West Shore Wildlife Center

Every donation to WSWC makes a difference. Our work is almost completely funded by ordinary individuals making small, but meaningful, donations. This makes each contribution vital in allowing us to provide care for sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife as well as our amazing ambassador animals. Through your generosity we can also continue to inspire coexistence between humans and wildlife

Help us make this our most successful fundraiser ever by telling your friends, family, and acquaintances, sharing our social posts, and even making your own posts! Those you care about would love an invitation to support a cause that makes a real difference in our community and the local environment. Without you, our work wouldn't be possible!

Our History

West Shore Wildlife Center was founded in 2019 by Emily Garrigan to meet the need for more wildlife rehabilitation centers in Pennsylvania. Emily started the center with a focus on prevention and care for Eastern Cottontails. However, she quickly expanded her care to Virginia Opossums, Mallards and reptiles. In 2024, the wildlife center moved from being based out of Emily’s home to our own facility in Dover, PA. Now, the wildlife center cares for nearly all native species with a team of professional staff and dozens of volunteers.As we strategically plan for the future and an even larger impact, we hope that you join us on our journey. We continue to expand the number and variety of species that we are able to care for. We continue to expand our library of resources for individuals, government agencies and corporations.

Our Mission

Our mission is to inspire coexistence between humans and wildlife. With the decline of wild, natural spaces, more and more wild animals are living in our neighborhoods and cities. This close proximity of wildlife to humans causes a variety of conflicts. Through our programs, we hope to ease the tensions between humans and wildlife in a way that works for all of us, and to release our patients back into the wild so that they can continue living free. We also hope to inspire everyone to be better neighbors for our health, the animals and our planet.

Our Non-Profit Organization

We are a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our work is funded by donations and all of our resources are spent on our mission. We do not receive any federal or local funding to rehabilitate wildlife and educate our communities. As the only wildlife rehabilitator in York County, PA, we also support surrounding counties that have no wild animal rescues, such as, Adams, Dauphin and Cumberland. Our PA wildlife rescue is made possible through the support of our community as we strictly rely on donations from people like you.