Wildwoods

Wildwoods We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Duluth, Minnesota that rehabilitates orphaned, injured, and sick wildlife.

In 2006, our two founders discovered an injured bird. They took it to a veterinarian who assured them the bird would be ok, and referred them to a wildlife rehabilitator. This experience inspired them to become wildlife rehabilitators themselves. During their first year, they took in just 40 animals. In 2016, Wildwoods admitted over 1,250 animals and began construction on a new, specially designed

facility, emphasizing the use of recycled materials and making as little impact on the environment as possible. Wildwoods continues to grow and relies on community support to help us rehabilitate and release our patients. Our Values
• We believe that our nature and wildlife add immeasurably to our quality of life
• We respect and value animals of all species
• We provide high quality care to all wildlife brought to us
• We establish cooperative relationships with other professionals working towards similar goals

Our Goals

• To provide humane care for sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife, with the ultimate goal of return to the wild
• To provide wild animals a dignified life while in our care and, if necessary, a dignified ending to that life
• To be a resource for people who find wild animals in need
• To foster understanding and appreciation of, as well as respectful coexistence with our wild neighbors

Thank you to everyone who donated to us during Give to the Max. We end the night having raised $25,633. Our goal was $26...
21/11/2025

Thank you to everyone who donated to us during Give to the Max. We end the night having raised $25,633. Our goal was $26,000 but we are sure that we will bring in the rest tomorrow.

This saw-whet owl is one of the beneficiaries of your generosity. Thank you for helping us to work with these precious animals.

21/11/2025

Porcupines are a favorite of ours at Wildwoods. It's bittersweet when they come in the door; we definitely don't want them to have to come, but they are such wonderful animals!

This is the release video of an adult that came in with an injured leg. As you can see, she was more than happy to finally get away from us!

We just passed $19,000 in donations for Give to the Max and are $7,000 away from our goal!

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

OR

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

20/11/2025

This is one of our favorite stories. We received an injured common snapping turtle (yes, hit by a car 😕), and sent her down to WRC for advanced care. While she did succumb to her injuries, they were able to extract her eggs, incubate them, and return the babies to us for release!

It was important for the turtles to be released where their mother was found because genetic diversity is structured by geographic location. Releasing them into a new area could have had a genetic impact in their new location.

To help these and other animals, don't forget to Give to the Max! We have just under $10,000 to go to reach our goal of $26,000! Thank you!

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

OR

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

This is one of the hundreds of baby animals that we raised and released over the summer. We received three baby woodchuc...
20/11/2025

This is one of the hundreds of baby animals that we raised and released over the summer. We received three baby woodchucks, and let me tell you, they were a pleasure to raise!

Like every baby animal that comes into our care, they received species-specific, age-appropriate housing and diets. And no matter how cute they are, we have a very hands-off approach. These are wild animals and we ensure that they stay wild.

So far this Give to the Max Day, we have raised just over $15,000. We have a goal to raise $26,000. Your support can help us to ensure that we are here for the animals. Thank you!

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

OR

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

It's Give to the Max Day! We have a goal of raising $26,000, and we are just about halfway there... So far, we have rais...
19/11/2025

It's Give to the Max Day! We have a goal of raising $26,000, and we are just about halfway there... So far, we have raised $12,156. This includes an anonymous donor match of $4,500.

Our numbers are high this year; we have admitted 1,258 animals (an increase of 20 percent over this same time period last year).

Each animal admitted requires diligence and care. This year, we have transferred 18 percent (232) of the animals we've admitted to other facilities for more advanced care (like the turkey vulture posted here!).

Even though animals that we transfer are with us for only 24-48 hours, they require a fair amount of resources. We coordinate with the finder, first triaging over the phone. If the finder needs assistance in containing the animal, we provide that assistance via our strong volunteer network. Once at Wildwoods, these animals need thorough exams and emergency treatment. We work with our veterinarian of record, as well as the veterinarians at the Wildlife Rehab Center, The Raptor Center, or Wild and Free to determine next steps for the animal. An overnight stay requires appropriate housing, medicine, and food, as well as sub-cutaneous hydration. We then coordinate transport via our volunteer transport network.

