Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society

Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society Welcome to Interior Wildlife! The Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (IWRS) has been established in 2020, in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of BC.
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Please visit our website: interiorwildlife.ca for more info!
***We don't monitor fb messenger for wildlife inquiries, email us instead*** We strive to contribute our part in joining forces with other privately funded centres to rehabilitate wildlife and educate about how to live with wild animals conflict free. As of June 2022 our provincial and federal permits have been granted for our care facil

ity in Summerland. This year we are set up to care for and house native small mammals and water birds.
*** Our vision: ***
To contribute to a future where people:
Respect wild animals as neighbours inhabiting shared space. Experience positive connections to wildlife, their natural environment and behaviour. Understand the importance and power of individual responsibility towards healthy ecosystems. Visit our webpage if you need help with an injured animal:
interiorwildlife.ca/found-injured-or-orphaned-wildlife/

08/29/2026

"Chelonian therapy" - generally refers to the veterinary treatment and medical care of animals in the biological order Chelonia, including Western Painted turtles
Here at IWRS we feel that it's not just us providing help for the injured, displaced and fishhook-entangled turtles...Witnessing them get better and eventually releasing them again is like therapy for us!
Thank you for teaching us a lesson in resilience, little shelled friends!!

Crediting our "partners the beavers" where credit is dueFormerly orphaned, then raised for 2 years at our facility, rele...
08/25/2026

Crediting our "partners the beavers" where credit is due
Formerly orphaned, then raised for 2 years at our facility, released into a pre-determined Okanagan wetland that needs beavers again, Nelson & Tina - are still at their release site and are doing well (we just checked)
As a "gift" so to say, for the next beavers needing rehabilitation, they have left the beaver-compound grounds wet at our facility
Absolutely would we credit them for their need of water, reminding us to store water on the land too, may we ALL become more wildfire and drought resistant by our actions going forward
Read full article on Castanet: "A dam good defence- Summerland wildlife facility credits beaver habitat for surviving wildfire"

Life is slowly emerging from the ashes in SummerlandElectricity is due to be re-installed, leading from a new breaker pa...
08/24/2026

Life is slowly emerging from the ashes in Summerland
Electricity is due to be re-installed, leading from a new breaker panel underground to our seacans
Waterlines will soon be fixed to feed all our aquatic wildlife pools again
Then we need tools, hand tools, power tools, big and small tools, battery powered, plug-in tools... so our amazing volunteers can get to work rebuilding
If you would like to help us shop for some, here is our Canadian Amazon Wishlist. Full of things we dream of - so we can start a new chapter at Interior Wildlife
Just like the milkweed, who's surviving roots send up fresh green shoots soon after a wildfire passes, so are we - growing new ideas and projects
https://interiorwildlife.ca/ways-to-support-us/
Pictures: by E.Hartmann - new utility trenching, grasses resprouting, milkweed shoots, Great Basin Gopher Snake (all at IWRS)

Green oasis surrounded by ashes"Beavers build dams and change small streams into broad wetland areas. This keeps plants ...
08/21/2026

Green oasis surrounded by ashes

"Beavers build dams and change small streams into broad wetland areas. This keeps plants green and lush, even during periods of drought. When a fire ignites, that green vegetation near the beaver ponds will be more difficult to burn than other nearby dry vegetation. The fire will often take the path of least resistance and burn through the dry vegetation away from beaver ponds instead of smoldering through the wet vegetation near beaver ponds" (E. Fairfax)
The beaver's at Interior Wildlife - have technically saved their own enclosure, by their need of water. Daily draining of large pools into the ground around the beaver-compound has: kept the ground wet, plants green and prevented the Bald Range wildfire from burning through the wet vegetation surrounding their compound - hence the beaver enclosure did not burn!!
In the wild these "beaver-assisted green patches in the landscape can act as a refuge for animals that may be physically unable to escape a wildfire, including fish, frogs, birds, small mammals, etc. While other portions of the landscape burn, the area around beaver ponds remains relatively unaffected – the perfect place to hunker down and wait out the fire" (E. Fairfax)
Hunker down they did! Our beaver compound as well as the creek and surrounding riparian zone on our property provided a refuge for wildlife during the fire that tore through our property and destroyed a part of it. But not all
With one smiling and one crying eye we feel we owe it to the beavers that we can continue our work and by caring for beavers we enable the care they provide to entire ecosystems in the future
Text & photos: Eva Hartmann. Quotes: "Beaver & Wildfire" by Dr. Emily Fairfax: https://emilyfairfaxscience.com/research/firebeavers/ (with permission)

