Good Day Uncut: Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge

Philadelphia, we are uncut. And we are live in Burlington County. Look at the fall color right here. We're checking into a nature center. This is an animal refuge. So they're helping out animals that get injured. We're going to see and meet some animals over the course of the half hour. But for a second, how about I just sit down here and look at this serenity. I'm listening to the water. I'm out here deep in the pine barrens of Burlington County. Let me show you the pine. We're about 40 minutes outside of Philadelphia. We're just down the road from Medford to give you a scale where we're at. And we got ourselves a pretty cool place to check out. This is Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. Wait till you see when we go inside. I walked in and I went, wow, this place is pretty. Didn't you get that vibe, too, when we got to see it? Oh, look, they got the eagles. Maybe I should bring our eagles here, if you know what I'm saying, from that game over the weekend. But what an incredible space. And I love what you guys do. Hey, I'm Drew. What's your name? Hi, Drew. I'm Mike O'Malley. I'm the executive director here at Cedar Run. What a space. I can't believe this is your office window. We didn't even get to the scenic parts of nature we're going to see. Thank you so much. Look at this. So how did you guys come about? You help animals that have been injured and you, for lack of a better phrase, bring them back to life. Yes, and that is the goal with all the animals that come through our doors, try to get them back out into the wild and give them a second chance at life. These doors right here or the doors to the hospital? The doors over at the wildlife hospital. Got it. The property's big, so sometimes they come here, but they all go through the wildlife hospital. What a cool place just to wander and explore. I saw a school group was coming and touring. I hear they came all the way from Atlantic County for you guys. Yes, yes. We have a three-pronged mission to protect and preserve our native wildlife through education, conservation, and rehabilitation. So the education component does bring lots and lots of school groups out here on site. It's just pretty to connect with nature and really think about animals in a way we usually don't have that opportunity. How long, by the way, have you guys been here, been out in the pine barrens of Burlington County? So next year, we're actually celebrating 70 years of operation here. Wow, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, we, the Woodrufs, Betty and Jim Woodruff, our founders purchased the property in 1951. And by 1957, they made this their permanent home and established Cedar Run. What's your favorite part of working here? Oh, getting to see the animals released back into the wild. That definitely takes the cake. I mean, we have so many great folks and exciting things happening at Cedar Run, but that's really, for me, the most fulfilling part is to see them getting that second chance in the wild. How'd you get connected with the folks here or just in this career field? Because this is pretty neat to have this be your job. Like, I would love this job. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. We have a really great internship program here at Cedar Run that has continued to grow over the years. And that's actually how I got involved. I started as an intern when I was an environmental science student at Stockton University. And it just went from there. I joined as a part-time staff member, then eventually as a full-time staff member, and eventually became the executive director. You know, you got to love stuff like that as i look around right here i'm thinking of your journey your story i love when people work their way up right it's talking about hard work it speaks to the hard work you do can you show me around i'd love to see more of the nature center before we head outside and see some of the different animals and really explore this space which by the way is open every single day you have beautiful trails here for anyone who wants to come on down what are your hours we're open from 10 a.m to 4 p.m seven days a week and look at this so on the inside we got some animals Also, for days, it's a little chilly like it is this morning. I got my sweater on. Yes, this space is nice and warm because this is our reptile room. So all of these critters in here cannot be released back into the wild for one reason or another. We do have a wildlife housing area that's outdoors as well where there are animals that can't go back because they were either raised by humans and can't survive on their own or they have some type of physical disability that prevents them from surviving on their own out in the wild. And that's part of the things you get to see here. They have so many different animal houses in the outdoors. It's really cool. We'll see that a little bit later this hour. I'm just looking to see who's home. I see that turtle really camouflaging very well. We're learning about nature, right? I think that's the idea of the vibe, right? Do you guys see it right in the center of your screen? Look at that. Oh, what's for lunch? I didn't get to eat breakfast today, so I'm a little hungry. We got some salad. Looks like we got a little leftovers of the summer. A little fresh berries. Yeah, fresh berries. we got some strawberries some raspberry and then i have to tell you you did mention this it's warm in here i mean i don't even need the coat anymore this is the warmest spot at cedar run i think this is the place to spend the winter oh my gosh you're not kidding about reptiles who's this over here that is arthur he is actually a king snake um hence the name arthur um but yes he's one of many snakes that we have here on site he's one of the younger ones actually he's been with us since 2023 but we have quite a few that are significantly older than that yeah in fact case in point tommy over here 1994 i love that you guys tell the story of the animals as well and their journey and then who's home i just heard the bell who's ringing the bell over here that's juniper juniper wants lunch i thought or maybe lunch is ready yeah juniper is a cedar waxwing. She's unfortunately came in with part of her wing missing. So that's all healed up and she's healthy otherwise, but she doesn't have full flight and would not be able to survive in the wild on her own. And that's what's really nice about this is you're giving animals a new life that, as you mentioned, they wouldn't be able to have if they were outdoors right there. Yeah, absolutely. And the way we see it, it gives folks the opportunity to develop an appreciation and understanding of species that they may not otherwise have any interaction with. So many folks, you know, are never this close to a cedar waxwing and get to see them up close and get to love that species. But Juniper is an excellent ambassador for her species. Oh, yeah. She's munging for the camera. She came over to us right there. Remember, she was over there a second ago. She's like, oh, no, get me on Fox 29 and Fox in Philadelphia. Show me the