When Should You Rescue?

When Should You Rescue?

It's often difficult to determine whether a wild animal is in need of help or not. Intervening too soon can be dangerous. Find out what to do.
I Found an Animal
Helping Animals for 15 Years

Helping Animals for 15 Years

Through rehabilitation, education, and research, we strive to increase public knowledge and appreciation toward wildlife conservation.
Who We Are
Donate, Adopt and More!

Donate, Adopt and More!

Freedom Center for Wildlife receives no local, state, or federal assistance. Your contributions make a big difference in the lives of hundreds of animals.
How To Help

Happy Birthday to a Very Special Lady!

Happy Birthday to a Very Special Lady!
In late March, we celebrated the 36th birthday of our beloved Harris’s hawk, Cheyenne! Because pandemic restrictions were still in place, this was our first virtual event. We made some mistakes, but overall we accomplished what we set out to do-showing people our Animal Ambassadors and highlighting what The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds’ website states: our Cheyenne is the oldest known captive Harris’s hawk in North America! In fact, she may...

My Pandemic Life: A Perspective

My Pandemic Life: A Perspective
The past few months seems like one big blur. I close my eyes and try to remember what my life was like a few months ago back in March, before the pandemic was declared. I was teaching biology at Rutgers University—Camden. It was a typical semester. I was preparing for my trip to Patagonia over spring break. I have never been to South America so I was excited to experience some new culture, but more importantly to see the native wildlife. I was thrilled be...

How Climate Changes Affects Wildlife

How Climate Changes Affects Wildlife
People may wonder if the emergence of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 in humans, has any relation to climate change. There doesn't seem to be any direct evidence of this in the current pandemic. But there do appear to be links in circumstances. In an April 15, 2020 article in the Washington Post, writer Sarah Kaplan notes, "Climate change is frequently described as a threat multiplier, something that exacerbates existing prob...

Thoughts for Spring and Summer

Thoughts for Spring and Summer
I have been struggling for weeks, trying to think of something to write about for this newsletter that is not about the pandemic. Every single thing that we do now is affected by this virus. But it is spring, going into summer, and during this time there are many factors that influence our native wildlife. You may have seen or heard of these things before, so consider this a refresher course on how to preserve and protect these precious gifts from nature....

From Bats to People: The Origin of a Pandemic and Search for the Culprit of COVID-19

From Bats to People: The Origin of a Pandemic and Search for the Culprit of COVID-19
It is almost too difficult to remember a time without the hashtag “coronavirus” in it. The protagonist of the current pandemic, SARS CoV-2, the causing agent of COVID-19, has spread like wildfire and as of June 1st infecting about 1.8 million people worldwide and leaving behind a massive death toll that recently surpassed 100 thousand in the United States alone. From stay-at-home orders to quarantines, and a high expected death toll, COVID-19 has changed ...

Black Birders Week

Black Birders Week
A June 5, 2020 article in Scientific American focused on the first annual Black Birders Week. Associate Editor, Andrea Thompson, interviewed the three co-founders who started this as an educational counterpoint to the recent racial incident in Central Park. The three are all young and full of joy and enthusiasm for birds, the environment and wildlife. Corina Newsome is a birder and graduate student focusing on avian conservation at Georgia Southern Uni...

Find the Good

Find the Good
We began the New Year (some say the next decade, but that is a debate for another day) by facing a looming global pandemic.  Panic set in and hoarding of cleaning supplies and groceries ensued.  During the final weeks of winter and the start of the season often characterized as a time of rebirth and renewal, our economy nearly collapsed, unemployment skyrocketed, the country went on lockdown, and a staggering number of human lives were...

Cheyenne, North America’s oldest known captive Harris’s Hawk

Cheyenne, North America’s oldest known captive Harris’s Hawk
Freedom Center for Wildlife, Inc. (FCW) is the proud home of North America’s oldest known captive Harris’s Hawk at the current age of 34 years. Her name is Cheyenne and she serves as an animal ambassador for not only her species, but for all wildlife, and this is her story. Cheyenne hatched in the spring of 1985 at the World Bird Sanctuary in Missouri. She traveled across the United States with several falconers over the years. There is no paper trail ...

Why Cut Down on Single Use Plastics?

Why Cut Down on Single Use Plastics?
This discussion draws heavily on “Plastic Pollution” by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, published September 2015 by “Our World in Data.” In their opening paragraph, Ritchie and Roser note that, “The first synthetic plastic - Bakelite - was produced in 1907;” and that formed the beginning of the plastics boom in the 1950’s, through 2015, “annual production … increased nearly 200-fold.” About 42% of plastics go into packaging and 19% into building construction...

Can you Prevent Bird Deaths from Window Strikes?

Can you Prevent Bird Deaths from Window Strikes?
According to the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), a federal study in 2014 found that “up to one billion birds die each year in the United States when they hit glass windows, walls, and other structures, making this threat one of the most costly to bird populations.” The study authors, Scott R. Loss, Sara S. Loss, and Peter P. Marra of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and Tom Will of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, reviewed twenty-three p...