New wildlife hospital coming to Caledon

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Published January 11, 2024 at 1:43 pm

The hospital's groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Dr. Sherri Cox and local councillors. Photo credit: Tracey Cox

Development is underway for a new hospital in Caledon that will help provide medical care to sick and injured wildlife throughout the GTA.

The new facility, which broke ground in November at 4830 Charleston Sideroad in rural Caledon, is being developed by the National Wildlife Centre (NWC) as their first wildlife field hospital.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by local councillors and Dr. Sherri Cox, founder and medical director at the NWC.

On Dec. 18, the centre requested a grant-in-lieu of development charges be provided to the National Wildlife Centre to help the facility get built.

“We have been working with the Town of Caledon, Region of Peel and Credit Valley Conservation since the spring and finally have all of the requirements in place to build phase one of the project,” said the letter of request written by Tracey Cox, Interim Executive Director at the NWC, to regional council.

Cox said the building’s foundation is now complete, but noted that the limited funds available for the hospital have made the development fees “an enormous drain on the savings we have raised for the total building project.”

A motion moved by Caledon councillor Christina Early at today’s regional council meeting called for a grant-in-lieu of development charges in the amount of $23,360.95 be provided to the NWC to offset development charges.

The National Wildlife Centre is a volunteer-driven non-profit established in 2014 with the goal of helping native wildlife and protecting local
ecosystems. The centre says they have treated over 8,000 native wildlife since 2014, encompassing over 200 species including threatened and endangered animals.

The centre’s team currently consists of 11 wildlife veterinarian interns trained since 2014 (with plans to train 4-5 interns annually), and over 100 rehabilitators, conservationists, wildlife veterinarians, and educator partners.

“The NWC aims to be a Centre of Excellence for conservation, wildlife clinical research, wildlife medicine, training, and education,” according to the centre’s website.

More information on the National Wildlife Centre and the new hospital is available at their website.

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