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About Wildlife Rehabbers Who Suffer from Species Biases

From Nathan Winograd
November 2022

Many wildlife rehabilitation centers suffer from species bias — the wildlife equivalent of companion animals sheltering’s breed bias. 'Non-native' and 'invasive' are pejorative, inspiring unwarranted fear, knee-jerk suspicion, and a lack of thoughtfulness and moral consideration.


rescued Bird

My wife found this little bird sitting in the middle of the road having difficulty breathing. We were 10 minutes from the nearest wildlife rehabilitation center, but instead, we had to drive over an hour in each direction to a different one. Why?

Many wildlife rehabilitation centers suffer from species bias — the wildlife equivalent of sheltering’s breed bias. The only attention such rehabilitators are often willing to give these animals is to kill them. As we did not know if the bird was considered “native,” taking him to the closest one would have meant a death sentence if he wasn’t.

“Non-native” and “invasive” are pejorative, inspiring unwarranted fear, knee-jerk suspicion, and a lack of thoughtfulness and moral consideration. They are the language of intolerance, based on an idea most of us have rejected in our treatment of our fellow human beings — that the value of a living being can be reduced merely to its place of ancestral origin. Especially in light of climate change, where upwards of one-third of species have to migrate to survive a changing climate, these animals are “damned if they do; damned if they don’t.” They die if they stay, and humans will kill them if they move. Madness.

Thankfully, the one we took him to doesn’t make those cruel distinctions, and he was put in an oxygen tank when we arrived. It turns out the bird was “stressed” and was having difficulty breathing, likely from a near-miss with a car that left him on the road.

After getting his bearings, our little friend took to the skies again.

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