How to Help

Donate

You can make a one time or recurring donation to Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke on this site. Just click on large red button that says donate at top of the screen. Recurring donations can be edited or stopped at any time by logging in to your account.

We are always grateful and in need of public donations. SWVAWC of Roanoke provides the native animals the best possible foods, medicines, and living conditions. Our priority is to release healthy animals back into proper habitats.

You can also help by:

• Kroger Rewards: First, make sure you have a Kroger Plus card, if not you can sign-up to receive a Kroger Plus Card here. Once signed in, click on “Enroll Now.” Search for the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke or enter our NPO number, QU512
• Walmart Spark Good: Support the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center every time you shop. Donate spare change by automatically rounding up your orders to the nearest dollar at checkout. Sign-up here. You can also view our gift registry here too!
• IRA Qualified Charitable Donation (QCD): Are you age 72 or older and have a traditional IRA? Do you still need to pull out some money to avoid the hefty taxes from the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)? Please consider making a Qualifying Charitable Donation (QCD) to your favorite charity (hopefully us)! These donations are completely tax free, make a significant difference to our small nonprofit, and help save thousands of wildlife patients in the process. This way, you get to decide how to put those tax dollars to work, and help save wildlife, it’s a win-win situation!
• Newsletter: Sign up to receive our e-newsletter here.
• Social Media: Follow us on social media by clicking on the icons at the bottom left corner of this page.
• Let your love live on by including the center in your estate planning. More information on how to do this can be found here.
• PayPal GivingFund: If you prefer to donate through PayPal here is the link to our page.
• eBay for Charity: Do you know you can help your favorite charity (hopefully that is us!) while also selling your items online at the same time? Learn more about this easy process here.
• Wish Lists
  • Top Items Wish List.
  • Walmart Wish List
  • Henry’s Pets Wish List
  • Amazon list here (However, we prefer you use Walmart since they have given us grants and have a Spark Good program)

Come work for us!

Do you love animals,? Do you want to make the world a better place? Click HERE for an online application.

***We are currently not hiring.

Volunteer

Volunteers are an integral part of the rehabilitation process and we are always looking for dedicated and motivated people wanting to make a difference for our local wildlife. Typical animal care volunteer duties include feeding baby animals, cleaning cages, preparing food for patients, and assisting staff when needed.

We also love non-animal care volunteers to help answer phone calls, fundraising, creative types who can sew/crochet/etc special items we need, grounds-keeping, cage building/repair, and more! If you have a special talent or skill that you would like to donate we can probably find a use for it.

We welcome volunteers age 18 years or older in accordance with Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR)/United States Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) regulations.

If you are interested in volunteering please fill out an application HERE. If you have any questions please email us swvawildlifecenterintern@gmail.com, and if you are interested in non-animal care volunteer opportunities please email us at the same address.

Internship Program

Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke offers hands-on, flexible 12 week wildlife rehabilitation internships from April-September. Caring for animals is at the core of the internship with additional lessons in natural history, identification, human/wildlife conflict resolution, triage, handling, restraint, educational outreach, falconry techniques, wildlife veterinary medicine, and more!

Graduates of this internship have gone on to become veterinarians, park rangers, ornithologists, wildlife rehabbers, biologists, ecologists, educators, veterinary technicians, and more.  Even those who do not pursue wildlife-related fields, such as history and English, have told us that this internship gave them new perspectives, knowledge, and awareness that they never would’ve obtained had it not been for this opportunity that has helped them in their careers.

Position availability varies and they fill quickly. To have a high chance of receiving the internship we ask that prospective interns submit their applications before February 1st of that year if at all possible, but we will take additional interns past that date if we are not full.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old to apply and have a valid Virginia address (which can be your school address if you are from out of state) in accordance to DWR/USFWS’s regulations.

If you are interested in a summer internship please fill out an application HERE. If have any questions about it or the application, please email us swvawildlifecenterintern@gmail.com and/or fill out the intern application.

Transporting Injured and Orphaned Wildlife

Transporter Application

Protect Our Wildlife

Wild animals endure a constant struggle for survival. The following simple actions make life a lot easier for our native wildlife:

• We’re cat lovers at the Center and many of us own cats (including our director, who has seven!), but while we love them dearly we also  acknowledge that free-roaming cats are non-native insatiable hunters that are impacting our wildlife in negative ways. Whether they are killing billions of birds a year, wiping out marine mammals like endangered seals, or contributing to extinctions of native wildlife, the impact they have wildlife and the ecosystem is devastating.  Cat-inflicted injuries are difficult to treat in rehab settings, and data from the Wildlife Center of Virginia has shown that even with medical care, caught by cat animals have a 70%-81% mortality rate. That is why we are advocates for keeping cats indoors or if they must be outside, leash training them or building an outdoor “catio” for them. This prevents harm to our native species and also protects cats, as outdoor cats lead shorter and less healthy lives, often suffering from road mortality, disease (including parasites and rabies), injury, and poisoning unlike inside cats. It is a cat welfare issue as much as it is a wildlife one. Make the change with us!
• If you’re into gardening, native plants with wildlife value provide food and habitat, and can also be quite aesthetically pleasing. Studies have shown that even one of our most common birds, the Carolina Chickadee, needs habitat with 70% native plants to keep their populations steady, and our yards with non-native plants create “food deserts” for wildlife. Try pouring boiling water on weeds as an alternative to harmful herbicides and use diatomaceous earth for insect control. Avoid using pesticides using neonictinoids, which seem to be causing declines of bees, are most certainly are killing our native birds, and are not good for people, either. You can learn more about supporting our native plants by reaching our or joining a chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society.
• Prevent the spread of invasive species, which often out-compete native wildlife for food and habitat. Clean boats and fishing equipment to avoid spreading exotic plants and invertebrates to pristine ecosystems, spay or neuter your cat or dog, and don’t release pet reptiles, birds, or fish into the wild.
• Establish bird houses or nest boxes to mitigate habitat loss due to suburban expansion. As an added bonus, you’ll attract bluebirds, owls, flying squirrels, and other animals to your yard! You can download plans for birdhouses here, flying squirrels here, gray and fox squirrels here, bat boxes here, and an easy online or library search can also put you with resources for other kinds of boxes!
  • Local Girl Scout Troop 478 created a video to show how easy it is to make a birdhouse. Birdhouse Video
• Recycle, and use recycled products for starters, this saves trees that many animals rely on for nesting and foraging.