WILDLIFE CENTER OF VIRGINIA NAMED FINALIST IN TOYOTA 100 CARS FOR GOOD PROGRAM

Toyota to Donate Vehicles to Local Nonprofit Organizations

Based on Public Votes

The Wildlife Center of Virginia is one of 250 finalists in Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program, which will award vehicles to 100 nonprofit organizations based on votes from the public beginning October 1, 2013.

Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program will showcase five nonprofit organizations each day for 50 days at Facebook.com/Toyota.  Visitors to the page will receive two votes each day to select two separate winning organizations they feel are most deserving of new Toyota vehicles.  The Wildlife Center will be one of the five organizations highlighted for voting on Tuesday, October 1.

Local residents are encouraged to support the Wildlife Center in the quest for a new Toyota Sienna.  If the Wildlife Center receives the most votes and is awarded the vehicle, it will be used to support the Center’s life-saving work as a veterinary hospital and education center.  For example, the new Toyota will be used to transport outreach staff – and education animals – to programs and events throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.  These non-releasable animals – typically an opossum, a reptile [turtle or snake], or a raptor [falcon, hawk, or owl] – make life-changing impressions on audiences of all ages and are the key to highlighting the steps that each of us can take to protect wildlife.

The new Toyota would also be used to pick up a “treasure trove” of food and supplies – donated fruits and vegetables used to feed bears, opossums, rabbits, and other patients, as well as donated equipment and medical supplies.

About the Wildlife Center

The Wildlife Center of Virginia is an internationally acclaimed teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine.  Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Center has cared for more than 60,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.  The Center’s public education programs share insights gained through the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, in hopes of reducing human damage to wildlife. 

In July 2011, the Center launched Critter Cam, which has allowed wildlife enthusiasts around the world to watch a variety of Center patients.  Current “stars” of Critter Cam include a record-setting 16 Black Bear cubs; Barn Owls or a Cooper’s Hawk, and an Eastern Screech-Owl or Buddy, the Center’s resident Bald Eagle.  A link to Critter Cam may be found on the Center’s homepage – www.wildlifecenter.org.  

Note to the Press: Photos of patients treated at the Wildlife Center and resident environmental wildlife ambassadors are available.  Please contact Randy Huwa at 540.942.9453 or at rhuwa@wildlifecenter.org.