Our Wildlife Rehabilitation Center provides expert care to sick, injured, and orphaned wild animals.

Our Wildlife Center opened its doors in 1997 and has been growing ever since!  We operate a fully licensed wildlife rehabilitation clinic, specializing in the care and treatment of injured, orphaned, and ill native Pennsylvania wildlife. The goal for all our patients is to release them back into the wild as healthy individuals.  

Our staff has over 35 years of combined rehabilitation experience with wildlife, holding over 20 different licenses through the Pennsylvania Game Commission, PA Fish and Boat Commission, USDA, and US Fish and Wildlife Services.  We are invested in continuing education and staying up to date on the best practices possible at our facility.  Our clinic admits over 4,200 patients spanning over 140 different species every year, helping over 40,000 animals since opening!

HELP! I found a wild animal: 

If you have encountered an animal that you believe could be injured, sick, or orphaned, we want to help assess the situation to determine what the next step should be.  Please give our helpline a call at (412)-345-7300 x 500.  Oftentimes, and with the best intentions, animals may not truly require human intervention and baby-napping greatly decreases its chance for survival. 

 We treat all native PA wildlife with the exception of White-tailed Deer, venomous snakes, and bears. These questions may be referred to the correct state agency. 

PA Game Commission for deer or bears: 724-238-9523
PA Fish and Boat Commission for venomous snakes: 814-359-5110

Our clinic is open Sunday through Saturday from 8 am to 4 pm.   

Our summer operation hours to the public are 8 am to 4 pm, however, baby season requires an evening crew for feedings and intensive care for patients to be on site until 8 pm.  While they are incredibly busy caring for wildlife, they cannot come to the door, but thanks to an amazing Girl Scouts Troop (winner of the Silver Award in 2020), we have a secure after-hours drop-off location on the clinic’s front porch.  Equipped with carriers, fresh linens, and the proper paperwork needed for admitting the animal (or animals) in need.  The staff goes out periodically to check and admit all patients dropped off.  

We have a helpline and encourage any to call with questions about wildlife, please be advised that we do not always have our helpline coordinator at the desk.  

During the following holidays, the helpline will not be active: 

  • New Years Day 
  • Memorial Day 
  • Independence Day 
  • Labor Day 
  • Thanksgiving 
  • Christmas Eve 
  • Christmas Day 

Our Wildlife Center has a year-round staff of 14 working alongside a large team of dedicated volunteersWe also bring on roughly 35 interns throughout the year to educate and inspire the next generation of advocates!

Katie Kefalos

After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh she completed various internships working with exotics until uncovering her passion for our local ecosystemShe began her native animal welfare journey as a volunteer, but was eventually hired as a part-time rehab assistant in 2015..and has never looked back!

Although Katie enjoys rehabilitating all of Pennsylvania’s native species, Cedar Waxwings are quite possibly her favoriteTheir song is so sweet and they have such charisma, can you blame her?

She also has developed a strong passion for gardening, even though she still kills a house plant from time to time and is at war with the Sparrow flock that lives near her house.

Colleen Dougherty

Colleen joined the HARP team in 2015 as a wildlife center intern. After learning to care for a variety of wildlife and seeing the passion of the staff that worked there, she knew this was the place for herShe immediately applied when a job was availableColleen worked part-time as an animal care staff while she finished college.

She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, a minor in History, and a certificate in Geographic Information Systems. In 2019 she became a licensed rehabilitator

Colleen loves working with Red Foxes because of their curious and playful nature. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, reading all the fantasy series, and hanging out with her husband, David, and rescue dog, Zuko.

Lee Ann Hill

Lee Ann earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Allegheny College in December 2017. She has extensive experience in wildlife and animal care, including volunteering at Tamarack Wildlife Center, interning at The National Aviary’s hospital, and working as a veterinary technician at an animal shelter before joining HARP’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

 Her favorite wild animal to work with is a Red-tailed Hawk, and she enjoys the medical challenges that come with treating birds of prey. Lee Ann also loves being able to work with a large variety of animals at HARP, such as foxes and coyotes. Lee Ann lives with her husband, two human babies, and two fur babies at home. Her family loves spending time outdoors, and she is excited to inspire a love and appreciation for nature in her children.

Annie Beliles

Annie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Saint Francis University in 2015 and has completed fieldwork in the Galapagos Islands and St. Lucia. She developed her passion for wildlife during her internship at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and was able to turn that passion into a career when she was hired to the medical team. She became a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator through the PA Game Commission a few years later and now also oversees the intern program at the Center. 

Annie enjoys working with a variety of species, but her favorite animals to treat are bats. While not at work, she enjoys spending time with her daughter, Willow, as well as rescue dogs (Freya, Loki, and Fenrir) and two ferrets (Odin and Pepper)

Lauren Gibbons

Lauren developed her passion for wildlife conservation and rehabilitation in the town of Rhinelander, WI, where she completed an internship at Wild Instincts.  She joined the HARP Wildlife Center team in 2019 as an animal care technician and worked her way up to becoming a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator through the PA Game Commission in 2023. She also oversees the clinic’s Release Site program. She feels a great privilege to play an intimate role in the patient’s rehabilitation process from intake to release and beyond.

While she cherishes the opportunity to work with all native PA wildlife, Northern Flickers are her absolute favorite! Outside of the busy clinic life, Lauren and her husband Russ enjoy traveling, hiking, beekeeping, and gardening.

Chelsea Poteet

Chelsea attended Edinboro University, where she earned a B.S. in Biology and a Minor in Chemistry. While in college, she interned at Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center and did a research project, where she studied the diet and body size of a few endangered species of freshwater turtles down south.

After living out of state for some time, Chelsea returned to PA, where she began working as the Volunteer Manager for HARP’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

At work, Chelsea most enjoys training volunteers and caring for Virginia opossums, but at home, you can find her playing video games and spending time with her husband, Jacob, and cat, Regina George

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