Virginia
Wildlife Center of Virginia President and Co-founder Ed Clark to retire in March
WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) – After 41 years Ed Clark, the President and Co-Founder of the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro, is preparing to retire in March. WHSV spoke with Clark about his life’s work with the center and how it grew into the internationally recognized success it is today.
“My personal love of wildlife came because I had wonderful mentors and the opportunity to spend a lot of time outdoors as a kid. It taught me a lot about life, taught me a lot about the environment and the natural world around us, and gave me a sense of responsibility to take care of it,” said Clark.
In 1982 the Wildlife Center of Virginia was born out of a conversation between four friends: Dr. Stuart Porter, a veterinarian and former director of the Blue Ridge Community College veterinary technician program, his wife Terry, a veterinary technician, Ed Clark, who had a background in conservation policy, and Clark’s former wife, Nancy Sheffield, who was also a veterinary technician.
“Members of the public found out Dr. Porter had been a zoo veterinarian and was very skilled and knowledgeable in wildlife medicine. So people were bringing him wild animals at the college but unfortunately, he didn’t have any place to put them,” said Clark. “Within five weeks after that conversation the Wildlife Center of Virginia was incorporated and the rest is history.”
Clark said at the time the four of them had no idea how far things would go.
“There are times even today that I look around me and can’t believe that we have come as far as we have. Going on 42 years now we’ve treated nearly 100,000 wild patients. We started with four volunteers and no budget and we now have 36 full-time employees,” said Clark.
At 72 years old and with the Wildlife Center entering a period of growth and expansion that will likely take several years to complete he felt the time was right to step away. However, he said it is always difficult to walk away from something you love.
“I get to do a lot of fun things, there’s no question about that. Releasing bald eagles is something that is a pretty rare experience and something that I’ve done scores of times and every single one makes my heart stop, there’s just nothing like it,” said Clark.
Over the last four decades, Clark helped mold the Wildlife Center into the leading teaching hospital for wildlife medicine in the world.
“We have students coming to us from every vet school in the United States and Canada and students and professionals from 40 other countries come to our facility in Waynesboro to learn from the best,” Clark said.
Over the years Clark and the wildlife center played a prominent on three TV shows: Virginia Outdoors, Animal Planet’s weekly series Wildlife Emergency, and the current PBS show Untamed which has won four Telly awards and was nominated for an Emmy.
Clark said these shows all helped spread the word about the Wildlife Center and its mission.
“The mission of the wildlife center is not fixing broken animals. The mission of the wildlife center is teaching the world to care about and care for wildlife and the environment and that’s what we do every single day in everything we do,” Clark said.
Clark said that education has always been the most important part of the Wildlife Center.
“For me, the greatest satisfaction comes when somebody will say to me ‘Ya know I learned…’ whatever it was from the Wildlife Center. ‘I learned to love eagles, I learned to keep my cat indoors, I learned to take care of the environment’ Whatever it is, teaching is really my passion. . It’s the purpose of our organization and everything we do including our medical work is all about that. So while we’re caring for 100 thousand patients, while doing that we are training the next generation of veterinarians and wildlife rehabilitators,” Clark said.
As the Wildlife Center moves toward its future Clark said there are new challenges it has to deal with.
“Reaching people and getting their attention in this ocean of technology and stimulation and information is becoming increasingly a challenge because on social media there is just so much misinformation and frankly just garbage out there about wildlife. People instead of calling experts a lot of times will find an injured animal and go to Facebook where they don’t always get good information,” Clark said.
Another challenge for the center is adjusting to the impacts that large wind farms and solar arrays have on raptors and other types of flying wildlife.
As he prepares to retire Clark said all the Wildlife Center’s work has been a team effort since the beginning.
“The thing that gives me the greatest amount of pride is the group of people with whom I’ve been blessed to associate with. We have from the absolute beginning had people who cared deeply, who were highly committed, highly motivated, highly skilled, and working together we have made this difference,” said Clark.
Copyright 2024 WHSV. All rights reserved.
Virginia
Polls open Tuesday for special election to fill open seats in Virginia General Assembly – WTOP News
Voters are heading to the polls Tuesday for a special election in parts of Northern Virginia to fill two open seats in the state’s General Assembly.
Voters are heading to the polls Tuesday for a special election in parts of Northern Virginia to fill two open seats in the state’s General Assembly.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. for in-person voting Tuesday in Districts 11 and 23, which include parts of Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford counties, as well as Fairfax City.
Tuesday’s special election was triggered when Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger tapped two current members of the Virginia House of Delegates to join her cabinet.
