Center for Wildlife

10/21/2026

York Corner Gardens brought out the seasonal spirit this week! We're so grateful for their donation of 2 boxes of pumpkins to help us spruce up our campus spaces for the autumn holidays. With the addition of some natural material garlands, wreathes and swags made by CFW staff and volunteers, our campus is looking Trick-or-Treat ready!

There's still time to reserve your tickets for our Trick-or-Treat evening this Friday, Oct. 23rd, from 4 - 6PM! We'll have plenty of treats on hand while you meet wildlife ambassadors and learn about their adaptational "tricks", make seasonal crafts and explore our magical Sensory Room. Save your spot today at https://www.thecenterforwildlife.org/trick-or-treat-2026 !

10/21/2026

Day 10 (our last full day) - Playa Herradura - Tárcoles - San Jose.
An optional 5:30am birds and wildfire walk started the day at Playa Herruda...and it did not disappoint! Amazing views of massive Scarlet Macaws 🦜 stole the show!.
A leisurely morning and roll out took us to the Tarcoles River Cruise (known for its massive crocodile population). The bird life was impressive - in addition to obee a dozen sizeable crocodiles 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 🐊 .
We bid farewell to the Pacific Coast and headed back to San Jose for our final night and farewell dinner, where we toasted to the pura vida of Costa Rica, to our amazing guide, Carlos Calvo and to each other.❤️.
Tomorrow, technically day 12, is a travel day... so this is the final daily post from this trip. Thank you to everyone who watched, read, shared and virtually followed us on this Center For Wildlife EcoTour..
Curious about our upcoming trips???.
Spring 2027 = Azores 🐠
Fall 2027 = East Africa 🦁
Spring 2028 = Iceland 🧊 .
To learn more, visit our EcoTours page at www.thecenterforwildlife.org.

10/21/2026

We are so grateful for the support our community has given Center for Wildlife through the Town & Country FCU Better Neighbor Fund campaign this month! Wildlife and the environment receive the bottom percentage of annual charitable giving in our nation (just 1%), meaning your votes for our organization to receive a portion of $33,000.00 in grant awards have a real impact for our work.

Here's a small list of some of the work that would be supported by a TCFCU Better Neighbor Fund grant:
- Care & treatment for injured, orphaned or ill wildlife patients, including medical supplies & diagnostics, food, and species-appropriate husbandry.
- Support for data collection projects by CFW staff on baseline data for native species, emergent diseases and introduced challenges such as increased development and rodenticide use.
- Nature-based education programs designed to foster empathy and connection with wildlife and the ecosystem community we share.

Cast your vote 1X a day at https://www.tcfcu.com/better-neighbor-fund-voting/ or scan the QR code in the image. Thank you for valuing CFW's conservation medicine work, and the interconnected wellbeing of humans, wildlife and our environment!

10/20/2026

Day 9: Playa Herradura - Manuel Antonio National Park.
Welcome to the Lowland Tropical Forest of Manuel Antonio National Park. A week ago, we were packing up from a few days in Tortuguero - on the Caribbean side of this amazing Central American nation that is the size of West Virginia. Today, we visited on of the most popular national parks in the country..
Since we're not visit g during the high/busy tourist season (Dec-March), there were no line and many less humans than usual at the park. Instead, we saw: Multiple sloths; Howler and Capuchin Monkeys; a Coatimundi and many interesting tropical birds in this warm, humid, dense forest sanctuary..
After our guided walk, many took to the sea beach 🌴 at a stunning beach under the shade of tropical trees 🌊. We learned how unusual this type of forest is in modern day centroamerica and how Costa Rica's system of National Parks helps preserve biodiversity in the face of major development pressure (like the growing tourist towns and miles of palm oil plantations that we drove past today).
Tomorrow is our last full day in the land of Pura Vida - as this 12 day EcoTour includes a travel day on each end. We're so grateful to have had all the experiences and learnings so far....

10/20/2026

This wood turtle was admitted last week after being found by a wildlife biologist doing field work on wood turtles. Upon admission, we found this turtle had suffered fractures on his carapace (upper shell), and had been living with fractured and wounds for a significant amount of time. Nothing in nature could cause this kind of shell crushing injury; it is most likely that he was hit by a car. It is incredible that turtles can survive with fractured bone and wounds like this, without succumbing to infection and being able to feed and fend for themselves. Turtles have incredible healing powers, and they can recalcify tissue and essentially regenerate bone over time on their shells.

