Virginia's Wildlife Centers Lead with Hope and Healing

A fire raged in Piney. Thick brush and timber fed the flames, fanning across Wythe County woodlands. Deputy County Administrator Matthew Hankins—a certified first responder—joined the Ivanhoe Fire Department crew and volunteers, beating back the blaze as evening fell. As the inferno dwindled, the crew’s voices quieted with it.

Then, from the blackened forest, came a sound that cut through the silence: a thin, persistent cry. Hankins followed the wails. Beneath a downed tree near the fire’s origin, a small black snout poked through the wreckage. A bear cub, alone. Recognizing the noise and flashing lights likely drove its mother away, Hankins scooped up the 5.5-pound bundle in gloved hands and carried him out of the singed remains of home.

“I walked through a crowd of people who were pretty amazed that we’d been able to pull a bear out of there—the fire had burned pretty hot,” Hankins recalls.

With help from onlookers, he tucked the cub into his firefighting jump bag and drove to a Circle K off Interstate 81 to hand him off to a wildlife biologist. She kept the cub overnight before delivering him to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro the next morning.

The cub was headed for one of only three full-service wildlife hospitals in Virginia, where specialists treat thousands of native wild animals each year. By state law, only permitted specialists can care for orphaned or injured wildlife—and these are no ordinary pet vets. Their patients arrive with no owners, little research to guide treatment, few advocates, and often slim chances of survival. About 140 people in Virginia hold rehabilitation permits, some limited to certain species like raptors or squirrels, with many working independently from their homes or through small nonprofits. 

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