MISSION STATEMENT

THE WILDLIFE ORPHANAGE, Inc. is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of injured and orphaned wildlife and educating our community on how to peacefully coexist with our native wildlife.

ADVISORY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Cathy Bonczek						Charles Duffy VMD
Inese Kaufman						Todd Lampert Esq.
Percy Langstaff						Dianna Shattuck DVM

DIRECTORS

Cathie Kovacs — Executive Director
Ms. Cathie Kovacs, President and Naturalist, is the founder of The Wildlife Orphanage, Inc. (TWO). She has been a licensed wildlife rehabilitator since 1995, specializing in mammals. She holds an additional specific license to handle Rabies Vector Species (RVS). She also holds a Nuisance Wildlife Control Officer (NWCO) license in the State of CT. Ms. Kovacs regularly attends state, national and international wildlife conferences.

During her years as a wildlife rehabilitator, she realized the plight of our native wildlife as well as that of the “backyard” rehabilitator. She took it upon herself to form TWO in an effort to recruit and increase the number of desperately needed wildlife rehabilitators in the area and enable them to work effectively as a group, instead of independently. This increases the number of animals that can be cared for and resources and information can be shared effectively. Ms. Kovacs envisions a wildlife rehabilitation and education facility built and staffed in lower Fairfield County, CT to unify existing wildlife rehabilitators, train and recruit new rehabilitators and have a place to care for the increasing number of injured and orphaned wild animals that we are faced with each year.

Ms. Kovacs has a BS Degree in Business Administration from Pace University in New York and works as a freelance bookkeeper.

Heather Haase Bernatchez — Director of Development
Ms. Haase Bernatchez is a native of Fairfield County, CT and has called Stamford home for the past eleven years. She worked in sales and marketing on the East and West coasts and has been with The Wildlife Orphanage since 2001. She is actively involved in all aspects of the business' growth and development and shares the vision of a wildlife rehabilitation and education facility in lower Fairfield County, CT. She is also on the Board of Directors of The Stamford Land Conservation Trust.

She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Textile Marketing from F.I.T./SUNY in New York City

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