We are quite honored to be a part of this larger network of rehabilitators in the state, and to be able to take advantage of these highly professional animal hospitals.

Every donation helps us to maintain this high level of care and collaboration, and we cannot do this alone.

Please join us for Give to the Max by donating on our website, or on our Give to the Max page.

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

Thank you!

This is a hard post to write. It is not the type of post we like to write, and it leaves us (or at least me, the author ...
17/11/2025

This is a hard post to write. It is not the type of post we like to write, and it leaves us (or at least me, the author of the post) feeling icky in the sense that this feels like sensationalizing an animal's very difficult death. But this bald eagle deserves to be heard. Make no mistake, this eagle did not have to die and his death is totally on our hands.

**The point of this post: Get the lead out. We are killing animals in very painful ways because we refuse as a society to remove lead from hunting and fishing.**

So let me be blunt on what happens to eagles who ingest lead.

We received a call last week about an eagle who was "curled up in a ball in the woods." Immediately we thought, this eagle likely has avian influenza or lead poisoning. The first photo is a photo the finder took of the eagle, curled up in the woods.

The second photo is the eagle in the box in which he was transported to Wildwoods. He is sitting and leaning forward. This is a position we have seen many times in eagles that have lead poisoning. His behavior is depressed, meaning he is very quiet and not very responsive.

The third photo is our clinic manager holding him. We intentionally took this photo to put on Facebook. This eagle is not fighting in any way. While she held him, he was quiet and barely responsive. This is not how a wild animal behaves, including many of the wild animals that arrive at our clinic. We receive about 30 eagles a year, and they are not subdued like this unless they are very sick.

You can see his tail feathers are green. That is the color of his mutes (combination of f***l matter, urate, and urine). This is an indication of lead poisoning. The blanket that was in the box he was brought in was covered in green mutes as well.

When this eagle was examined he was given the lowest body score condition that we have ever given an eagle at Wildwoods. He was beyond emaciated, if such a thing is even possible. He also had head tics which are neurological issues causes by lead poisoning.

We are not able to test yet for lead levels, but will be very soon as we are purchasing a lead machine so that we can do so in the future (feel free to donate towards one on this post). Based on our collective experience, the clinical signs of the eagle are consistent with a very high level of lead poisoning. Indications: the severe emaciation of the eagle, his depressed attitude, his head tics, and the green mutes. Were this eagle to have been tested, we are certain the level of lead in his blood would have been too high to even register.

The only kind thing to do in a case like this is to humanely euthanize the animal that has been suffering so greatly. Just look at his face. It breaks our hearts to have to do this again and again, This eagle died a very difficult death because of us. We have got to do better.

Yes, we are fundraising on this post. It is very difficult to keep a center like ours open and we cannot help animals like this eagle unless we are consistently raising funds. We are here seven days a week for all animals and we cannot do it without the assistance of people who care.

You can donate on this post, our Give to the Max page or our website.

But the most important thing you can do is, SHARE this information and help to Get the Lead Out!

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

Resources for Get the Lead Out:

https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air-water-land-climate/getting-lead-out-of-fishing-tackle

https://raptor.umn.edu/about-us/our-research/lead-poisoning

This is our first snowy owl of the year, and this is one feisty bird. The plumage indicates that the owl is likely an ad...
12/11/2025

This is our first snowy owl of the year, and this is one feisty bird. The plumage indicates that the owl is likely an adult female or immature male or female (adult males are almost entirely white).

The owl arrived at Wildwoods yesterday after having fallen into a clarifier tank in a wastewater treatment facility. The owl was able to climb out and was found sitting by the tank.

One of the wastewater treatment staff called us, safely contained the owl in a box, and held onto it until Wildwoods' volunteer Brian was able to pick the owl up and transport it to Wildwoods.

The snowy was quite wet and covered in grease and oil. After a thorough exam, we cleaned the owl up and dried it off as best we could (the owl will need to be sedated for a full bath), hydrated and warmed up the owl, and then gave it a nice dinner.

Volunteers Elda and Rex are on their way to The Raptor Center this morning with this owl. Here's hoping for a great outcome!

