Toronto Wildlife Centre — Local services in Toronto

What an unexpected adventure! My building is currently undergoing renovations, and part of the process involved removing the balconies. On one of them, the construction workers found two baby pigeons. They gently placed the chicks on the ground, and we waited for two days, hoping their mother would return—but she never did. With all the noise and dust, it’s likely she was too scared to come back.

The crew considered relocating them to a nearby park, but since they weren’t flying yet, I offered to take them in. That’s when I happened to find the Toronto Wildlife Centre online. I filled out their request for assistance form, and to my surprise, I got a call back in less than an hour!

I brought the baby pigeons in, and they are now in excellent hands. The facility is absolutely amazing—spotlessly clean, thoughtfully designed, and run by truly caring people. One of the coolest parts? You can actually watch live animal surgeries through observation windows. They also sell awesome merch—shirts, hats, water bottles, and more—with proceeds going directly toward helping wildlife.

If you ever come across an animal in need, I can’t recommend the Toronto Wildlife Centre enough. I’m so thankful for everything they do—and I can’t wait to get updates on the baby pigeons!

Another discovery on August 19th: I came across an injured red-breasted nuthatch with what appeared to be a broken wing. I filled out the form, and they reached out within an hour to take the bird in. It’s been such a rewarding experience, and I’m hopeful the little one makes a full...

If I could, I would give Toronto Wildlife Centre a big fat zero. I have taken orphaned baby animals to this center on two occasions and both times they said they could take them in. The last one was a 5 week old baby squirrel who was roaming around on the road and almost hit. I ran out onto the road, stopped the cars and scooped him up. I kept him overnight and took the squirrel to the Centre, hoping they would take him in, but like the last time, they refused, said they were full. The pregnant lady who took the squirrel told me that they would check him out but they couldn't take him in. She wouldn't even try to help me find help to transfer the squirrel up to Shades of Hope, now, that is a fantastic animal rescue Centre, they NEVER refuse any animal. Finally a nice lady by the name of Glenda came out to the front to try and help me, she even asked the pregnant lady, I am sorry I don't know her name if it was possible to take the squirrel in but she said NO. Glenda wanted to put the squirrel on fluids for a few hours and of course, she said no again. Glenda was kind enough to arrange for Critters Cab to come and pick up the squirrel from my house and transport him up to Shades of Hope in Pefferlaw. I used to faithfully donate to Wildlife but after they refused the three baby robins, my donations stopped. If anybody has to take any animal that needs care, say your prayers first because they most likely will not accept it. I will end by saying kudos to Glenda, she is a super lady, too bad the rest are...

I'm writing this review because I've had NO help from Toronto Wildlife Centre on TWO separate occasions where my husband and I have tried to save an injured animal. The first was newborn baby squirrel which we found on the ground under a tree in our backyard. The squirrel was alive. We could see no nest in either tree near the squirrel.We called Toronto Wildlife Centre and they told us to care for the squirrel ourselves as they could not accept it.Take it inside and feed it. ??? We had a cat and jobs that would not permit us the look after the animal as they suggested. They then said to call Toronto Animal Services who would take the squirrel from us but not save it. How upsetting is that? Next time was a week ago. We had just returned home and saw an injured female cardinal in our backyard hopping with one wing obviously damaged. We called Toronto Wildlife Centre. Their machine said to leave a detailed message and someone would get back to us within an hour, but we were not to come to the Centre with the bird until they contacted us. We capured the bird and put her in a cardboard box as requested. Then we waited. No return call. Called again. Went online and filled out the form and attached a picture of the injured bird. Waited. Nothing. Checked no the bird. Bird was dead. How extremely upsetting! If we'd taken the bird to the Centre immediately it would have been alive upon receipt and might have survived! Having no one call back was extremely upsetting. What wildlife DOES this...