Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Center

Facilities

Located in rural Northwest Pennsylvania on the outskirts of Saegertown, The Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center includes a “sick room” that accommodates many types of passerines, mammals, and raptors. It is here that triage is performed and medical attention is administered. An incubator is used for very young songbirds and mammals that would normally rely on their mother’s heat to survive. Often, the very young orphans must be fed hourly. Cases requiring surgery are transported toDr. Felix and Dr Polumbo from Glenwood Pet Hospital.

Outside the sickroom, there are a variety of indoor enclosures designed to provide a safe, quiet environment for some of the larger patients that are well enough to be transferred out of the sickroom. Some of these are constructed of wood and fine mesh, while others are as simple as a cardboard box with a screened top. Here, the animals can continue to recuperate until they are ready for the next step of their rehabilitation.

Some of the patients at Tamarack require what is referred to as a “soft release.” This is accomplished by placing the bird or animal in an outside enclosure, protected from the elements as well as potential predators. Here, the animals may readjust to an outside environment while the Center makes sure that each animal is eating and that injuries have been properly healed.

Injured raptors, such as owls, hawks and eagles, are transferred to a large flight building, where they have an opportunity to fly, thereby strengthening their muscles. This is also where they must demonstrate their ability to once again hunt for their food.

An Educational Center houses additional enclosures as well as an area for presentations. Tamarack employs the help of several large birds of prey to educate the public about our state wildlife. These include “Lady Hawk”, a red-tailed hawk, “Ichabod”, a great horned owl, and several others. The magnificence of these birds at close proximity inspires a sense of awe in young and old alike.