medicine – a field which is very different from other areas of veterinary medicine. In addition, several veterinary specialists (e.g., ophthalmologists, dentists) volunteer their time in their areas of expertise.
The Wildlife Rehabilitation Program – Since 1993, TWC has worked with over 56,000 wild birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians representing over 270 species. These include common species, as well as threatened species and species-at-risk. Annually, the centre admits approximately 5,000 to 6,000 wild patients. Although not all survive, the centre works hard to return as many healthy wild animals as possible to their places in nature.
Education – TWC has always considered education equal in importance to our wildlife services. Means of educating the public include the Wildlife Hotline, our website, and our media work (we do hundreds of interviews each year). In addition, we have recently embarked on a 3-year public education campaign (funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation) to raise awareness about human-wildlife issues.
We are very proud of having established highly regarded programs that are often viewed as models for others in the field across North America.
Toronto Wildlife Centre
60 Carl Hall Rd., Unit 4Toronto, Ontario M3K 2C1Wildlife Hotline: (416) 631-0662