Madelyn's PAEP: VINS

Madelyn Wang

Vermont Institute of Natural Science

The Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS), to me, is firstly an aviary rehabilitation center. However, they identify as a non-profit environmental education center. The programs used to pursue their mission are remarkable due to their interactivity.

Located in Quechee, Vermont, founded in 1972, and open all year VINS utilizes a 47-acre land to execute their mission. In 1996 The Trust for Public Land helped VINS gain 28 acres of land (TPL). The institute is the first nature center and rehabilitation clinic in the New England area. VINS’ mission has been and is to motivate people and communities to care about the environment through education, aviary rehabilitation, and research. Their research deals with various subjects of natural science and they even offer a research internship opportunity. When my group first looked up VINS I thought its mission had to do with aviary awareness, as it does deal with aviary rehabilitation. However, VINS does a great job at educating communities through its various programs and events based around avian rehabilitation.

The institute has various ways to educate the community, starting with elementary school children with their Environmental Learning for the Future Program (ELF), Naturalist-in-Residence Program, and specialized VINS field trips. The institute is so dedicated to getting information out to communities that they have the option to provide outreach programs where they come to you with a live animal presentation. They also allow visitors to see raptors engaging with trainers during feeding times and certain events at their center, such as Raptors Up Close and Bird ER. These events educate people on “subjects ranging from how we rehabilitate hundreds of birds each year, the fundamentals of how we train our raptors to the specialties of certain raptor groups like falcons and owls (VINS).” It was pleasant being able to ask the trainer at our Raptors Up Close event about the birds and the center. He was very friendly and informative on the raptors and what they do with them. These processes with which they use to make people more knowledgeable are effective and fun. 

Various policies govern the institute as VINS deals with wild animals. Mainly, the policies are through the Vermont Fish and Wildlife department. They must have a wildlife rehabilitation permit in order to legally care for and treat wildlife. Additionally, wildlife rehabilitators need permits issued by the state. However, since VINS deals with birds they must also follow the policies of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and obtain a separate permit, otherwise they’d be in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The permit allows them to legally rehabilitate under the special purposes activity.

These policies deal with the peacekeeping law that Ishmael speaks about (Ishmael). They try to reduce the amount of wasted life that humans have occurred, which is humans trying to mend what they have done. However, sometimes if the wound to the birds is too fatal VINS euthanizes the bird. This ties into how humans believe they have been given the knowledge of who dies and who lives, as we don’t know if the animal will die or not but we decide for them if they do (Ishmael). I do believe that VINS is trying to encourage a sustainable ecosystem when they return rehabilitated birds to the wild, rather than keep all the birds with them at the facility. If they can continue their normal life in the wild then that is what they will do. Furthermore, VINS mission shows that they believe the community has responsibilities to the environment (Environmental Ethics).

The process of executing this project was challenging, as my group and I were undecided about what we should do. Through picking the place to doing the poster we struggled with it. Individually, everyone came through with their parts of the project. As a group, getting things done felt very slow. When we visited the VINS site we were very fortunate to have arrived in time for a raptor event. Learning about the birds, and experiencing how VINS attempted to educate people was interesting and helpful since the interactivity made it easier for us to understand their mission. Seeing the beautiful birds and finding out that humans were the most reported reasons for bird injuries really struck a chord with me. Their website was good for learning how they pursued their mission, but it didn’t have enough information on the center itself. Finding out about their history and what policies interacted with them included a lot of searching and piecing together small fragments of information.

Overall, learning about the Vermont Institute of Natural Science was a struggle. It is very clear that their mission is to make communities and individuals more environmentally aware and caring. However, all their background information, which we needed for the other three-fourths of the project, was very behind the scenes and difficult to obtain. It was interesting to see how our class’ lessons tie into this institute’s mission and processes.

Works Cited

DesJardins, Joseph R. Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993. Print.

"Migratory Birds Permits." Migratory Birds Permits. US Fish and Wildlife Service, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.

"Vermont Fish & Wildlife." Vermont Fish & Wildlife. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.

"Vermont Institute of Natural Science." The Trust for Public Land. TPL, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

"Welcome to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science." Welcome to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. VINS, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael. New York: Bantam/Turner Book, 1995. Print.