Hawaii Wildlife Center

The hawaii wildlife center is the fiscal sponsor of the save our shearwaters (sos) program. Sos is an organization that provides professional rehabilitation to sick and injured native birds and bats on kauai. The sos program was created in 1979 and helps hundreds of seabirds as well as other native winged wildlife species annually on kauai. In addition to managing the fiscal operations of the sos program, hwc also provided additional veterinary support to the sos team to ensure that the program had all the necessary medications for patients in their care and provided access to specialized medical procedures when needed through hwc partners.

Hwc continued to provide outreach and education opportunities to local students and community groups. 16 groups visited the center, a total of 250 students and community members. Hwc also participated in 14 community events on hawaii island and oahu, estimating over 6,000 interactions with the public from those events. Staff utilized social media to keep the community engaged in wildlife conservation and to share uplifting and educational content, partnered with conservation council of hawaii to put on another successful hawaii island festival of birds, a full-day family- friendly event spotlighting critical conservation efforts and building joy and enthusiasm around native bird species. Hwc wildlife team also continued internship and externship programs at the facility. Wildlife rehabilitation internships provided an introduction to native hawaiian wildlife rehabilitation and hands-on experience in animal care, wildlife conservation and some aspects of veterinary medicine. Two-week externships were also available to current veterinary school students to build clinical skills along with their animal care experience. The externships provide veterinary students exposure to wildlife conservation issues as well. Interns and externs both worked closely with our veterinarian and wildlife staff.