While we wait to get back to our property in Summerland, we feel deeply connected to our community that has held us and ...
08/18/2026

While we wait to get back to our property in Summerland, we feel deeply connected to our community that has held us and sent support the last week
We have received messages from friends, colleagues and strangers. New connections and notes of hope, kindness and recognition for our efforts have reached us
We feel every kind word and we will extend that feeling towards the animals coming our way in the future at Interior Wildlife
A few notes that were sent our way are so beautiful, we wanted to share

Animals don't wait until we are ready, they need help when they need help. We've said THE SHOW MUST GO ON. So, when we g...
08/15/2026

Animals don't wait until we are ready, they need help when they need help. We've said THE SHOW MUST GO ON. So, when we got the email that a large Western Painted Turtle was found and captured with a fishhook stuck in its mouth so deep that it may have impacted the eye socket, we did not hesitate. Our excellent communications volunteer Tiff organized for it to come to us, one of our committed and supportive veterinarians was available to volunteer his time, a local vet clinic donated use of their facility and our ED Eva who happens to also be a registered vet tech together with said veterinarian ... provided much needed relief! The fishhook broke, but we removed it completely afterall, the patient woke up well from sedation and with pain meds and anti-inflammatories aboard she sure was keen to rehydrate herself and get a chance to have her swollen eye taken care of.
Thank you for the great teamwork!
❤️🐢

How to hold grief and gratitude at the same time?Amidst the smoke and sorrow, beyond our personal losses, we see just ho...
08/13/2026

How to hold grief and gratitude at the same time?
Amidst the smoke and sorrow, beyond our personal losses, we see just how deeply we belong to one another and that there is caring all around
Looking forward to when the smoke clears, we feel that uncertainty and heartbreak with this fire will be a new opportunity to rebuild and restore. After a wildfire comes through a forest, the wildflowers will come back and there will be so much beauty again...
Neighbours helping neighbours. Strangers opening their homes. Thoughts, well wishes and check-ins arriving from everywhere. We feel it in our hearts as we are counting our blessings
Thankful in advance for everyone pitching in and/or sharing, so we can rebuild Interior Wildlife and continue its mission: https://interiorwildlife.ca/donate/

Summerland Fire Update from IWRS:When we could feel the heat and hear the forest ablaze while ashes were raining from th...
08/09/2026

Summerland Fire Update from IWRS:
When we could feel the heat and hear the forest ablaze while ashes were raining from the skies, there was no time to pack anything besides the animals and ourselves
On our security cameras we could only watch the facility get engulfed by flames before the power went out and everything went black
The Bald Range wildfire came through our property in Summerland so so fast last night, we evacuated our wildlife centre patients and took our own pets safely, that's all we could do
All "material things" had to be left behind. At the facility and our private residence. We will have to rebuild. Once we can catch our breaths for the rest of this weekend
For now we just want everyone to know we are ok, animals AND humans
Wild patients were transferred to our friends at the centre in Kamloops, we have found help staying with family and support by our amazing friends and volunteers. THANK YOU to all your messages and encouraging words. We feel we can get through this and will always do our best to continue our mission and vision at Interior Wildlife!

Everyone in Summerland had to evacuate due to a massive wildfire moving really fast - including us
08/08/2026

Everyone in Summerland had to evacuate due to a massive wildfire moving really fast - including us

Tina & Nelson's 2-mon post-release update: We are happy to report that both beavers are still present and active at thei...
08/05/2026

Tina & Nelson's 2-mon post-release update: We are happy to report that both beavers are still present and active at their release site 8 weeks later!!!
The low water levels are concerning, but considering it is August now (lowest annual flow month), there is still enough depth in the deeper parts of the ponds - a good sign
Busy as they have been, elevating and repairing the historical beaver dams which previous wild beavers had started, we are cautiously optimistic that Tina & Nelson will get through this dry spell
Listen to a recent radio interview with AM1150, where our executive director Eva Hartmann spoke about why we should say "Hi & Thank You!" to the beavers if we come across one: https://interiorwildlife.ca/news/

📸 Photos: IWRS wildlife camera traps looking at the upper beaver dam of the release wetland

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PO Box 988
Summerland, BC
V0H1Z0

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