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Helene Van Doninck and her husband Murdo Messer proudly welcome visitors to their newly erected Nursery and Drop-off Centre on the site of the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre on their home property in Hilden NS.   

“I started out doing a little bit of rehabilitation work but then it went crazy,” explained Helene.  “This new facility will allow us to gradually move things out of our home and to register and admit animals from this site.”  

Alumnus Helene Van Doninck dedicates her life and every ounce of her spare time to helping others. Quite often, the “others” have four legs, fur or feathers. Dr. Van Doninck exemplifies a passion for animal husbandry that knows no boundaries and a strong desire to share her knowledge and skills with others.

Passionate about animals since her early days in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, Helene chose to study pre-veterinary medicine at NSAC and graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Atlantic Veterinary College in 1991. However, while working at a veterinary practice in Newfoundland in the years following her graduation, Helene realized her true calling: helping injured and orphaned wildlife.

“When I finished school, I saw a lot of wildlife coming into the clinic that we were not trained to treat or we could treat them medically but then had nowhere for them to rehabilitate,” she explained.  “There were not a lot of options for individual animals.”

As Helene came to recognize that help for individual wild animals was not readily available, she began caring for animals that came into the clinic on her own time. But this wasn’t enough.

In 2001, Helene and Murdo founded the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre from the ground up. The Centre is a rehabilitation centre for wildlife and is located on the property of their home in Hilden, Nova Scotia. Helene’s team, made up entirely of volunteers, works tirelessly to rehabilitate and care for the animals that come through the Centre, with the goal of releasing all back into the wild.

“We are filling a real void by caring for injured wildlife and are one of only a few facilities in the province to do so,” she added.

All medical procedures take place at the Central Nova Animal Hospital in Bible Hill, also run by two alumni who provide the facility free-of-charge to Helene.

In addition, the organization strives to educate the public about wildlife concerns, most notably the issue of lead poisoning in bald eagles. Through awareness campaigns and presentations, Helene has persuaded many hunters to switch to non-lead ammunition, saving the lives of both birds and potentially humans who consume wild meat that could otherwise have contained lead.

Despite the fact their facility runs solely on donations and fundraising, Helene and Murdo manage to provide state-of-the-art care to roughly 300 animals every year. The Bald Eagle Flight Recovery Centre, the first of its kind in Canada, is a large oval-shaped enclosure which allows eagles to fly freely during their rehabilitation. A number of large enclosures on Helene’s property allow wildlife to roam at liberty with limited human interaction. The enclosures replicate the animal’s wild habitats, allowing them to exercise their natural instincts and ensuring their survival in the wild upon release.

“Our Bald Eagle Flight Recovery Centre is the most recent addition to our site but we do have plans to build more enclosures.  As the funding becomes available we will add as needed,” she said.

Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre was the recent recipient of $14,000 from the 100 Women Who Care program.  “This funding will allow us to begin to gradually populate the Nursery and Drop-off Centre with a walk-in freezer, incubator and a generator,” she added.

As if running the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre weren’t enough to fill her schedule, Helene also works part-time at a number of clinics in Nova Scotia. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and expertise with others and gives various seminars through Zoetis, a global animal wellness company dedicated to delivering quality medicines, vaccines and knowledge to businesses and their clients.

Dr. Van Doninck is an avid member of many different non-profit organizations. She is a member of the Nova Scotia Bird Society where she sits on the board of directors. She also works as an Oiled Wildlife Response and Emergency Preparedness Consultant/Trainer. In this role, she works with various companies, organizations, institutions, government agencies and individuals to help train for oiled wildlife prevention and response. Her training in oil spill response has enabled her to respond to many oil spills in Canada and USA to provide care and rehabilitation for affected wildlife.

Dr. Van Doninck has impacted hundreds of students here at the Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture. For eight years, Helene was a lecturer and surgical skills instructor in both the Animal Health Technology and Veterinary Technology programs. She has been welcomed as a guest lecturer for several degree courses such as Avian Biology, Companion Animal Nutrition, Companion Animal Behaviour and Aquatic Ecology. Helene currently teaches a few days a month at AVC. She inspires students to work hard to reach their goals despite any odds that may be against them and is a real-life example of what can be accomplished when passion and skills combine.

To donate to the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, volunteer or to purchase a 2016 wall calendar featuring the animals who have been treated at the Centre please visit www.cwrc.net

Connect with them on social media:

Instagram: CobequidWildlife

Twitter: @CobequiWildlife

Facebook:  Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre