Alberta’s Wildlife in Need

The Cause

Since 1993, Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) has been a champion for injured and orphaned wildlife through rescue, rehabilitation and release. Since our founding, we have admitted more than 36,000 animals into care. We believe our responsibility to wildlife includes an educational component that emphasizes the importance of environmental protection, and as such, AIWC offers engaging public education programs to inform all ages of the importance of wildlife to our ecosystem and way of life.

AIWC’s Mission: AIWC is committed to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of injured and orphaned wildlife. We provide expert advice and education that fosters an appreciation of wildlife.

Albertans care about wildlife and the environment, so much so that over 18,000 members of the public utilized our services in 2022, whether it be our Wildlife Hotline, Wildlife Rehabilitation, or Wildlife Education programs. Unfortunately, the reality is that due to urban expansion and the increase in human and wildlife encounters, wildlife needs our help more than ever.

95% of the animals admitted to AIWC are as a result of human activity in some way. From a bird hitting a window, to a moose calf being hit by a car, to a hummingbird being caught by a cat. Last year we saw a 10% increase in animals admitted to our hospital and there are no signs of demand for our organization slowing down. Wildlife is an important indicator to the health of our environment. Humans cannot survive without wildlife and we believe it is our duty to support injured and orphaned wildlife.

In 2022, 1,960 wild animals were cared for and each year we see over 150 different species of wildlife admitted to our hospital. We would like to please request your support by providing funds for animal food and medical supplies. Your support is vital to us providing the best care possible to Alberta’s wildlife. The cost to rehabilitate an individual animal can vary greatly, but in most cases, it is well over $100.00 and sometimes several thousands of dollars for one individual.

Who Will it Benefit?

Few places in the world have such diversity of wildlife as found in Alberta. The province is home to over 500 different species and they draw hundreds of thousands of people to the province each year hoping to get a glimpse of iconic, Canadian wildlife.

In an ideal world, wildlife rehabilitation centres like AIWC would not need to exist. The sad reality, however, is that due to urban expansion our services our needed more every year. AIWC is not funded by the government and relies on its own fundraising to support its mission.

AIWC offers the following programs to members of the public:
Wildlife Education
We believe in developing awareness through education. Through outreach programming, we’re working to creating strong co-existence between Albertans and wildlife. In 2022, we provided wildlife education to over 3,300 members of the community.

Wildlife Rescue & Hotline
Annually we take over 8,200 wildlife related calls, providing assistance and information to support the wellbeing, and, in some cases, the survival of animals.

Wildlife Rehabilitation
95% of the animals we see are admitted due to human conflict in some way, such as: vehicular collision, window strike, and cat and dog attacks. 1,960 animals were cared for at AIWC in 2022 – a 10% increase compared to 2021.

AIWC provides services to all populations across Alberta, but predominately the city of Calgary. In 2022, 74% of our patients were admitted from within the city of Calgary. In addition, the majority of calls to our Wildlife Hotline in 2022 came from the city of Calgary. Our volunteers predominately come from Calgary, Airdrie, and Cochrane.

The funding requested supports AIWC’s mission and will provide wildlife with critical medical supplies and food to help them on their journey back to the wild.