The North Island Wildlife Recovery Association (NIWRA) was established in 1985 to operate a shelter for injured and orphaned wildlife for the purpose of rehabilitation and release of animals brought to the centre.
The interim years have seen a growth in the centre with greater and greater numbers of birds and animals being brought in. We have concentrated on public education to try and reduce these numbers. Because some of the animals brought to us are too badly injured to ever be completely rehabilitated and returned to the wild, they are kept here to live out their lives and their stories are used for public education as well.
Over the years, because of the increase in intake of numbers of non-releasable animals and the costs required to care for them, the maintenance of our enclosures has become a major expense and there is much upgrading required to keep our residents comfortable.
We also have a difficulty with above-ground water lines that have frozen on occasion, requiring a great deal of work to provide the resident bears and raptors with water. We desperately need to place these lines underground. Our facility is basically run by a small staff base and 52 volunteers.
NIWRA has the opportunity to participate in the Aviva Community Fund where it’s votes from the public that get us the money. That’s where readers of The NEWS come in. Just go on our website and connect with the Aviva banner to our project, register your e-mail and start voting.
We need to be in the top five contenders to move onto the next stage of funding. Right now we are about 12th so we need some fresh votes. Please pass this along to your e-mail, Facebook and Twitter friends so we can soar above and get up to $100,000 for the centre.
Happy voting. If you encounter any problems, please email us at wildlife@niwra.org and we can help you through it.
Sylvia Campbell, President North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre
Errington