Megan Tighe
PAEP
Vermont Institute of Natural Science
The Vermont
Institute of Natural Science (VINS) is an organization that strives to better
the greater community through environmental education, research and avian
rehabilitation. As a nonprofit, member-supported, organization, VINS aims to
make “high-quality, compelling, and fun environmental education programs,”
(About) that engage the community and hopes to inspire individuals to do their
own part in environmental conservation. VINS attracts more then 40,000 people
annually from throughout New England and has high hopes that this number will
begin to raise as people become more aware of the future of our environment.
On
47-acres, located in Quechee, Vermont; VINS stands as a six building compound.
With 17 state of the art raptor enclosures, 4 exhibit spaces, 2 class rooms and
about a mile of nature trails, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science has
been a leader in wildlife conservation since 1972. They are nationally
recognized for their innovative natural science curricula and educational
programs. The institute is open year-round, and with daily presentations with
the raptors, VINS hopes that people will be motivated for change. They hope
that when people experience their 47-acre facility, they will be inspired to
change the way that people treat the environment, our environment.
VINS main
outreach program is avian rehabilitation. They offer many educational programs
like Environmental
Learning for the Future Program, Naturalist-in-Residence Program, but Bird
Rescue is by far viewed as their most important program. They stress the fact that “stress kills!,” (Rescue)
in their program. The rules to avian rescue are as follows: the parents are
known to be dead, the animal is injured, the animal is in immediate danger or
the bird is found with a cat. In any of these circumstances, the bird needs
professional care from the licensed wildlife rehabilitators at the Vermont
Institute of Natural Science. After VINS receives an animal, they assess
whether the bird can be later released back into the wild. To determine whether
the bird will be able to survive, they perform a multitude of tests, like
seeing whether the bird can catch their own food. The bird must be able to
catch a mouse in a certain amount of time to be considered capable of
surviving. If the bird is deemed to be incapable, the trainers begin to work
with the bird for educational purposes.
VINS’ mission is “motivating individuals and
communities to care for the environment through education, research, and avian
wildlife rehabilitation,” (About). We
spoke with a trainer at the facility and he gave us some incite on the policy
that VINS aims to follow. The greatest issue that they face is that it is
illegal for them to take in birds that are not native to Vermont. So legally,
if some one brings a non-native bird to VINS, they have to reject it. Nathan,
the trainer, expressed his distaste for this policy but also told us that
passionate environmentalist are usually willing to cross state borders in order
to get the injured bird to the correct facility. Permits are also necessary
from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department in order to work with the
raptors. The handlers cannot begin rehabilitation with the birds if they are
not cleared and legally permitted. As Nathan expressed, this is their duty and
life calling. They feel obligated to help those that cannot help themselves,
and I believe this is the way everyone in our world has to learn to live. The
greatest illustration of character is doing something for someone that doesn’t
benefit you at all.
As we learned in Ishmael, humans are
the cause of most environmental destruction, and VINS sees it the same way.
Almost all of the birds that pass through VINS are there because of human
involvement. The number one cause of injury of birds is car accidents; another
is destruction of their habitat, which forces them to unsuitable homes.
Everything that VINS does is to help the raptors return to the wild. They do
not believe it to be ethical with training the birds for human education. That
being said though, they hope that further education will help the future of
raptors and only use the birds for short periods of time before retirement.
VINS wants to teach people how to have a positive impact on the environment,
and how to have less of a negative effect. Precaution is key. We must be aware
of what is out there in order to protect it.
I took with me a saying from our
site visit that is not backed by the organization, but I heard it from one of
the trainers. He said that because humans cause all of the accidents involving
raptors, it our responsibility to save them. Raptors do more for our ecosystem
then we realize. They keep the rodent population at balance, which in turn,
allows vegetation to grow. Humans need and want flowers and vegetables that
could potentially be destroyed with an influx of rodents, so we need to fix the
problem that we are creating with the raptors. Its not only car accidents
though. Its glass doors, logging, the grooming of trees and bushes,
domesticated pets…the list goes on and on. The world was not just made for man
(Ishmael). It was made for all living things, but with our Taker philosophy of
life, we will never be a sustainable culture. We aren’t only killing the
raptors with our lifestyle, we are killing our future generations… we are
killing ourselves.
As a group, I think we did an
overall great job in learning about and discussing raptor rehabilitation. We
did struggle with timing. It was difficult getting four people together on four
different schedules, but we made it work and I am completely content with
everything we accomplished. Maddy, Meaghan and I were able to visit VINS in
person and experience their raptor presentation and feeding. Luckily, with some
smooth talking, we were able to enter the facility for free and got a moment to
speak with a raptor handler, which in my opinion was the most helpful to our
project. I got the feeling though that
VINS doesn’t really know what they are doing half the time. Not in a
disrespectful way to the organization, but its very go with the flow, ‘we’ll
just deal with things as they come’ kind of attitude, which made it very
difficult for us to find and obtain information that was relevant to our
project. I had a great time working with my group and wouldn’t change a thing.
Every person that we came across at
VINS was so passionate about their work. The honestly believe that every bird
in our ecosystem makes a difference and that it is their goal and job to save
that bird. The Vermont Institute of Natural Science is an extremely ethical
organization and I’m glad that I am well versed on their mission so that I can
make it mine to spread the word. We will perhaps never return to the Leaver
culture, but we can do our best to adapt to a better Taker culture that cares
more for the environment and its future.
Works
Cited
DesJardins,
Joseph R. Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental
Philosophy. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993. Print.
"Vermont
Institute of Natural Science." The Trust for Public Land. TPL,
n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
"Vermont
Fish & Wildlife." Vermont Fish & Wildlife. N.p., n.d.
Web. 01 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.
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