For dead or injured marine mammals or sea turtles, please report to the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response by immediately calling their 24 hour stranding hotline: (757) 385-7575. DO NOT approach or touch dead or injured animals. Wild animals can be dangerous and carry many diseases so keep your distance! For other injured wildlife or unusual observations, please contact the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
Note: some shorebirds (such as Piping Plovers and Killdeer) use a distraction tactic where they act as if they have an injured wing to lead predators away from their nest. If you see this display, the bird is most likely not injured, you are just too close to their nest or young and need to move away.
This project was funded by The Nature Conservancy with support from The Volgenau Foundation and by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program led by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality through Grant #NA17NOS4190152 of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended. All Explore Our Seaside partners also contributed significant time and effort to the project.
