Green Chimneys Student Releases Rehabilitated Hawk

Finding Focus and Living in the Present

November 7, 2019

February 2, 2017

When an injured bird has been nurtured back to health at Green Chimneys, we pause before it’s released to wish it well.

It’s a tradition that repeats itself, time and again, as we bid adieu to healed wildlife, as well as Green Chimneys students and residents who are ready for the next step in their journeys. The bittersweet preparedness of life beyond Green Chimneys. Typically we gather as a community to wish the child well. We recently came together for a symbolic bird release to celebrate one child’s big moment.

Chinchilla

The Green Chimneys wildlife classroom is home to an adorable pair of chinchilla brothers who are often the first animals students want to hold. The brothers are inquisitive and playful but also very shy so students must be calm, and allow the chinchillas to come to them. The students love to build tunnels and play areas for the chinchillas and watch them in their favorite activities: taking dust baths (an instinctive act to clean their fur) and eating raisins. Considered to be the softest animal in the world, the chinchilla is a rodent native to the Andes Mountains of South America, and is a relative of the porcupine and guinea pig.