ICYMI: National Aviary and SK Rockwell Conservancy to Create First-of-its-Kind Conservation Center in Fox Chapel!
FEBRUARY 12, 2025 (PITTSBURGH) – S. Kent Rockwell has announced that the SK Rockwell Conservancy plans to purchase the Shady Side Academy Middle School on Benedum Road in Fox Chapel, with the intention of donating the property to the National Aviary. In addition to the donation of the property, the SK Rockwell Conservancy plans to donate an additional $10 million to ensure support of programs that will occur at the facility. The partnership will create the National Aviary S Kent Rockwell Conservation Center, a pioneering, world-class avian conservation center that will revolutionize the future of avian veterinary care and the conservation of threatened and endangered bird species both in the U.S. and globally.
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Birds have unique healthcare needs that require customized treatment. However, avian medicine is hugely underrepresented in veterinary sciences. The National Aviary’s veterinary care team regularly develops innovative treatments that:
- Save lives while advancing avian medicine
- Improve the quality of healthcare for birds all over the world, including Endangered species, and species currently Extinct in the Wild.
Our Need is Great
While this new center will help us to grow our conservation efforts and build on our teaching hospital programming, our veterinary accomplishments onsite at the North Side also need a vital reconfiguration. While the National Aviary continues to remain at the forefront of innovative avian medicine, our team currently works in three rooms located in three separate, inaccessible areas spread throughout the Aviary.
A new, state-of-the-art veterinary hospital at our Northside location (in addition to the National Aviary S Kent Rockwell Conservation Center in Fox Chapel) will help bolster us as a leading source of avian medicine while allowing us to continue training students of all kinds, not limited to nurses, veterinarians, wildlife biologists, and rehabilitators, and have them gain real-world experience while onsite at the Aviary.
What We Can Build on the Northside
That’s why the National Aviary S Kent Rockwell Conservation Center is part of a broader master plan for the National Aviary, which includes renovations of the existing veterinary hospital at the Aviary’s Northside location.
Advancing protocols and treatment is crucial, as is educating the next generation of veterinarians in this highly specialized medical field. Education is the key to advancing avian medicine, as well as successfully treating even more wildlife in the future. Through a teaching hospital in our transformational hospital, we will:
- Expand education programs, while at the same time making educational programs more accessible
- Train even more pre-veterinary and veterinary students, as well as fellow veterinarians, on a global scale
This entire project is not just for educating the medical community. The renovation to a state-of-the-art, centralized veterinary hospital on our existing campus will also include educational viewing areas where visitors like you can watch our staff as they work to save lives.
Help Us Build Today
Innovation Takes Flight is a project currently in its design and development phase. With your help, we will continue to move forward with site preparation and a groundbreaking to come.
E-mail [email protected] if you would like to help or give below.
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