Del. David Bulova, who represents Fairfax City and portions of Fairfax County, has been asked to lead as Virginia’s next secretary of natural and historic resources.
In nearby District 23, Del. Candi Mundon King is resigning to serve as the secretary of the commonwealth. Her constituents live in parts of Prince William and Stafford counties.
Both exiting lawmakers are Democrats.
Tuesday marks one of several special elections happening this month to fill open seats in Virginia’s General Assembly, including a second contest in another part of Fairfax County. Voters will head to the polls in District 17 next week.
How to vote
The Virginia Department of Elections website has a tool to help voters find their polling location.
Voters who are 65 or older, or those with disabilities, have the option of voting curbside.
Ballots that are cast by mail need to be postmarked on or before Jan. 13 and received by Jan. 16.
Outside of mailing those absentee ballots, voters can also bring them to a drop-off location. Check in with your city or county elections office for information about drop boxes and their locations.
District 11
Voters will see two candidates on the ballot in District 11: Democrat Gretchen Bulova and Republican Adam Wise.
Both candidates hold some name recognition in Fairfax County and Fairfax City.
Gretchen Bulova is married to the longtime Del. David Bulova, who is resigning from his position in the house to serve alongside Spanberger.
Wise challenged the incumbent for his seat in 2025 but lost to David Bulova.
The Republican nominee, Wise, is a native of Fairfax who works as a firearms instructor and self-defense teacher. On his website, he promoted a campaign slogan that seems to advocate for restricting the government’s influence on Virginians, writing “the government which governs least, governs best.”
Gretchen Bulova serves as the Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria, overseeing museums as well as other research-centered programs, according to her website. She’s also the chair of the Fairfax County 250th Commission.
Affordability was the top issue of Gretchen Bulova’s campaign, with the Democrat specifically listing priorities of access to affordable housing, child care, electricity and health care on her website.
District 23
Democrat Margaret Franklin is running against Republican Verndell Robinson for the open seat in District 23.
Franklin represents the Woodbridge District on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. She was first elected to the board in 2019.
With hopes of maintaining the seat for Democrats, Franklin has campaigned on issues such as affordable housing, health care and the economy.
Robinson is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and currently works as a real estate agent, according to a local GOP committee.
Robinson has been a critic of certain data center developments and pressed for more affordable housing.
A man accused of carrying out an elaborate fetish sex plot to kill his wife and a man inside his Northern Virginia home is set to stand trial.
Nine men and seven women were selected to the jury Monday in the trial for Brendan Banfield. Four of those 16 jurors are alternates who will step in if other jurors can’t attend for some reason.
Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the killings of his wife, 37-year-old Christine Banfield, and a stranger, 39-year-old Joseph Ryan, at the Banfields’ Herndon home on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023.
Prosecutors say Brendan Banfield was having an affair with the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, for months before the killings, and that he conspired with his then-4-year-old daughter’s caretaker to get his wife “out of the picture.”
Peres Magalhães told prosecutors Brendan was the mastermind of the alleged plan. She said he created a fake profile on FetLife.com, a kink, BDSM and fantasy dating website, pretending to be Christine. Peres Magalhães said she and Brendan logged onto Christine’s work computer and used the fake FetLife account to solicit a stranger, Ryan, to the house to carry out a rape fantasy involving a knife.
When Ryan showed up to the house and started carrying out the plan, Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhães burst into the bedroom pretending to save the day, prosecutors said. Banfield allegedly shot Ryan and then stabbed Christine.
Peres Magalhães said in an interview with prosecutors that she also shot Ryan. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and spoke to prosecutors as part of her plea agreement.
The Fairfax County man accused of murdering his wife and another man in their home will stand trial starting Monday. News4’s Aimee Cho shares what to expect.
Banfield has denied the allegations. Defense attorneys argued in a hearing last summer that investigators have a secret folder of evidence that dismantles the so-called “catfish theory” that Brendan Banfield created the FetLife account.
A Fairfax County detective trained in digital forensics testified that he pulled and analyzed all the digital data on the devices used to access the FetLife profile. It was his professional conclusion that it was Christine on the computer, not Brendan, he said.
He said during a July 10 hearing that police command staff disagreed with his findings because they didn’t support their theory that Brendan Banfield was behind the fetish site profile.
The detective said his supervisors reassigned him off of the case against his will.
Multiple Fairfax County Police Department employees said under oath that the evidence did not support the theory that Brendan Banfield catfished Ryan to the family’s home.
Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday, and the trial could take about four weeks.
News4 is getting rare, video access inside the courtroom. Watch a daily livestream of the trial and follow updates here and on the NBC4 Washington YouTube.
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