About Us

About Us

Who we are

For 40 years, Wildlife Preservation Canada has provided direct, hands-on care for reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects and mammals on the brink of extinction. We specialize in science-based techniques such as conservation breeding and release, reintroduction and translocation. WPC is Canada’s leading and most experienced organization dedicated to breeding endangered species and reintroducing them into the wild.

Eastern loggerhead shrike photo: M. Felperin

Save animals at risk in Canada, provide opportunities for Canadian biologists to increase their expertise, and advance conservation science with new methods.

A land where Canada’s wildlife is bountiful, diverse, thriving, and free from the threat of extinction.

We develop innovative techniques that can be used around the world to save species at risk. We build this country’s conservation capacity by providing opportunities for up and coming scientists to work with endangered species. We work closely with local communities recognizing that they are critical to long-term conservation success.

To recover target populations of the species we work with, increasing their numbers to the point where they no longer need hands-on intervention to survive.

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT? WE GIVE BACK DIRECTLY TO NATURE WE GIVE BACK DIRECTLY TO NATURE

12345678910111213

40 years of saving species

It all began with legendary conservationist Gerald Durrell (pictured here) —and we’ve been delivering results ever since. From reintroducing the eastern loggerhead shrike and Oregon spotted frog, to leading Canada’s only conservation breeding program for native bumble bees, we’ve helped shape the future for dozens of at-risk species. Four decades in, our impact runs deep, our momentum is real, and our purpose has never been clearer. It’s no small thing to stay this focused for this long, but when the work matters this much, you keep going.

Learn more about our founder

Real voices, real impact

Our Programs

To maximize our impact, we choose species based on the urgency of their conservation needs, our unique expertise and the potential to collaborate with other organizations and strategic partners.

Goal: to equip participants with skills to run their own recovery programs.

Since 1988, the Canada’s New Noah program has given young biologists in Canada the opportunity of a lifetime. Each year, Wildlife Preservation Canada selects a candidate from dozens of applicants across Canada for the single, coveted working internship on the island of Mauritius, and participation in a three month long degree in Endangered Species Management at the Durrell Conservation Academy in the UK.

To learn more about the Canada’s New Noah Program, head to the program page.

Goal: to encourage the application of the One Plan Approach to species conservation planning to ensure the most effective management actions are used for species conservation in Canada.

WPC proudly serves as the host of the Regional Resource Center in Canada for the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) – a global network of conservation planning experts. We use science-based species conservation planning tools and processes to strengthen recovery actions for Canadian species.

To learn more about Conservation Planning, head to the program page.

Goal: to learn, develop and use groundbreaking techniques to reverse bird species decline across Canada.

From coast to coast, Canada’s bird populations are in serious decline. Our bird projects, in partnership with other conservation experts, work to understand and help these threatened species which have included the eastern loggerhead shrike, burrowing owl, piping plover and maritime swallows.

To learn more about our bird recovery programs, head to the bird projects page.

Goal: to help reverse the decline of mammal species across Canada, and reduce human impact on the landscape.Canada is home to nearly 200 species of mammals, and we recognize that no mammal has had a greater impact on the landscape than humans, putting hundreds of species at risk. Our mammal projects, in partnership with other conservation experts, work to understand and help these threatened species which have included various species of bat, Ord’s kangaroo rat, the Vancouver Island marmot and the swift fox.

To learn more about our mammal recovery programs, head to the mammal projects page.

Goal: to save important insect pollinators from extinction nationwide.An alarmingly increasing number of pollinators have recently been categorized as at risk in Canada. Wildlife Preservation Canada’s Native Pollinator Initiative — our first nationwide multi-species recovery effort — aims to save these important insects from extinction; which have included various species of bumble bee, the Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly, Karner blue butterfly and the mottled duskywing butterfly.

To learn more about the Native Pollinator Initiative, head to the program page.

Goal: to learn, develop and provide hands-on intervention to save Canada’s reptile & amphibian species from extinction.

No other class of wildlife in Canada faces a greater risk of extinction than reptiles and amphibians. That’s where Wildlife Preservation Canada comes in. Our national reptile and amphibian programs have worked with species like the Oregon spotted frog, western painted turtle, eastern foxsnakes, Butler’s garter snakes, massasauga rattlesnakes, blue racers, and turtles in Ontario.

To learn more about our reptile and amphibian recovery programs, head to the program page.

1234

WPC’s success stories

Throughout the decades Wildlife Preservation Canada has helped at least 12 species avoid extinction.

This includes iconic species like the eastern loggerhead shrike, burrowing owl, swift fox and more! For 40 years, WPC has stepped up to save the world’s rarest species. We’ve pioneered groundbreaking conservation techniques. We’ve bred and released over 97,000 animals to boost wild populations. And we’re gearing up to save even more species and create even more success stories in the coming years.

Because at WPC, we firmly believe EXTINCTION IS NOT AN OPTION.

When Ontario’s population of eastern loggerhead shrikes dwindled to two dozen pairs in 2003, Environment Canada asked WPC to create and lead a multi-partner recovery effort. Breeding them in large enclosures, we then transferred them to their natural habitat where fledglings could learn key survival skills before release. To date, WPC has bred and released more than 1,300 shrikes. Without this recovery program, this beautiful songbird would have disappeared. . This is the only program in the world developing methods for saving a migratory songbird from extinction using conservation breeding and release.

In 1995, WPC helped establish a breeding colony for burrowing owls – Canada’s most endangered grassland bird. We also pioneered a hugely successful “soft release” method where we raised owls in field enclosures and waited until they laid their first clutch of eggs before releasing them. Egg production doubled, and so did survival rates. Now we’re helping coordinate the Burrowing Owl Alliance to pool knowledge and resources across the country.

Swift foxes were once common across Canada’s Prairies, but they vanished entirely in the 1930s. In 1992, we joined efforts to bring them back, helping establish a small, self-sustaining population in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. By 2001, it had tripled in number, making this the most successful canid reintroduction program.

Biologists believed the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly had disappeared from Canada until two isolated populations were found in British Columbia in 2005. In 2013, WPC launched a conservation breeding program kickstarted by Peter Karsten to boost those wild numbers. Two years later, we began releasing caterpillars into restored habitats on Denman Island. Fast-forward to 2024 when we discovered a new generation of checkerspots at the release site on Hornby Island – descendants of caterpillars we released in previous years. Proof that our conservation program is working.

Since 2010, WPC has been breeding and reintroducing thousands of Oregon spotted tadpoles and froglets into wetlands in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. We pioneered specially designed “Love Tubs” that radically increased egg production and developed a treatment for chytrid: a lethal fungus responsible for frog extinctions around the world.

Our Strategic Plan

We are pioneering new reintroduction techniques with massasauga rattlesnakes and partnering with more conservation breeding facilities to double the number of eastern loggerhead shrikes we release.

WPC IS CANADA’S LAST DEFENCE FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES IS CANADA’S LAST DEFENCE FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES

© 2025 Wildlife Preservation Canada

Wildlife Preservation Canada
42 Carden St.
Guelph, ON N1H 3A2

Toll free 1 (800) 956-6608
Phone 1 (519) 836-9314
admin@wildlifepreservation.ca

Privacy and social media policy

Territory Acknowledgement

WPC is headquartered in Guelph, Ontario on the homelands of many nations, including the Anishinaabek, Neutral, Métis, Mississauga, and Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and on the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We work across Turtle Island, and have deep gratitude to all the Indigenous Peoples who have been, and continue to be, stewards and protectors the lands on which we rely.

Follow us on social

Charitable Registration No.

89171 0535 RR0001