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A Brief History of the Northwoods Wildlife Center
| In a culmination of the dream of local veterinarian Dr. Rory Foster and
his wife, the Northwoods Wildlife Center was incorporated in 1979.
It became a separate entity from his veterinarian clinic, Foster-Smith
Animal Hospital. The purpose of the Center was to care for and treat
injured and orphaned wild animals. Once enough money was raised a
wildlife hospital was built next to the animal clinic. On June 19th
1982 it was official opened. Rory Foster's first book Dr.
Wildlife is the story of how the hospital came into being.
Today the original building is still there, but has been added on to many
times in order to improve our ability to care for and treat wildlife.
Education programs and the space to house permanent residents were soon
added. In his second and final book, I Never Met an Animal I
Didn't Like, Dr. Foster continues his story and the activities of the
center. Unfortunately Rory Foster past away in 1987 at the age of 37
from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. His dream and passion is
continuing to be carried on by past, present and future staff, volunteers,
and interns. You can learn more about the Center by reading, Wildlife
Hospital, by Sybil Ferguson. In this book among the many
characters you meet is Orson the
Great Horned owl. Orson was our original resident and still
today educating the public.
All of these books are out of print today, but most can be found at
your local library. In limited available Wildlife Hospital
can be found on some book store websites, such as Amazon.com.
The best way to learn about the Wildlife Center, though, is to come
visit. Public tours of our residents are given on every half
hour, throughout the summer, programs
are offered, and you never know what you might see in the wildlife
nursery.
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Northwoods Wildlife Center
www.northwoodswildlifecenter.com
