CATHCART — With an elaborate ribbon cutting ceremony, PAWS opened its brand-new Wildlife Rehabilitation Center south of Snohomish on Saturday, April 20.
The new facility spans 25 acres of land with a stunning panoramic view of the Snohomish greenery. It is a project that has been in the works for a decade, and the animal rescue hospital will be taking patients into care at this center shortly.
Jennifer Convy, the senior director of the PAWS Wildlife Center and the PAWS Companion Animal Shelter, is the head of operations, facilities and staff on both campuses. Having played a central role in the design of the new campus, Convy said the new Center arose from an urgency to protect animals.
“The wild animals in our state, they’re part of Washington State and if we don’t take care of them, they won’t be here,” Convy said. With PAWS receiving more than 14,000 calls each year about endangered wildlife, the numbers have increased by 75% in the last five years. During baby season in the Spring, staff will receive an animal every 10 minutes, PAWS spokesperson Mick Szydlowski said. To accommodate for the rising rate of animals in need, PAWS drew from state funding, approved capital budget requests and the collective efforts from the community to raise $2.5 million.
“We know that the interactions between humans and wildlife are just getting more intense, climate change is getting more intense. So, having a really, a world class kind of— national leading place where we can rehabilitate injured wildlife, I think is something that we can all be super proud of,” volunteer PAWS board member and state Rep. Strom Peterson told the Tribune.
Compared to its original location in Lynnwood, the new Center is quieter, larger and designed to better meet the interests of the animals and staff. Drawing from zoological research, the new campus is built with animal health and safety as the top priority.
With dedicated quarantine and isolation spaces for incoming patients, an expanded surgical suite, a large water tank in case of a fire and specifically designed care areas to respond to wildlife emergencies, the space is better prepared for worst-case-scenarios.
The new facility has also upgraded its technology and utilities. Licensed PAWS Vet Tech Veronica Gordon noted that she benefits from the AI facilitated X-Ray machines to see bones on small birds like chickadees and swallows that her organization’s previous systems could not depict.
Along with more purposeful architecture, PAWS designed its new campus with sustainability in mind. Its built-in sewer septic system completely purifies all of the facility’s water without relying on external utilities, Szydlowski said. The water is recircled in the aquatics area to diminish the intake of extra water.
Lead Wildlife Rehabilitator at PAWS Raina Domek emphasized the benefits of the well-designed infrastructure of the new campus.
“There’s more time spent actually caring for the animals and less time spent figuring things out or trying to make things that don’t quite work, work,” Domek said.
Domek said the heart is its volunteers, from habitat setup to bird handling during injury examinations and supervised medicine administration.
Tracy Bell, a volunteer at PAWS, said she enjoys making a difference by counterbalancing the negative effects of society on nature.
More than accommodating for the animals, the Center is involved in conservation work and research and disease surveillance projects.
PAWS CEO Heidi Wills Yamada summed up that “the result of our collective efforts could not be more worthwhile,” Wills Yamada said. “A specifically designed state-of-the-art facility that will give thousands of wild animals the second chance they deserve. Just beyond these doors, amazing things will happen every day. Our veterinary team will restore an injured owl’s flight, a volunteer will feed dozens of orphaned baby birds, and a tiny bear cub will find safe shelter in a facility designed to prepare her for a life in the wild.”
PAWS is seeking more volunteers. To learn more about its volunteer opportunities, go to www.paws.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer/ or call (425) 787-2500 x817.
This story was produced by a journalism student at the UW News Lab for the Snohomish County Tribune.