It is early giving for Give to the Max and your dollars help us to support animals like this owl. The first $4,500 in donations will be matched dollar for dollar by an anonymous donor. You can donate on our GiveMN page, or on our website. Thank you for caring about the animals!

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

We had a wonderful celebration on November 1 celebrating the gifting of land from founders Farzad and Peggy to Wildwoods...
10/11/2025

We had a wonderful celebration on November 1 celebrating the gifting of land from founders Farzad and Peggy to Wildwoods! Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped us to celebrate this momentous event! See photos here:

https://wildwoodsrehab.org/open-house/

We did NOT have animals in residence during this event. We did, however, receive animals as soon as the event ended. And we have continued to do so! The barred owl, saw-whet owl, and turkey vulture are three of our most recent admits. As always, we worked with The Raptor Center to determine appropriate next steps for each of these animals.

It is Give to the Max time and our animal admit numbers are 20 percent higher than they were this time last year. Please do what you can! Every dollar helps the animals.

You can donate via the Give to the Max Website, or the Wildwoods website.

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

07/11/2025

Clarifications: There have been a lot of comments on this post. Apparently I was not as clear as I could have been (I didn't expect this post to go so far and wide)! This kennel was used to transport this orphan bear to Wild and Free in Garrison, MN. At Wild and Free, he will be in an outdoor enclosed area of acreage where he will be raised with other orphaned bears. Release will occur when this bear is deemed able to go out on his own by the wildlife veterinarians at Wild and Free. We are picking up a lot of new folks with this post, so a bit of information on Wildwoods. We are in Duluth, MN and have been rehabbing wild animals since 2006. We are permitted by the MN Department of Natural Resources and US Fish and Wildlife. Our goal is to rehabilitate injured wild animals and raise orphaned wildlife with the goal of release back into their natural habitats. For more information, please check out our website at wildwoodsrehab.org.

We've had a lot of calls about first year bears again this fall! If a bear is 30 pounds (about the size of a lab), then the bear should be able to figure out how to hibernate on his own. This little guy from Silver Bay was much smaller; he did not even reach the height of a car's bumper. The DNR was able to live trap this guy in three short hours and brought him to us. He is now safely ensconced at Wild and Free with other orphaned bears.

(The cheerios were to lure him out of the live trap into the kennel.)

It is Give to the Max time! Your support helps us to be there for animals like this little one.

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

(We are coming off of an excellent Open House Celebration! Photos to come soon.)It is Give to the Max Early Giving! So f...
05/11/2025

(We are coming off of an excellent Open House Celebration! Photos to come soon.)

It is Give to the Max Early Giving! So far this year, our animal admits have increased by 20 percent. We are going to end the year with more 1,300 animal patients admitted if this pace keeps up!

Our goal is to raise $26,000 by the end of Give to the Max Day on November 20. The first $4,500 in donations will be matched, dollar for dollar. Funds raised with Give to the Max will help us finish out this year.

You can donate three ways (here, on our Give to the Max page, or on our website).

https://www.givemn.org/organization/Wildwoods

https://wildwoods.app.neoncrm.com/forms/give-to-the-max-2025

Thank you for helping the animals!

Address

MN

Opening Hours

Monday 10:00 - 16:00
Tuesday 10:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 16:00
Thursday 10:00 - 16:00
Friday 10:00 - 16:00
Saturday 10:00 - 16:00
Sunday 10:00 - 16:00

Telephone

+12184913604

Website

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Our Story

In 2006, our founders encountered an injured bird. They took it to a veterinarian who assured them the bird would be ok and referred them to a local wildlife rehabilitator. This experience inspired them to become wildlife rehabilitators themselves. During their first year, they took in just 40 animals. In 2016, Wildwoods admitted over 1,250 animals and Our Values • We believe that our nature and wildlife add immeasurably to our quality of life • We respect and value animals of all species • We provide high quality care to all wildlife brought to us • We establish cooperative relationships with other professionals working towards similar goals Our Goals • To provide humane care for sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife, with the ultimate goal of return to the wild • To provide wild animals a dignified life while in our care and, if necessary, a dignified ending to that life • To be a resource for people who find wild animals in need • To foster understanding and appreciation of, as well as respectful coexistence with our wild neighbors