Our History
The nonprofit New England Wildlife Center (a.k.a, the Center or NEWC) is a grassroots, entrepreneurial venture, launched by a group of Massachusetts citizens 33 years ago.
With a development department of two, and no outside help, the Center completed an $8 million capital campaign to build the first-in-the-nation wildlife hospital and science education facility constructed to green LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) specifications.
All funds raised came from individual donors just like you.
From the very beginning, the driving idea behind the Center has been “education is action.”
We see providing humane veterinary care to sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife as not only a way to help animals in need, but also as a real-life and engaging opportunity to teach the life sciences to K-12 students and offer hands-on training in veterinary medicine to undergraduate students.
At the Center, we encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to become stewards of wildlife, habitats, and natural resources through our Weezie Nature Center and biology classroom, a windowed veterinary hospital where the public can observe first-hand our collective impact on wildlife, and science education curricula proven to increase environmental literacy.
You make this important work possible.
NEWC is a community-integrated 501(c)(3) charitable organization and does not receive federal or state funding. Your donations support all our work to help animals and people thrive.
Make a donation now
Our Achievements
We are proud that the Center continues to stand as an example of our ability as a community to come together to solve real problems on our own, without leaving it to the government, large institutions, or – in other words – “the experts.”
- NEWC is the only comprehensive wildlife hospital in the metro-Boston area that provides care for sick, injured, and orphaned wild animals. We can treat 225 different species.
- Since we opened the doors to the Center, our veterinary team has treated more than 120,000 wildlife, provided education to tens of thousands of children and young adults, and reconnected countless numbers of people to wildlife, the environment, and each other.
- The Center’s work has been praised locally and nationally in media including The Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Today Show, WCVB-TV Boston’s magazine show Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Patriot Ledger, South Shore Living Magazine, and the Yawkey Foundation’s Annual Report.
- The Center was chosen by the Massachusetts State Legislature as one of the top 1,000 places to visit in Massachusetts.
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