I'm so glad you came back to listen to episode 2 of our second season, which began to drop in January, 2023. I spoke with Brittany Turner, who serves as Rehabilitation Director at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota. Brittany has led a fascinating and ambitious career, having started as nursery intern to a Director in just under 10 years! She has experience with all the 200+ species the WRC sees. Over the years Brittany has always had a special place in her heart for songbirds, which, by the way -- WRC treats over 1,000 songbirds representing about 50 species per year!
 
This episode is part 1 of 2, so please check back again on Thursday, February 9th, 2023 for Part 2. Part 1 begins with an introduction to Brittany and her career in wildlife rehabilitation (listen also for a couple special furry guests around minute marker 8:00!), then dives into an overview of the WRC. If you want to skip straight to our discussion about songbirds, that begins around 23:00. Later, around 36:30 we get into defining types of songbirds and the variations on care they require, then around 43:00 our discussion shifts toward feathers.
 
Quick facts:
--WRC is the largest wildlife rehabilitation hospital in the world
--WRC hosts 70 summer interns and utilizes about 500 volunteers
--At any given time, WRC can have over 200 or more animals in-care, though the total number of animals receiving treatment often varies depending on the time of year and what is happening in the wildlife ecosystem.

Want to learn more about how to support and get involved with WRC? Visit them online here: Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota (wrcmn.org)

Again, so glad you've joined us for Season 2, Episode 2! -Gail

Special thanks to Partners For Wildlife and The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Our executive producer and host is Gail Buhl. Our producer is Kirk Klocke.

To learn more about The Raptor Center, visit Homepage | The Raptor Center (umn.edu). For more on Partners for Wildlife, visit Partners for Wildlife Home | The Raptor Center (umn.edu).