Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society - O.W.L.

The Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society is a non-profit organization whose volunteers are dedicated to public education and the rehabilitation and release of injured and orphaned birds. O.W.L. became a Society in January 1985 (Registration No. S-19879). O.W.L. is licensed through Fish and Wildlife, now known as the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

O.W.L. is on call seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Public tours are available daily in July and August and every Saturday and Sunday from September to June between 10:00am and 3:00pm.

The facility specializes in raptors (i.e. eagles, falcons, hawks and owls). Birds of prey patients at O.W.L. number over four hundred each year and as O.W.L.’s facilities have expanded, so has the intake. Primary care for injured birds (i.e. fluid injections, tube feeding, and initial treatment of broken bones to stabilize) is administered by staff. Veterinary care (i.e. surgery involving the pinning of fractures, radiographs and amputations) is contributed by local clinics such as Huff Animal Hospital, Richmond Animal Hospital, and Tsawwassen Animal Hospital.

Birds of prey are sent to O.W.L. from all over British Columbia, other provinces and the U.S.A. The majority of birds arrive from the Lower Mainland. Although we encourage the public to transport injured or orphaned birds to the facility, O.W.L. has a network of volunteers when pick-up is necessary.