Northern Colorado Wildlife Center

From our friends at the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado 💚 "⭐ Nonprofit Newsflash! ⭐ Northern Colorado Wildlife Center (NCWC) received top honors in the 2025 Community Votes Fort Collins Awards, earning Platinum in the Community Organization category and Gold in the Nonprofit category. These awards—decided by thousands of local votes—highlight the organization’s growing impact in wildlife rehabilitation and public engagement across Northern Colorado. Congrats to the Northern Colorado Wildlife Center for being recognized by our community. Learn more about NCWC here: https://www.nocowildlife.org/" We’re so happy to be part of such an amazing community. Thank you to each and every one of our supporters who enables us to be here to serve the people and animals of Colorado. 💚 . . #CommunityFoundation #NoCoFoundation #NonprofitNewsflash #CommunityVotes #NCWC #WildlifeRehabilitation #WildlifeRescue #ColoradoWildlife #RescueRehabRelease #WildlifeCenter #Wildlif...

New life has a way of finding a path forward at Northern Colorado Wildlife Center. 💚🐢 Earlier this year, a mother snapping turtle was brought to our wildlife hospital after she was struck by a car while crossing the road to reach her nesting site. While examining her injuries, one of our volunteer veterinarians discovered that she was pregnant and full of eggs. Sadly, the mother had suffered catastrophic head trauma—injuries incompatible with life—but before she was humanely euthanized, our veterinarian and her team carefully gathered her eggs so NCWC could incubate them and give them the best possible chance at survival. While we mourn the loss of this mother, we’re grateful that our team could be here to ensure this tragedy only took one life that day—and not the couple dozen it could have otherwise. Months later, those eggs have hatched—and her babies are now thriving under the care of our wildlife rehab team. These tiny snapping turtles will remain with us until they’...

It’s $5 Friday at Northern Colorado Wildlife Center! People often ask us if such a small amount can really make a difference. The truth is, $5 goes a long way here. Every single dollar we receive helps us keep showing up for both the wildlife in our care and the people in our community who are eager to learn about them. Your $5 might be the snack and drink that keeps a child engaged during one of our programs. It could be the printed educational handouts a family takes home to continue learning together. It might even provide a meal for one of our ambassador animals before they step into the classroom to meet curious students. Sometimes, it covers the small tools and supplies our educators need to teach, or the art supplies that make our monthly specialty programs possible. What feels like pocket change truly adds up to meaningful impact. When combined with the generosity of many others, those $5 gifts fuel hours of education, inspiration, and connection between people and ...

From our founder, Tallon Nightwalker, "This old, grainy photo was taken on a wind-up camera when I was a young teenager, but it marks one of those rare moments in life you don’t forget. I had the chance to meet Dr. Jane Goodall during her speaking tour at Colorado State University’s Moby Arena — a brief encounter that today I find myself reminiscing on. At the time, I was a youth volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation center, just beginning to picture what a future in wildlife conservation might look like. Standing in front of Jane, listening to her speak, and then standing by her side to share a few words, I felt the weight and wonder of being in the presence of someone who had already dedicated her life to the very thing I was only beginning to dream of — protecting animals and the natural world around us. Though our meeting only lasted a few moments, it gave me a glimpse of what was possible. Here was someone who had already built a life’s work around the very thing...

A huge thank you to Desirée Kendall at Coldwell Banker Realty - Northern Colorado for sponsoring Northern Colorado Wildlife Center's Trunk-or-Treat at the Silver Sponsor level! Desirée isn’t just dedicated to helping families find homes, she’s an excellent realtor who brings care, expertise, and heart into every step of the process. She's helped not only our organization, but has even helped our staff purchase their first homes. Her commitment to both people and place makes her an incredible community partner! Because of sponsors like Desirée, we’re able to host events that bring families together, celebrate Halloween in style, and support our mission to protect wildlife and the places they call home. Thank you, Desirée and Coldwell Banker, for helping make this year’s Trunk-or-Treat possible! 🎃🏡💚

As the rainy weather rolls through NoCo, our team and patients are feeling the shift into fall—and we couldn’t be more excited for the season ahead! This little orphaned squirrel has been with us for 57 days. He came in from Denver as a neonatal-aged orphan, only a few days old, with his eyes still closed and tiny injuries scattered across his body. While we’ll never know exactly what caused those injuries, what mattered most was that he had the chance to survive. From those fragile first days, he has grown and healed in our care, and today he’s thriving alongside his “step-siblings”—other orphaned squirrel patients around the same age. To help us keep track of his daily medications and extra supportive care needs, we gave him the tiniest “mini squirrel haircut”—a small patch of fur clipped on top of his head. It’s harmless, grows back quickly, and ensures we can give him exactly what he needs to thrive until he’s ready for release back into the wild. Moments like this one—...