Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation

Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation is a small nonprofit run entirely by volunteers, including our licensed wildlife rehabilitators, so you can be certain that your donations will go directly to animal care, facility upkeep, and program maintenance, to provide wild animals in need with a safe and secure place to recuperate.

We are a 501(c)(3) charity that receives no state or federal funding, so we depend upon caring, concerned people, like you!

The Beginning: In 2000, Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation's founder, Dee Howe, was one of many people on the scene of a skunk, who had been hit by a car. No one knew what to do and there were no local medical facilities for wildlife, so Dee simply sat beside the injured creature and gently pet it until it died.

After encountering several other instances of wild animals in need with nowhere to go for care, Dee became a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, and established Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation in 2001. Today, our rehabilitators and volunteers aim to continue this important work for wildlife in our communities, as a commitment to Dee’s legacy, as she sadly passed away in 2020.

What We Do: Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation is dedicated to providing medical care, nourishment, and shelter to injured, ill, and orphaned wildlife in Western Massachusetts until they are healthy enough to return to their natural environment. We are fully licensed by the Massachusetts' Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and specialize in rehabilitating small mammals.  Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation's patients have included, baby raccoons and squirrels whose mothers have been chased away from their den site or trapped and killed, opossums hit by cars, foxes affected by mange, skunks whose heads have been stuck in Yoplait yogurt containers, and many, many more. Approximately 90% of our patients are casualties of human interference, so we owe it to them to help.

As a service to our community, Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation not only provides a temporary safe haven, critical care, and a second chance at life for these animals, but also strives to address common misconceptions about wildlife by educating the public, to help resolve issues with our non-human neighbors humanely and safely and to keep wild families together.