About Us

Hidden off Valley View Road in Ferndale is the Sardis Raptor Center, a rehabilitation center where birds of prey are treated for everything from a few missing feathers to life-threatening injuries.

Sharon Wolters treated songbirds in California before she moved to Washington. When Wolters’ neighbor in Washington brought her a finch found in their backyard, Wolters realized that the area lacked resources for helping injured animals.

“I thought, ‘We need something up here. This place is all wildlife,’” Wolters said. 

Wolters, who has a veterinary background, took a state test and started the center shortly afterward in 1989. The center rehabilitated animals from cougars to baby hummingbirds in its early years before the Whatcom County eagle poisonings of 1995. The poisonings occurred from a misuse of Warbex, a pesticide used on cattle. Unable to keep up with increased demand, Wolters shifted her focus to rehabilitating hawks, owls, eagles and falcons. 

“It’s very specialized,” Wolters said. “It’s not your average bird. Everything about them is different.”

The center has more than 30 non-releasable birds and 20 releasable birds, said Sardis Raptor Center volunteer Sarah Mintz, who has been with the center for 22 years. A bird’s stay can vary from one week to over a year, she said.

“These guys are top predators. They have to be 100 percent to be released, and that can be a really difficult number to reach,” Mintz said. “They need all their toes, they need their eyesight, they need their hearing and then they’ll be able to fly.” 

The nonprofit has about 20 volunteers but is in need of more help. Volunteers, who are trained at the center, do everything from cleaning bird cages to feeding the birds and leading guided tours at the center.