The Raptor Trust
The Raptor Trust, Millington New Jersey
In Their Own Words:
The Raptor Trust envisions a world where animals and the environment are not harmed by human activity, unless accidentally, at which time people would do all in their power to heal and correct the harm.
The Raptor Trust’s mission is to set a humane example by providing care to native wild birds in need, and by educating people about wild birds, especially birds of prey.
The Work:
1. Provide free care and assistance to injured, sick, or orphaned wild birds.
TRT’s professional staff supplies the highest quality medical care and maintenance to all avian patients. A fully equipped medical infirmary, including an intensive care wing, exists on site. Services available include diagnostics, X-ray, orthopedic repair, and specialized diets. Although it began as a raptor care facility, TRT now offers assistance to all native wild birds. The goal is always to return all viable individuals to the wild.
2. Educate people about wild birds, especially birds of prey.
The Raptor Trust’s educational efforts to benefit raptors and all wild birds are actively pursued in several ways. Currently, two full-time teachers/naturalists are employed by TRT…These informative, factual presentations are given to schools, scouts, nature organizations, and all other interested groups, and are attended by thousands of people, primarily young people, each year. Live birds of prey are often used in these educational offerings. … TRT educates is through its own written words. Over time, it has published and distributed a great deal of information about wild birds in the form of books, pamphlets, fact sheets, and posters.
Each year, tens of thousands of people visit The Raptor Trust to view the many unreleasable native birds of prey in residence. People are allowed, indeed encouraged, to come and see the birds, marvel at them, ask questions about them, and learn about them. It is hoped that … learning more about raptors, people will become less apprehensive and more tolerant of them.
3. Provide a humane example for others.
… The Raptor Trust has provided its unique services to the wild birds and the people who find them, always trying to be helpful and caring to both. It is TRT’s hope that its long-standing presence and humane conduct have provided a worthy example to others.
Note from Destination: Wildlife
The Raptor Trust has been in my heart for over 40 years. Growing up, this urban girl’s entire experience with nature was the bees, begonias, and once a praying mantis in her mom’s 2ft. x 6ft. flower garden squeezed between our driveway and front stairs.
I was twenty-one when The Raptor Trust gave me my first-ever look at a Red-tailed hawk, a Barn Owl, and a huge Golden Eagle, all injured and safely under their care. Their keen eyes watched me watching them, then turned upward far beyond their enclosure to the sky. Light filtered through the chicken wire and danced on iridescent feathers. The birds, dignified and wild even though hobbled and confined, opened my world.
Begun as one man’s backyard passion project in the 1980s (founders Len and Diane Soucy’s son Chris is now Executive Director), TRT has grown to a full avian medical infirmary (operating room, intensive care, isolation, and rehab facility) and nursery for motherless chicks, caring for hundreds of injured or sick wild birds every year. Its location next to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is the perfect launch site for their recovered patients. In March, when I visited, permanent resident Winston the Black Vulture played with my shoelace, and Ollie the American Kestrel received medicine in a delicious fresh mouse lunch, mashed to accommodate its damaged bill.
