Green Chimneys Sustains Significant Damage to Wildlife Center

Learning, Adapting and Looking Ahead Helps Student Prepare for Future

April 19, 2022

May 22, 2018

On Tuesday, May 15, a devastating storm struck parts of New York and Connecticut. Meteorologists have confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Putnam County. As tree, electrical and emergency crews are deployed throughout the county and beyond, Green Chimneys has been working arduously to address damage sustained from last week’s extreme weather event. While damage is visible on both Green Chimneys campuses, the greatest impact has been to the Paul C. Kupchok Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

The Wildlife Center, which provides rescue, rehabilitation and continued care to injured, orphaned and distressed wildlife, primarily birds of prey, took the brunt of the storm. Multiple enclosures were significantly damaged, so much so that one falcon and two crows escaped. Fortunately, one of the crows remained near the center and is now successfully secure in another enclosure. Several of our more sensitive wild birds were somewhat stressed by the event but are doing better.

A resident Sika deer was not harmed when a large tree crushed enclosure fencing. Click this image to see more photos.

The Wildlife Center features an education center, animal triage care area, large display and flight cages, woodland paths and naturalistic habitats. Our wildlife residents include local and rare breeds—Andean condor; Griffon vulture; numerous hawks, falcons, and owls. The Wildlife Center is licensed by the Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Serving as a resource to the Green Chimneys School, students with special needs participate in wildlife class there. Clinicians utilize it as a calm and quiet place for sessions with students, and our children even facilitate the care of wildlife on a daily basis.

Please help us restore the very place that helps wildlife … and children!

Consider making a one-time donation to Green Chimneys. Be a part of restoring the facilities that are providing wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and education.

Two Ways You Can Help Wildlife, Children with Special Needs and Green Chimneys

Skink

The newest addition to the Nature Room at Green Chimneys’ Clearpool campus is a blue-tongued skink. He was donated by a nature center, where he spent over ten years visiting schools and interacting in public programs. Students are fascinated, and sometimes a bit confused, by his unusual bright blue tongue. In the wild, blue in animals can signify poison and acts as a warning to potential predators, but skinks are not poisonous.