Welcome back to National Parks & other public lands with T! If you are seeing this on Twitter or Facebook, please visit the blog to see all of the photos and read the story by clicking the link.

Wildlife Images Rehabilitation and Education Center has been rescuing sick, injured and orphaned wildlife in Oregon for nearly 40 years. Established as a non-profit organization in 1981 by David Siddon, his work continues today under the leadership of his son and hundreds of volunteers.

The center rehabilitates and releases an average of 50% of the animals it takes in each year which is higher than the national average of 33%

Those animals that cannot be released into the wild become educational ambassadors or permanent residents. While staying in the Grant’s Pass area, we took the 90 minute guided tour of the facility.

We saw all sorts of birds of prey, river otters (in an actual river habitat built through the center of the park), some wolf-dog hybrids, a cougar and two Kodiak bears. The bears are no longer native to Oregon, but came to the center from Alaska when they could not be released into the wild.

The center is adjacent to the National Wild and Scenic Rogue River which we toured later that day on a Hellgate boat excursion. You can see my post about that here.

Location: 11845 Lower River Rd, Grants Pass, OR 97526

Designation: Non-profit wildlife rescue

Date designated or established: 2004

Date of my visit: 8/25/2016