Home Environment Shades of Hope’s Raptor Roundhouse helps improve raptor survival rates

Juvenile White-tailed eagle perched on snow-covered branch in winter forest.

Shades of Hope’s Raptor Roundhouse helps improve raptor survival rates

November 20, 2025

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By Angie Sullivan

The winter months are deadly for most juvenile raptors. While adults experience high survival rates, in some cases above 90 per cent, recent studies show juveniles, or first-year immature raptors, have a winter mortality rate exceeding 75 per cent. Most die from starvation, largely because they are not yet experienced hunters.

Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge in Pefferlaw, Ontario, has stepped up its efforts to help these young predatorary birds survive the winter months, opening a new Raptor Roundhouse, a building solely dedicated to providing a place for sick, injured, and orphaned wild raptors.

Owls, hawks, falcons, eagles, and osprey now have a place to recover and recuperate.

The 4000-square-foot rehabilitation facility is one of the largest in Canada and opened its doors earlier this year after over five years of planning, delays, and material shortages.

Last year, Shades of Hope admitted more than 100 raptors and can now take care of them from intake right through to releasing them back into the wild.

Raptors play a critical role in our ecosystem by regulating populations of prey species like rodents, rabbits, and other small animals, maintaining a balance within the food chain. They also help prevent the spread of disease by consuming carrion (dead animals) that could otherwise harm both wildlife and humans.

Gail Lenters, Founder of Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge, said, “Typical rehab flight enclosures only allow birds to fly from end to end – but this building, with its circular outer ring, gives our birds the chance to fly continuously which is how they would act in their natural habitat.”

According to Shades of Hope, “After an injury or illness, it’s essential these birds receive pre-release conditioning which works on their strength, stamina and agility. The inner ring consists of large enclosures for birds who’ve overcome their traumas/illnesses, but are not ready for sustained flight. Here, they can continue to heal, gain weight, and regain their confidence in a quiet and calming environment.”

This project was made possible by individual donations from across the province and the following major donors: The Gordon and Patricia Gray Foundation, K. Braid, First International Courier, G. Gibbons, Erika Heller Foundation, KR Hickling, J. Richardson, S. Setchell, Joe Toby & family, and the Walker Woods Foundation.

You can learn more or donate at: Shades of Hope