Wildlife Response Inc

Wildlife Response, Inc. (WRI) is a non-profit (501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 1992 to care for orphaned and injured wildlife in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.

Wildlife Response, Inc. is dedicated to the preservation of wildlife through rehabilitation and education. One of the most universal challenges today in the battle to save wild things and wild places is how to bond people to the physical world in a powerful enough way to give them the motivation to want to protect and preserve it. It is especially important in our growing suburban and urban communities to increase significant associations connecting people and nature, especially where natural environments and natural experiences are less and less common. On a local level, the steady arrival of new residents to the Hampton Roads area is having a overwhelming impact on our wildlife and natural environment. As we accommodate this progression, it is essential that people who now call the Hampton Roads area home understand the sensitive balance of human and non-human populations, the affect we have on the natural environment, and the best ways in which we can coexist.

The Wildlife Response and Rehabilitation Center will be a central location where local citizens, animal control officials and other agencies can drop off wildlife; as well as provide a redistribution center for animals where they can be triaged, then sent to permitted home-based wildlife rehabilitators. This facility will provide state of the art veterinary care, and a safe recuperation site for wildlife brought there. WRI will also provide security for the Center by having a caretaker onsite, thus maintaining the property’s integrity and minimizing the risk of vandalism and trespassing. Most recuperated wildlife will be released offsite in appropriate habitat. Release criteria depends on variables such as weather, time of year, species of animal, age of animal or number of animals.

When the Center opens, it will launch an expanded educational platform for WRI that will be used to cultivate an understanding of our immediate environment and the wildlife that we cohabitate with. This portion of WRI’s mission will be fulfilled with onsite and offsite programs which may include "wild ambassadors" (animals unable to be returned to the wild but can help spread the message of wildlife conservation). The facility will also be available to other appropriately credentialed area rehabbers.

The Center is currently under construction and not open to the public.

If you have found injured wildlife, please don't email us! Call our Hotline for assistance.

If someone has not responded to your message within an hour, please call back and leave a message in the main mailbox. Messages are checked regularly by volunteers so please be patient. We will contact you as soon as possible.