Credit Wildlife Center of Virginia As Virginia’s hospitals began treating COVID patients, the state’s best-known center for wildlife was nearly overwhelmed as injured animals were brought in for care. “It’s been a very active year – more admissions than we’ve seen, well, ever,” says Amanda Nicholson is the center’s outreach coordinator. “We are coming close to 37-hundred animals admitted for the year, so lots of extra mouths to feed.” The problem, says the center’s director, is the weather – not cold enough to promote hibernation. “The warm winters we’ve been having, especially in a year like this where we have 22 black bears in here – when they’re not sleeping they’re eating, and they have put quite a dent in the grocery budget this year. In the early fall, when they were really building up their fat reserves for winter, our staff was preparing 200 pounds of food for the bears each and every day, seven days a week.”