Our team has cleaned and covered the open sores on his shell, and he is currently in a beautiful wood turtle habitat setup with proper nutrition and wild foods. He seems to thoroughly be enjoying it! We will be providing medical treatment for his sores, and observing to see if he can return to the wild this season. Since it is so close to hibernation time for this species, it is likely that he will be in care with us for the next 7-8 months.

Did you know? There is no government funding dedicated to wildlife medical treatment and rehabilitation, and we run entirely on donations from individuals, local businesses, and family foundations. Consider a donation today to support care for patients like this wood turtle (a Species of Special Concern, one step away from Threatened), and to be sure we are open, trained, stocked, and ready for the up to 2,500 patients brought to us by caring members of the public each year. Click on the link in bio to donate, visit our website, or use snail mail: Center for Wildlife, PO Box 620, Cape Neddick ME 03290.

10/19/2026

10/19/2026

Day 8 - Arenal, Zarcero, Sarchi & Playa Herruda.
Travel day....this morning we awoke to our final minting at the base of Arenal Volcano...and spent time with the Great Curassows before breakfast..
We began our journey to the Pacific Coast by heading toward the continental divide (over 6000') with a rest stop in Zarcero (the town known for its amazing topiary park!). We were in for a surprise as the town was fully celebrating a religious holiday at the church and park where we stopped...so, we took it all in! .
Our tour guide, Carlos, shared some fascinating Costa Rica history, including: indigenous history (sadly, not dissimilar to that of North America w/ regards to the devastating impacts of colonialism); the failed American attempts to enslave Central Americans in the 1800's. Nearly none of of us were aware of these elements of shared US/Costa Rican history. So much to learn when travelling..
Beneficio La Eva (a local coffee farm and factory) was our next stop in the town of Sarchi. We explored a small, shade-grown plantation, learned all about the fruits beans and best treatment of Coffee arabica...and got to have a tasting session as well..
In the afternoon, we headed downslope to Playa Herradura where we settle into our resort for the night...but only after a stellar sunset over the Pacific and a lovely, laughter-filled group dinner..
(P.S. - there were many Scarlet Macaws!!).

10/19/2026

Do you have your tickets? One of the most unique family friendly Halloween events in the Seacoast Region… our annual Trick or Treat event is this Friday from 4-6pm! This events is for all ages and sells out at 200 tickets, so bring your friends, family and your costumes. Join in the trick-or-treating through our family-friendly “haunted” trails, roast marshmallows over the fire while sharing spooky stories, get hands-on in our magical Sensory Exploration room, and meet our animal ambassadors to learn more about the mysteries behind their wild lives. Tickets are $10 each and includes all of the activities! Snag yours today via the link in bio, or head to our events page.

10/18/2026

Day 7: Arenal (Hotel Lomas del Volcan /  Whitewater Rafting).
In the shadow of Arenal Volcano, the day was ours to enjoy. Those feeling adventurous opted for an exhilarating white water rafting experience (with a little drama!), others visited a butterfly garden and the rest lounged at the poolside bar and hotel grounds. .
As dusk settled in, an optional night walk turned up frogs, two eyelash vipers and a mama & baby sloth!.
One week into the trip, we're getting familiar with some element of the local culture, customs, history and landscape - including the names of certain habitats, plants and animals...all signs of developing connections to the whole community (human + more-than-human). For this, we're grateful 🙏🏼.

10/17/2026

Day 6: Arenal Choice Day!.
Arenal (Choice Day)

Today, we got to choose how we wanted to spend our time: 1) Zip lining (since Costa Rica is the birthplace of zip lining) where we glided over and through the tropical rainforest canopy -OR- 2) A guided Lava field hike on Mt Arenal - for an up-close look at the volcano on rocky wild trails formed by the massive 1968 eruptions. 3) Stay back at the hotel and chill :)..
The afternoon was also a choice, where nearly all of us took a trip to a local, family-owned organic finca (farm) where we prepped and feasted on a delectable farm to table lunch, got a fabulous tour of the farm itself and learned how to press sugar cane (in a very hands-on session). .
Tomorrow we bid farewell to Arenal, Fortuna Town and the Alajuela region and head to the Pacific coast....