Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

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Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Blue Ridge Wildlife Center is a nonprofit wildlife teaching hospital in Boyce, VA.

This young Virginia Opossum was transferred to us by AERO Animal Education and Rescue Organization due to a jaw fracture...
10/16/2026

This young Virginia Opossum was transferred to us by AERO Animal Education and Rescue Organization due to a jaw fracture that was likely caused by a vehicle collision.

In addition to a mandibular fracture, this individual also suffered a traumatic brain injury that is causing some neurological issues including circling and star gazing. Shortly after intake we were able to surgically stabilize the jaw and a nasogastric tube (a tube entering through the nostrils and going to the lower esophagus) was placed so that we could avoid motion at that jaw for the first few days of healing. See photo captions for more details.

The Solo cup around his neck and face is NOT trash causing injury (which we often see), but rather a homemade, specially-designed opossum E-collar that will help to protect the nasogastric tube from frustrated opossum hands while this patient heals.

This guy has a long road ahead and we are hopeful that the neurological issues will resolve fully as the mandible heals. For now he is resting comfortably on strong pain medications and maintaining nutrition through a liquid diet.

This Great Blue Heron was rescued by an officer from Fairfax County Animal Services in Reston, VA after swallowing a fis...
10/15/2026

This Great Blue Heron was rescued by an officer from Fairfax County Animal Services in Reston, VA after swallowing a fish hook.

On intake, fishing line was noted coming out of the mouth and X-rays confirmed that a hook was in the proventriculus (the glandular stomach of birds). Fortunately, this heron was stable and in good condition, so we were able to take this bird to surgery quickly.

Our veterinary team performed a proventriculotomy, cutting into the proventriculus through a small incision in the body wall, and removed the hook, which had just barely perforated the wall of the stomach. Given the hook’s position, and the amount of inflammation in the body cavity, we have significant concerns for infection and this patient’s prognosis is guarded for now.

The heron has now recovered fully from anesthesia and is standing and moving around the enclosure. We will continue to monitor closely over the next week or two while this patient is on strong pain medications and antibiotics and we are hopeful for a full recovery.

We treat dozens of patients each year after they swallow hooks. Most are turtles or waterbirds that eat fish. These hooks do not just dissolve in stomachs. In many cases, they perforate the stomach, leading to severe infections and death. In lucky cases, those hooks become embedded in the walls of their stomachs before they cause systemic issues, though they can still cause problems down the line.

If you are an angler, you can help protect wildlife by ensuring any hook and line material is removed from the environment as quickly as possible. Make every effort to retrieve lost gear. If you are a person who kayaks, paddle boards, or walks around lakes or pond areas, be on the lookout for fishing gear that has become entangled in bushes or trees and remove this litter whenever possible.

This Laughing Gull came to us from Woodbridge, VA where he was found to be lethargic and easily contained. While there a...
10/14/2026

This Laughing Gull came to us from Woodbridge, VA where he was found to be lethargic and easily contained. While there are a variety of diseases, toxins, and traumas that can cause these signs, diagnostics revealed severe fungal disease, likely aspergillosis, that caused granulomas in the lungs and thickening of the air sacs. Given the severity of damage to these important tissues and the extremely poor prognosis for survival, this bird was humanely euthanized.

Aspergillosis is a fairly common, non-contagious fungal disease that we see most commonly in birds with some species being more susceptible than others (e.g. osprey, loons, gulls, ducks, etc. being more susceptible). It can also impact other animals, including humans, and individuals who are immunosuppressed are most at risk. This fungal organism is found in the environment in decomposing organic matter, such as soil, grain, and straw and animals are infected by inhaling spores. This results in respiratory disease in most animals, as it did in this gull.

This gull was already at the end stage of disease by the time they made it to our hospital. The chronic infection that resulted in emaciation, weakness, and respiratory difficulty. X-rays revealed nodular lesions in the lungs that are classic of what we see in severe aspergillosis cases. In this case, the plaques and nodules were taking over more than 75% of the lung space. These lesions are known to be very painful in birds and humans, though our patients hide pain well. Bloodwork also showed the classic changes that we see in severe aspergillosis cases.

While early cases of aspergillosis can be treated, these advanced cases have a very poor prognosis and it would not be humane to attempt treatment and euthanasia was the best course of action. Not every rehabilitation case ends with release, but when release is not possible, we are honored to be able to help limit suffering for these animals.

Finders witnessed this Ruddy Duck crash land in a Wawa parking lot late at night and promptly brought him in for care. F...
10/13/2026

Finders witnessed this Ruddy Duck crash land in a Wawa parking lot late at night and promptly brought him in for care. Fortunately, this duck did not sustain any major trauma and he was released after we were able to perform a thorough exam, confirm there were no injuries, and ensure he was waterproofing properly.

