A wildlife rescue success story
Heron healed; heading to haven

Score another success story for the Big Woods Wildlife Rescue Clinic!

The clinic near Renovo accepts injured and orphaned wildlife from Potter, Cameron, Elk and other northcentral Pa. counties.

Soon, a juvenile great blue heron that was injured last summer and nursed back to health at the clinic will head south with other snowbirds. The bird was unable to fly and migrate to its wintering ground in Central America.

Wildlife rehabilitator Kristina Franklin and her crew of volunteers secured a climate-controlled sanctuary just in time for winter.

Now, the heron is ready to become a permanent resident of the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach.

Franklin prefers to release her former "patients" locally, close to where they were found. But this one will join a large and diverse population of birds in a state-of-the-art aviary, one of the many live-animal exhibits at the center.

Big Woods, which is state and federally licensed, depends entirely on donations.

Safe housing and special diets are priorities at the clinic. Franklin has overseen many successful rehabilitations and releases, including orphaned opossums, raccoons and wrens, a pileated woodpecker, bear cub and various hawks.

Donations can be sent to: Big Woods Wildlife Rescue Clinic Inc., 2 Larsen's Lane, Tamarack Mt., Renovo PA 17764.