Based on current statewide reports from the Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Hawai‘i Wildlife Center is projected to receive several hundred native birds per year in need of care. In the event of natural or manmade disasters such as disease outbreaks or major oil or contaminant spills the number of birds in need will easily escalate by hundreds and possibly into thousands.
Hard work, helping hands, and the redeeming joy of seeing recovered birds taking flight again.
Since Hawai‘i is an isolated island archipelago, the majority of its native terrestrial vertebrate life is avian. Of the more than 140 taxa of endemic birds known from the Hawaiian Islands, greater than half are extinct. Half of those that remain are threatened with extinction. There are more than fifteen million seabirds in the Hawaiian archipelago. The Island of Hawai‘i has the largest population of endemic and indigenous avian species in the State of Hawai‘i. HWC will provide a much-needed resource to assist state and federal wildlife agencies. It will help reverse trends in declining avian populations. It will be the first wildlife and rehabilitation facility of its kind in Hawai‘i.