Ruddy Ducks are compact, thick-necked waterfowl that breed in the central plains of the U.S. and Canada during the summer and overwinter along the wetland and coastal areas of the southern U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean. Many are migrating through our area now and like other nighttime migrants, they can mistake wet, rain-slicked asphalt for bodies of water, resulting in crash landings.

Similar to other diving birds like loons, grebes, and mergansers, Ruddy ducks have their feet set very far back on their bodies to aid in swimming. This means that they walk awkwardly on land and struggle to take off from the ground. They too must “run” across water surfaces to get airborne. If you see diving ducks down on wet pavement, this is always an emergency and you should contact a permitted rehabilitator right away.

Thankfully this duck did not sustain any significant injuries and he was released later the same day onto a river near the found location where he could take off easily!

This young Southern Flying Squirrel was brought to us when the finder noticed her on their porch shivering and alone. Th...
10/12/2026

This young Southern Flying Squirrel was brought to us when the finder noticed her on their porch shivering and alone. The finder was able to contain her and bring her to us for evaluation.

On intake, this squirrel was thin, quiet, and having trouble breathing. On further exam, our veterinary team discovered punctures on her abdomen. This squirrel was given supplemental oxygen to help ease her respiratory difficulties, and she was started on pain medications and antibiotics. After three full days in oxygen, she was finally able to move into our regular hospital caging.

She is now doing well and eating on her own, and we are hopeful she will make a full recovery!

White-tailed deer rut peaks in November in our area, but it generally extends from October through December. Rut is esse...
10/11/2026

White-tailed deer rut peaks in November in our area, but it generally extends from October through December. Rut is essentially mating season, where male white-tailed deer frantically search for mates at any cost! This includes running across the road without looking both ways.

According to data from State Farm, nearby West Virginia is the state with the highest risk for deer-vehicle collisions, with our state of Virginia ranking 9th. We are in a VERY high collision area and every autumn we receive phone calls about white-tailed deer that have been struck by vehicles.

While the risk will always be there, there are things you can do to decrease your chances of a collision:

- Stay extra vigilant during dawn and dusk.
- Scan the edges of the road and watch for reflective eye shines or sudden movement. Using high beams when possible can help you see these eye reflections.
- If you see one animal cross, slow down and stay on high alert - there are often other animals following!

If you do hit a deer and it is not able to quickly run off, it very likely has severe injuries. There is no rehabilitation of adult deer, so the best option for these animals is to call the non-emergency police number in that area and have an officer dispatch that animal in order to limit further suffering.

Sadly, rut also coincides with Daylight Savings Time. Collision risk is 14x higher in the two hours following sunset and studies show that permanent daylight saving time would shift rush hour traffic into the daylight during rut. The University of Washington study (link in comments) predicts that permanent daylight saving time would prevent 36,550 deer deaths and 33 human deaths per year. It would also save us $1.2 billion per year in collision costs nationally with the east coast seeing the greatest reductions.

This Central Ratsnake was the unlucky victim of a lawn mower, but lucky to have been struck by someone who cared enough ...
10/10/2026

This Central Ratsnake was the unlucky victim of a lawn mower, but lucky to have been struck by someone who cared enough to know this snake needed and deserved help.

As you can see by the photos, this snake suffered from multiple lacerations over the body and face, resulting in needing multiple laceration repairs, including what our veterinary team affectionately refers to as their "best snake nose job yet."

While our veterinary team decides what to name their new Plastic Surgery unit, this snake has been recovering well! However, due to it being past the permitted release date of October 1st, this snake will stay with us all winter recovering and putting on weight in anticipation of a May 1st release in 2027.

This is a not-so-gentle reminder that trash is not harmless - it can kill and cause major suffering to our local wildlif...
10/09/2026

This is a not-so-gentle reminder that trash is not harmless - it can kill and cause major suffering to our local wildlife.

We received a call about this adult raccoon earlier this week when the finder noticed he had some sort of plastic ring around his front paw, causing major swelling and preventing use of the paw. The first photo is a screenshot of the video the finder sent us, and you can see the severity of the swelling.

Unfortunately, by the time this raccoon was trapped, it was after hours. Thankfully, another rehabilitator was able to take the raccoon and hold him overnight until we could get transport to us for medical evaluation the following morning.

