Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society

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Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society

Welcome to Interior Wildlife! The Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (IWRS) has been established in 2020, in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of BC.

Please visit our website: interiorwildlife.ca for more info!
***We don't monitor fb messenger for wildlife inquiries, email us instead*** We strive to contribute our part in joining forces with other privately funded centres to rehabilitate wildlife and educate about how to live with wild animals conflict free. As of June 2022 our provincial and federal permits have been granted for our care facility in Summerland. This year we are set up to care for and house native small mammals and water birds.
*** Our vision: ***
To contribute to a future where people:
Respect wild animals as neighbours inhabiting shared space. Experience positive connections to wildlife, their natural environment and behaviour. Understand the importance and power of individual responsibility towards healthy ecosystems. Visit our webpage if you need help with an injured animal:
interiorwildlife.ca/found-injured-or-orphaned-wildlife/

09/14/2026

At Interior Wildlife this fall season looks a little different than the previous years. Whilst we are working on installing power back to our enclosures, shipping containers, kitchen & laundry, we are also keeping in mind what our few fall patient's needs are.
Our (still) solo beaver kit's needs include a warm indoor setting with free pool access to drink, exercise and use the washroom, a dry and warm beaver nesting-corner for grooming (yourself and "beaver-buddy"), quiet living quarters for daytime snoozing, and a variety of browse for eating as well as enrichment. All that is being provided, together with supervised morning swims in the outdoor pool and some vitamin-rich root vegetable snacks.
Photo: Eva Hartmann, IWRS

09/12/2026

Grebe feet are among the most beautiful of bird feet, with their lobed toes. They are unfortunately also among the most delicate of the aquatic bird species
Often grounded grebes with healthy toes can be released straight into the closest large body of water. itself. A quick exam by an experienced wildlife professional can determine if these delicate toes are damaged by sand and rough surfaces or not. This damage can be nearly impossible to undo if the bird does not come into care quickly enough (within 24-48 hrs)
This time however, a grebe patient was found in a puddle of water downtown, what appeared to be suffering from entanglement. It may have gotten some garbage off its leg, but the entire leg was missing its skin and soft tissue damage was too old and beyond repair. Infection had already set in
We don't see the admission of this aquatic bird as a failure, we see it as an immense kindness by the finder to bring in the grebe and as an honour to be able to end its pain and ensure it was getting a swift exam, diagnosis and a humane as well as painfree end of life - opposed to a long and slow. Making a hard decision, nevertheless there was respect, efficiency and kindness around when this beautiful took its bird's last breath. Because we care.

09/09/2026

What's a "workbee"? Bees that clean the hive, feed the larvae, guard the entrance, build honeycomb, and forage for nectar and pollen...Sure, if you are a real bee.
At Interior Wildlife, a "workbee" is a weekend gathering where volunteers, neighbours, friends meet to make a HUGE difference on a shared project. Last weekend we were able to get the energy up to tackle the dirty jobs here post-fire. We called it "clean-the-rubbles" and what a crew we had! TOGETHER we've picked up 1110 kg of burned stuff from the facility, plus an entire dump truck full of metal garbage. 😎🙌💪🐝

09/07/2026

Dear IWRS followers,
If you have been tagged in comments on our page in regards to "merch sales" with our logo on a tee, mug, cap etc. - please ignore and know that someone is impersonating us and it is not true
We never sell anything online. And we never will. Thank you for your patience while we wait for this to pass
The Interior Wildlife Team
🫣🐾🙏😊

09/05/2026

Today we'd like to share a 3 months post-release update on beavers Tina & Nelson:
They both are still active around their large wetland release site. Seeing them eat, swim and communicate with each other is a good sign that they may continue to spend time together during the colder parts of the year as well. Their release box initially showed quite a bit of predator activity around it, so we've floated it into a deeper part of the wetland, anchored it down and thus made it harder to reach for anyone, accept the beavers themselves
Footage: IWRS video camera trap set and monitored by volunteers Jonathan, Eva and Alex

09/03/2026

A car-load of gifts from our amazon wishlist has arrived at the post office 😀
Thank you so much to our wishlist supporters for the tools, patient feed, rehab equipment and even a little sweet gift to soothe our tired eyes after a busy day. Our community of supporters truly has the sweetest people in it, you think of everything!

https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/2GG4BH118U83J/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1

09/02/2026

A BIG HEARTFELT THANK YOU for sending us your support, together with notes of kindness and encouragement to keep going, to rebuild what was lost and create a new chapter post-fire
Getting us to 92% of our wildfire rebuilding goal, a whooping 808 donors have made one-time donations!!! An amazing 10 new supporters have signed up for monthly giving, and we have even received 18 gifts from our Amazon Wishlist already
It's because of you - because you want to see us continue to care for wildlife, to give them a second chance at life
We are rolling up our sleeves, letting the ashes fertilize the soil and starting a new chapter to rebuild, regrow, repair, restore, rehabilitate Interior Wildlife

Photo: Beaver kit "Poppy" with her plush toy "beaver buddy", whom she grooms regularly...still a solo kit in care, but growing and doing well

08/29/2026

"Chelonian therapy" - generally refers to the veterinary treatment and medical care of animals in the biological order Chelonia, including Western Painted turtles
Here at IWRS we feel that it's not just us providing help for the injured, displaced and fishhook-entangled turtles...Witnessing them get better and eventually releasing them again is like therapy for us!
Thank you for teaching us a lesson in resilience, little shelled friends!!

08/25/2026

Crediting our "partners the beavers" where credit is due
Formerly orphaned, then raised for 2 years at our facility, released into a pre-determined Okanagan wetland that needs beavers again, Nelson & Tina - are still at their release site and are doing well (we just checked)
As a "gift" so to say, for the next beavers needing rehabilitation, they have left the beaver-compound grounds wet at our facility
Absolutely would we credit them for their need of water, reminding us to store water on the land too, may we ALL become more wildfire and drought resistant by our actions going forward
Read full article on Castanet: "A dam good defence- Summerland wildlife facility credits beaver habitat for surviving wildfire"

08/24/2026

Life is slowly emerging from the ashes in Summerland
Electricity is due to be re-installed, leading from a new breaker panel underground to our seacans
Waterlines will soon be fixed to feed all our aquatic wildlife pools again
Then we need tools, hand tools, power tools, big and small tools, battery powered, plug-in tools... so our amazing volunteers can get to work rebuilding
If you would like to help us shop for some, here is our Canadian Amazon Wishlist. Full of things we dream of - so we can start a new chapter at Interior Wildlife
Just like the milkweed, who's surviving roots send up fresh green shoots soon after a wildfire passes, so are we - growing new ideas and projects
https://interiorwildlife.ca/ways-to-support-us/
Pictures: by E.Hartmann - new utility trenching, grasses resprouting, milkweed shoots, Great Basin Gopher Snake (all at IWRS)

Address

PO Box 988
Summerland, BC
V0H1Z0

Website

http://interiorwildlife.ca/, https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/interior-wildlife-rehabilitation-society/

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