Blog

stories from the Sanctuary

Allegheny Woodrat in an enclosure at Rockfish Willdife Sanctuary

March 27, 2025

Spring has sprung, and all sorts of creatures are coming out of the woodwork…literally. 😆 One of those critters arrived as a patient earlier this month and inspired March’s Critter Corner. Meet the elusive and oh-so-charming Allegheny Woodrat! It began how most stories from the Sanctuary do: with a call to our wildlife hotline. ☎️ That […]

read more

Three infant squirrels cuddle up in an incubator.

March 13, 2025

These babies were stuck between a rock and a…bulldozer?! Meet our featured patients this month: Eastern Gray Squirrels 25-010, 011, and 012!

read more

An orphaned baby skunk is bundled in a towel in the nursery at Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary.

February 15, 2025

read more

Ah, February—the season of love!
Chocolates, roses, romantic dinners… and the unmistakable scent of skunk? 👃

February 7, 2025

Our Hugs or Bugs fundraiser is BACK by popular demand this season of love. Learn more about how to celebrate (or get revenge!) with the help of our critters at RWS.

read more

Photo taken of a Virginia opossum from behind, showing its tail and back feet as it walks away from the camera.

January 24, 2025

Drumroll, please! 🥁 Meet our newest, furriest “coworker” at Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary. Learn about her story, personality, and all the details of her naming contest! 

read more

Three eastern screech owls sit squished together on a perch inside RWS's wildlife care nursery.

December 29, 2024

read more

Our ED chats with our animal care staff about the patients that stuck with them the most in 2024.

A hatchling Eastern Mud Turtle

December 13, 2024

Meet our newest education ambassador: all two inches of her! This charming Eastern Mud Turtle joined the Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary team in the most unusual way. 

read more

A Wild Turkey poult looks at itself in a mirror inside a rehabilitation care facility.

November 26, 2024

Gobble, gobble, gobble,Snood, caruncle, and wattle!No idea what we just said? Keep reading this month’s Critter Corner. ⬇️ As Thanksgiving approaches, turkeys take center stage in our minds and on some of our tables.  But Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)  have been strutting through North America’s landscapes for millennia—long before they became cultural icons. This month, we’re talkin’ turkeys! […]

read more

A Common Raven perches and looks out of its enclosure

October 31, 2024

read more

Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore Feed me more!” 🖤 Our Patient of the Month this October is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s favorites: a Common Raven, known at RWS as patient 24-859. Fitting for spooOoOoOoky Halloween! 👻 This beautiful patient arrived at the Sanctuary this summer after being rescued from a forest fire in Clarke County a […]

This website and all included graphics are
copyright © 2018–2025 Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary unless otherwise attributed.

Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. EIN 51-0498181.
Thank you for supporting our mission to help native wildlife in Virginia and beyond.