Once in care, we were able to sedate and fully examine the wound and paw. There was still severe swelling in the paw, and severe damage to the surrounding tissue where the plastic ring had embedded in the tissue. The paw was still warm confirming blood flow had not been fully cut off to the limb, however this is something our vet team will need to monitor as heat can also be an indicator of infection. The tissue where the ring was embedded was still alive and does not yet appear to be necrotic. The wound was not deep enough that bone was exposed however there is already radiographic evidence of bony changes that will need to be monitored.

All of this damage and pain was caused by a simple coffee creamer lid. If this trash had been disposed of securely, all of this could've been prevented. Utilizing trash cans with locking lids, or securing lids to trash cans in other ways such as using bungees or other locking mechanisms, and only putting trash out just before it is picked up or disposed of are all ways we can keep our environment clean and safe for our wild neighbors (and all of us humans, too!).

While this wound is quite severe, this adult racoon is otherwise in great body condition and extremely alert. Our team has decided to give the limb a chance to recover with intensive bandaging, antioxidant supplementation, systemic antibiotics, regional limb perfusion, and major pain control to keep the patient both comfortable and slightly sedate to prevent destruction of the bandage and wounded limb.

It is very possible that over the next few days, this limb declares and the tissue begins to die. This is due to something called ischemia and reperfusion injury. If that becomes the case, unfortunately raccoons cannot survive in the wild or be able to perform natural behaviors with only three limbs, and as an adult raccoon that has been raised in the wild with a healthy fear of people, keeping an animal with this level of handicap and stress in captivity would be inhumane, leaving euthanasia as the only humane option. While we do not hope for this outcome, we are committed to ensuring we are respecting the welfare of this raccoon as we continuously reassess his progress.

We are still in peak migration in our area with millions of songbirds crossing our state each night on their southward j...
10/08/2026

We are still in peak migration in our area with millions of songbirds crossing our state each night on their southward journeys. Unfortunately, many of them are colliding with windows. The birds pictured below (species name in photo captions) are just a few of this week’s victims.

Any bird that hits a window and can be contained needs medical care - please do not give them time to rest and attempt release. This is old advice which we now know is inappropriate and only delays proper treatment.

Protect birds by making your windows more safe. You can save lives by showing birds that they cannot fly through transparent glass or breaking up reflections in the glass that make it look like trees or shelter. Bird tape, decals, and designs can be added to the outer surface to break up reflections and help birds see that the glass is a solid material, but these must be placed no more than 2 inches apart vertically or horizontally. A few decals on a large window is not sufficient.

At night, when most birds are migrating, light draws birds towards buildings and increases the reflections in glass. Help our nighttime migrants by turning off any non-essential lights from dusk to dawn, especially during migration season (March through June and August through November).

Birdcast.org from Cornell Lab of Ornithology is an amazing resource that provides you with alerts during times of high traffic so you know when it is especially important to turn your lights off. They also have excellent resources on how to prevent collisions. Humans put birds at risk everyday with our behaviors. This is an easy one to fix. Treat your windows and keep lights out at night!

This is your reminder to clean your feeders!We have admitted multiple finches over the past few weeks with mycoplasmosis...
10/07/2026

This is your reminder to clean your feeders!

We have admitted multiple finches over the past few weeks with mycoplasmosis, a bacterial disease most common in finches that is often spread by dirty bird feeders. This presents as conjunctivitis, often with discharge or crusting, as seen in the intake photos.

Feeding wild birds has pros and cons. We understand the importance of connecting with nature and appreciating the beauty of birds. However, feeders also lead to a significant amount of disease spread. Mycoplasmosis, salmonellosis, trichomoniasis, pox, and many parasites can be spread by dirty feeders. We do not recommend feeding birds, but, if you're going to feed, please clean your feeders at least weekly to help reduce the spread of disease.

When cleaning your bird feeder, you should empty it completely, scrub with soap and water, then spray with dilute bleach that can be rinsed off after 15 minutes. Allow the feeder to dry fully before refilling. Many people find it helpful to have two feeders so that you can put the clean one up right away while cleaning the dirty one. When choosing new feeders, avoid wood and other porous materials - these are impossible to truly disinfect. Non-porous materials will help make cleaning easier and will keep birds safer.

The male house finch in the photos below is doing well now and was able to see again after just 24 hours of treatment. He will stay with us over the next few weeks while complete the course of antibiotics and ensure the eye issues are fully resolved.

Remember that other areas of congregation (e.g. bird baths) should be cleaned regularly just like feeders and ground feeding should be avoided entirely as it attracts multiple species (including rodents, raccoons, and more) while being impossible to disinfect.

If you truly want to help birds and other wildlife, consider replacing feeders with native plant species that support our native wildlife.

Address

106 Island Farm Lane
Boyce, VA
22620

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15408379000

Website

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