Submitted Photo Dr. Logan Wood, right, veterinarian at Roosevelt Park Zoo, Minot, is the state’s first Certified Wildlife Rehabilitator.

Minot’s Roosevelt Park Zoo Veterinarian Dr. Logan Wood is North Dakota’s first Certified Wildlife Rehabilitator.

The certification is offered through the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (CWR). A CWR shows commitment to a gold standard in rehabilitation care. A CWR goes a step beyond the 100 licensing hours, requiring expanded knowledge intriage, physiology, legislature and medication administration.

Wood gained wildlife rehabilitation experience at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program while attending veterinary school in Colorado.

“The goal at the end of any wildlife rehabilitation is to reintroduce that animal into the wild,” said Wood. “Animals who are non-releasable, as a zoological institution, we may be able to find them a home faster, a home that will be able to provide the advanced medical care they need.”

Wood’s CWR could potentially provide rehabilitation for animals, especially in northern North Dakota. Next steps will include state and federal permitting and adding appropriate facilities for recovery.

Dakota Zoo in Bismarck is an active licensed rehabilitation facility. Wood said he is looking forward to building on the experience of each zoo and expand existing relationships and knowledge exchange into rehabilitation.

Wood’s CWR will also build the Minot zoo’s relationship with N.D. Game and Fish and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, creating opportunities to educate the public on what do to if anyone finds wildlife that needs help, and offering that help in a way that gives that animal the best chance to return to the wild.