The Schuylkill Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic was formed in 1987 as a self-sustaining division of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, with the fervent belief that anyone kind enough to bring an animal to us would also care enough to make a small donation to help support its care.

The door opened on August 28 of that year, after the director, Patricia R. "Trish" O'Connell, had completed her training as a professional wildlife rehabilitator and passed the state's licensing exam. That door was attached to an old barn on a corner of the Environmental Center's property.  It had no heat or indoor plumbing, but it did have a roof which leaked only occasionally.  Trish's home was no longer her own.  Water was bucketed from there, food prepared there and meager supplies stored there.  A necessary skill was the creativity to improvise!

Those days were primitive, but rewarding.  The first patient was a Cooper's Hawk with a broken wing brought in by the local Pa. Wildlife Conservation Officer.  Its admission was recorded on an index card, and it was examined on a treatment table consisting of a wooden plank atop a stack of boxes.  The bandaged hawk was placed in a cardboard box with a wire lid and placed on a picnic table.

During the rest of '87 the average patient roster consisted of 6 birds and 4 mammals.  The new year brought a significant increase in patients and therefore workload, so the first group of volunteers were greeted in March of 1988.  Fifty-six individuals attended the first orientation and training classes, and twenty five became regular volunteers.  Ten of those original volunteers are still involved with the center today.

Much has changed since then, of necessity.  Running water was not installed in the barn until 1992.  To this day, SWRC is a "no frills" operation.  We continue to operate under  state and federal licenses and regulations.  In 2002 over 4891 orphaned and injured animals from the Delaware Valley were admitted to the center, and the number of admissions unfortunately  increases every year.  In 2001 we cared for over 4100 animals.  The volunteer corps has grown to over 60 and in 1998 we finally moved into a new building.  Trish and the center's educational animals visit more than 70 schools, organizations, and community groups each year, sensitizing the public to the plight of urban wildlife and its importance in the ecosystem.

And YES!, the Cooper's Hawk did recover and was successfully released, the first of more than 43,655 animals to have been treated thus far at SWRC!

©2002TheSchuylkillWildlifeRehabilitationClinic 
Website by:  Chris Mills
Photography by: C.Mills & SWRC Volunteers
Page last revised:  9/2/02