Our HiSTORY
The Nonprofit New England Wildlife Centers, is a grassroots, entrepreneurial venture launched by a group of Massachusetts citizens 40 years ago in 1983. We worked out of Bare Cove park in Hingham, MA using the former military ammunition bunkers as our hospital. In 2001 this all changed!
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. This building is constructed to green LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) specifications.
The money raised comes 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. We want you to take a closer look, to really see our natural world, and to make a difference. We offer the opportunity for students and the public to visit our entirely windowed veterinary hospital in Weymouth so you may observe first-hand our collective impact on wildlife. We also provide facilities to explore this natural world in places like our Weezie Nature Center and biology classroom, as well as science education curricula proven to increase environmental literacy.
Over six years ago we expanded our program to include the Birdsey Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable, MA. This doubled our capacity to care for wildlife, and tripled our educational impact. NEWCS plays a significant community role in the Metro Boston, South Shore and Cape & the Islands geographic areas. We own 17.5 acres of land split between our two communities. We operate two facilities. The NEWCS-Weymouth Center is a modern, GREEN, windowed and accessible facility built to LEED criteria. It also hosts a mile of natural trails and nature study. NEWCS-Barnstable is located in an historically zoned and quaint neighborhood. Barnstable also hosts bee-pollination farms and a community farm.
Both Centers accomplish the same mission and program of wildlife care, veterinary medicine, and student education while reflecting the aura of their respective communities.
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.