Hey everyone, welcome to Give to the Max day!
One more trip around the sun has come and gone! It’s now time for Give to The Max again! As I look back to find highlights to share, I am overwhelmed by another great year of giving the best available care to our beloved animals, because of donors like you! Two stories are sticking out in my mind-
The Wildlife Science Center is now home to the oldest red-tailed hawk on record! Our beautiful girl turned 31 years old this spring!!! Yes, you read that correctly! She came to us still in juvenile plumage in 1995 after the Raptor Center at the University of MN deemed her non-releasable. She was our very first bird and started a hugely successful raptor education program at WSC! She and I learned together and she always seemed to enjoy going out in public, seeing new places and new faces. She never grew weary of her amazing job of teaching the world about avian predators! She even went to the state fair this summer and seemed to have a great time seeing thousands of humans. Every moment we have with her is blessed, borrowed time.
The other story-of-the-year came when WSC answered the call in June to offer a forever-home to a mother black bear and her three cubs. Momma is very small, and was struggling to find enough food to support herself and her cubs. She turned to human food, which unfortunately people make readily available through improper management of garbage etc. The biologists that radio collared her did their very best to keep her wild and out of trouble. However, after three translocations and three returns to her home territory, her time was up. When she arrived, she weighed just a little over 130 lbs., which is VERY small for an adult bear, especially one who has three young cubs. Her milk supply was dry and the cubs were also very thin! Fast forward 5 months and Momma now weighs close to 180 pounds! Her milk supply returned and her cubs are now round and fluffy! One would never know what they have been through, except that Mom is still a small girl and still sports her green ear tag.
Building a raptor education program and bringing 4 bears back from starvation are efforts that cost staff
and money! None of these things would have happened without the support of donors like you!!! Please
consider donating toward our mission and our resident wildlife! You can either donate by clicking here
(https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildlife-Science-Center) or you can always contribute directly to WSC (https://www.wildlifesciencecenter.org/donate). We are eternally grateful for whatever amount you give.
