Upcoming Event: Coffee House
April 3rd, 12-4pm
Westphal Room, Cole Harbour Place
Hope for Wildlife DVD's and Merchandise, Live Music, Silent Auction, Free Tea and Coffee, Free Admission!
 
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Our Mission

Connecting people to wildlife in a positive way - through knowledge and understanding - the Hope for Wildlife Society believes that education through rehabilitation is the key to a sustainable future.
 
Our mission comprises three important goals:

 
1. Rehabilitation and release into the wild of injured and orphaned wildlife.
2. Education of our children and the general public regarding the importance of the conservation of all wildlife species and the ecosystems that sustain them.
3. Research to develop the knowledge and understanding necessary for the conservation and management of wildlife resources in a complex and continually changing biological, social and political environment.
 
Come visit our Learning Centre, Wildlife Garden, and Gift Shop! Opening for the Season June 1 2010, Monday - Saturday 10am-4pm
 
Check out our website at www.hopeforwildlife.net
 
 
Our Programs
 
Wildlife Rehabilitation: The Hope for Wildlife Society specializes in the rehabilitation and release of injured and orphaned wildlife in Nova Scotia. Since 1997, we have rehabilitated thousands of animals and returned them to the wild.
 
 In 2006, we added a program for the rehabilitation-for-release of White-Tailed Deer when Shubenacadie Wildlife Park discontinued their program for injured and orphaned deer. Shubenacadie had been the only facility in Nova Scotia taking in deer, so the HFWS became involved as, without an approved rehabilitation facility taking on this program, injured and orphaned fawns and deer faced euthanization.
 
In 2007, we added a program for the rehabilitation-for-release of Birds of Prey when the founders of the Atlantic Raptor Rehabilitation Centre retired, after 25 years of selfless service to the community.  They generously donated over $30,000 worth of flight cages to our Society.
 
The Hope for Wildlife Society continues to expand in order to meet the needs of wildlife in Nova Scotia. Currently, we are working towards an on-site veterinary hospital, to provide better care for our patients. At this time, all veterinary care is generously donated by Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital, Eastern Shore Veterinary Hospital, and the Metro Animal Emergency Clinic. An on-site hospital will eliminate the need to transport animals back and forth between hospital and rehabilitation centre, causing unnecessary stress and discomfort. The Hope for Wildlife Society hopes to open the doors of its hospital in early Spring 2010.
 
Education: Education plays an extremely prominent and important role in the work performed by the Hope for Wildlife Society. Our methods of education range from answering telephone inquiries to giving tours of our learning centre and speaking at universities.
 
An important part of our mission is to connect people to wildlife in a positive way, through knowledge and understanding.  To help achieve this goal, a grant was obtained to expand our existing education programs and add new equipment to our facility.  We now have live video feed of our white-tailed deer enclosure, birds of prey flight cages, and other wildlife pens, that permit our visitors to see the wildlife in rehabilitation without interfering with their care and without unduly stressing them. 
 
In addition to our visitors being able to view the wildlife through closed circuit television, we also have reptiles, birds and mammals, accessible to visitors in our learning centre. These reptiles, birds, and mammals, for one reason or another, are unable to be released; however, they are all healthy and have personalities that make them excellent ambassadors for our education program.
 
In 2008, work began on our Wildlife Garden. The purpose of the garden in to teach visitors about natural habitats, native plants, how wildlife interacts with their habitat, and encourage our visitors to create wildlife-friendly gardens at home.
 
In June 2009, the Hope for Wildlife Society opened the doors of the Learning Centre and the Wildlife Garden to welcome the public on a regular basis. We still continue to host tour groups, but now visitors can drop in at their leisure and learn about Nova Scotia’s wildlife in a fun, interactive way through displays and guided tours.    
 
Volunteer, Employment, and Internship Opportunities: As a non-profit organization, the Hope for Wildlife Society has relied on the hard work of dedicated volunteers from the very beginning. Today the team has grown to include over 70 individuals who assist with everything from animal care and program development, to fundraising, marketing, and communications.
 
As the Society grew, so did the demand for the service we provide. The summers were a particularly busy time of year, with a significant increase of admissions to the centre due to orphaned wildlife. To help cope with the influx, the Hope for Wildlife Society began applying for funding to hire students for the summer months. Since 2002, the Hope for Wildlife Society has employed youth over the summer months to assist in the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, deliver educational programs, and renovate and build new portions of the facility.
 
Hope for Wildlife has also participated in Job Creation Partnerships with Human Resources and Development Canada since 2006. Job Creation Partnerships provide employment opportunities to unemployed individuals in Nova Scotia to gain valuable skills and work experience.
 
In order to provide everyone the opportunity to gain the unique experience of working at Hope for Wildlife, an Internship program was implemented in May 2009. The Internship is an intensive learning experience which provides individuals the opportunity to gain the same experience as staff, without having to commit to an entire work term. Although the Internship program was a bit of an experiment for the first year, it was clearly a success, with six individuals participating in 1-month unpaid internships.  The Hope for Wildlife Society is very pleased with the outcome of this new program and plans to continue offering internship opportunities for the summer of 2010.