Educate

RWS presents over 50 educational programs around Virginia each year, often featuring our education ambassador animals. Our squad of ambassadors are non-releasable wild animals that live permanently at the Sanctuary and visit folks of all ages to help them learn about the importance of native animals and their habitats.

The Sanctuary also educates the next generation of conservationists through our paid summer internship program and our year-round volunteering program, providing a hands-on environment for students to gain critical patient care skills and a deeper understanding of our complex natural world. 

Collaborate

The Sanctuary answers over 1,500 calls annually on our wildlife crisis hotline. We swiftly connect folks to the right regional resource for their given animal situation while empowering them to step in and help the animal immediately. We work closely with other wildlife centers to ensure injured and orphaned patients get where they need to go, and we network with volunteer transporters when rescuers do not have the means to bring an animal in need to us. We also network with other like-minded organizations to build a community as interconnected as our wild ecosystems. We partner with nonprofits across Virginia to engage new audiences and work with conservation groups to lend our perspective towards new legislative initiatives.