Conservation > Montana WILD's Wildlife Center
History
Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks has rehabilitated orphaned and injured wildlife for many years. The effort goes back before Montana WILD’s Wildlife Center was officially in place. In the early 1970s, FWP’s original rehabilitation facility was located at the Helena Area Regional Office and was overseen by FWP’s conservation educator Vince Yannone and many local volunteers.
By the early 1990s, the facility had outgrown its capacity to meet the demands of wildlife rehabilitation and major improvements were needed. The Foundation for Animals (then called the Mikal Kellner Foundation For Animals) stepped forward and offered to help raise funds to establish a new facility in a new location.
The 1995 Montana Legislature provided authorization to move forward on a unique public/private partnership involving FWP, the Foundation for Animals (FFA), and the USDA Helena Forest Service. The Foundation raised significant funds from many generous donors and purchased a 5.3 acre parcel of land overlooking Spring Meadow Lake State Park west of Helena.
Fundraising to build a new wildlife rehabilitation facility continued and, in 2002, with a major contribution from FWP, construction of the main facility and three large wildlife enclosures was complete. At that time, the Foundation donated the land and facility to FWP which assumed operations of the Wildlife Center. FFA has continued to support the mission of the Wildlife Center by contributing toward improvements, including the addition of the Kelly Kuntz Eagle Flight Barn in 2016.
