New Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

Since 2014 the Whatcom Humane Society has provided wildlife rehabilitation services to injured and orphaned wildlife in need.

The WHS wildlife rehabilitation center is licensed and permitted to operate by the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife and the United States Fish & Wildlife Department. The center employs specially trained staff, including two State licensed and permitted wildlife rehabilitators and a licensed veterinary technician. The center is supported by dedicated seasonal and year-round volunteers and interns who assist staff and help maintain the center’s daily operations.

The goal at the WHS wildlife rehabilitation center is to rehabilitate and release animals back into their native habitat and educate the community about how to humanely co-exist with wildlife. 

Over the last few years, the wildlife rehabilitation center provided medical treatment, care, comfort and services to an average of 2,220 native wild animals every year. Animals have included deer, bald eagles, swans, owls, hawks, opossums, raccoons, skunk, robins, crows, ducks, squirrels, beavers, marine mammals, seagulls and rabbits.

The center is funded entirely by private donations and receives no state, city, or county funds and is staffed 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  

Since 2014, WHS operated a wildlife rehabilitation center on property at Nugents Corner, owned by the Whatcom County Parks Department.  The Nugents Corner facility, an old house off Mount Baker Hwy was tiny and cramped with no ventilation system, outdated acoustics, an ever-failing septic system and indoor/outdoor housing areas that are difficult to disinfect.  In addition, the wildlife rehabilitation center was poorly designed for animals, staff and volunteers, thus hampering daily operations. Crucial areas for veterinary care, workstations, storage, humane education and meeting spaces were non – existent.

The parks department eventually gave WHS notice that they wished to demolish the property and requested that we make plans to vacate the property as soon as possible.

We knew that the Whatcom Humane Society must move into a new wildlife rehabilitation center in order to continue to efficiently operate and provide care and core services to injured, abandoned and abused native wildlife in our community. There simply was no other option.

NEW WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER BUILDING PROJECT

As most Whatcom Humane Society supporters know, WHS had been working diligently for the past few years to design, fundraise and build a new wildlife rehabilitation center.  The WHS board of directors and leadership team researched and discussed many options for this project to ensure WHS was making the best and most responsible choices possible for the animals in our care as well as with our donor funds.

An exhaustive search took place and an amazing site was located. Thanks to the invaluable assistance of some of our longtime supporters, we were quickly able to review county building records, zoning requirements, have the property inspected and tour the property several times with real estate professionals, a contractor and others. The 40-acre property (yes 40 acres!) located on Mission Road in Bellingham includes a large lodge type building, several outbuildings including pole buildings, barns, greenhouses – and is fully fenced. The property may be familiar to some who have lived in Whatcom County for years – it’s the old Anderson Creek Lodge. It’s a fantastic property and located only 12 minutes from our Division Street shelter. The property is large enough for our current and any future needs for generations to come.

Since purchasing the property in August, 2020, we have been able to obtain a conditional use permit, temporary occupancy permit and remodel the main lodge, several outbuildings, repair fencing and construct outdoor mammal cages and bird aviaries.  This work would not have been possible without the incredible generosity of the community and the hard work and commitment of the amazing Whatcom Humane Society volunteer team – the best volunteers in the world!

We were able to move operations in late June of 2021 into our beautiful new wildlife rehabilitation center. There is still a tremendous amount of work needed on the property to allow us to settle into our new home and provide the best services possible for injured and orphaned wildlife in our community. But already, our new wildlife center has allowed us to operate more efficiently, effectively, and humanely to serve our mission and the animals in our care.

NAMING OPPORTUNITIES

The Whatcom Humane Society wishes to provide public recognition for persons, companies and organizations that generously support our efforts to move into our wonderful new facility. Current naming opportunities include:

Naming opportunities are negotiable and based on the discretion of the WHS director.

Wildlife Rehabilitation Center:
9:00 am-5:00 pm
(360) 966-8845 – please call, not open to the public

WHS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Federal Tax ID 91-0677564

For additional information, please contact Laura Clark, WHS executive director at

(360)733-2080, ext# 3026 or email: director@whatcomhumane.org.