next room as we're walking in. I really enjoyed the exhibit. It was right over here you get to see how big a turtle shell can be and just learn as we work the different space inside the nature center right here oh the jersey devil i learned about that growing up in the area yeah so we change uh the exhibit in the exhibit room usually about every month or every other month to keep things interesting so our current exhibit right now uh perfect for october is the legend of the jersey devil oh it's a legend you're telling me that jersey devil's not real oh he's very real there we go he's got a house at cedar run so you got to explore the property so you can see his home oh yeah look at this we have the whole mission of how we figured out and found the jersey devil look at that this reminds me of alatali when she was saying how the eagles are going to go to the super bowl this year she had something like that going on but this is kind of neat to kind of connect with animals not only from an education sign but look you can even sit on them too we got a raccoon and then after all we are fox so we got the fox right here let's head right back outside is there anything else to see here in the nature center uh yes we actually have uh over here on the other side of the fireplace we have what we call our resource room and the resource room has uh there's always a live stream right now we're we're playing the uh the live bear feed from alaska the alaska bear cam wow but sometimes we're actually able to live stream patients in our wildlife hospital oh so folks can learn firsthand yeah absolutely and we have our bug wall right behind you i don't know if i want to look at that one people don't like bugs so i dare show that on tv yeah there's there's a mix we've got beetles um is that a madagascar cockroach it sure is i'm impressed that you knew oh they're so huge they look like the size of madagascar that is sort of the shape of madagascar the island off of south africa that's cool he's a big guy um and we do have um our playroom is right on the in the back porch um it's the kids spot favorite spot to be i think to play but it's also the adults favorite spot because there's couches out there and then you sit down and relax while the kids go crazy i'll tell you what i'll come in the playroom right after this we are live in burlington county at cedar run we're bringing right back right after this box all right hold on a second i got to throw another log on the fire here you know it was interesting in the snake room there was plenty of heat out here you know we're kind of in a florida sun room and we're starting to lose sun a little bit but this is fun to be in the playroom i'm sitting on a mushroom right now right here feels like we brought the woods inside we are live right here and we're at woodford cedar run wildlife sanctuary the wildlife refuge here in burlington county and oh i think we have a friend out there we might have to go who's our friend out here come on out this is erin she's our director of education and she has a special friend with her that she wants to introduce to you erin who do you got with you it's great to see you she is an eastern screech owl and she's one of our permanent residents here at cedar run oh my darling yes we have clementine so we have lots of animals here at cedar run we do have to sometimes keep the animals here if they have a permanent injury so clementine was accidentally hit by a car um caused her to have a little bit of brain damage so she's not able to live in the wild like she should could she eat okay and everything okay with us um hunting would be really difficult and getting around would be very difficult for her in the wild so it was the best option to keep her here and use her as an education ambassador so she gets to do all sorts of programs gets to visit with children and adults alike and kind of teach them a little bit more about her species i see why clementine is special and I'll tell you, there's something just spiritual about owls, I feel. You can really connect to them. I'm looking at these eyes. It's like an eye into the world. What are some of the things we could learn about Clementine if we came down here? So we try to focus on wildlife in general, ways that folks can help the wildlife, but also just to give them a better appreciation of the animals out around us. We also do a lot of other programming, too. So we do water quality testing. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Our kids today are learning about survival skills. Yeah, we have a school group here from Hamilton Township that came on up. We're very lucky. They're here with us four days this week. So we're seeing about 250 students from Hamilton via some grant funding that we get. Oh, so you're able to make it free for these groups? We are, yes. So some groups pay to come out and see us. Others are able to provide funding if they're not able to fund it themselves. So definitely check that out on our website. It's so funny. As you were talking, I just saw a leaf fall. We're right here deep in the Pine Barrens of Burlington County. It's such a beautiful backdrop. the kids are getting great scenery and so you mentioned okay on your website there's an opportunity if anyone knows the school wants to bring some students down year-round even in the winter time but usually it's this time of the year the spring teachers are coming out and that's really special you guys have great opportunities to make it accessible for everyone because sometimes that's actually the most difficult part you know the transportation cost the busing and things like that we're also able to go out to the schools so many of the schools that aren't able to get here to us we can bring some of the wildlife out to them like Clementine oh look look there's that leaf case in point that fresh leaf came just down just like that what's your favorite part of educating some of uh dare i say the little gals and little guys about that tall with some of the little tiny animals um my favorite part is that every day is different so we always have different students out here that are interested in different things but also just nature is always changing like the leaves falling in the summer we'll have the insects flying along the way you know every day is a little bit different and every kid is a little different. So it keeps me busy, but also keeps things exciting for everyone too. Do you think we can walk onto those boards a little bit? This is so pretty. Clementine, would you like to go for a walk? Clementine loves a walk. Clementine will be okay with that? Okay, great. Great. I want Clementine to fly away or anything. Clementine looks pretty chill. So this beautiful species, this is something we'd be able to see in our area? Yep. So they are pretty common in New Jersey, but this is as big as they're gonna get so a lot of folks don't usually see them because they're able to hide really well and they're probably out at night i would imagine yeah but they are very noisy so if you have one near you you might hear them um they make what's called a trill or a whinny hold on sound like a horse sort of noise so they're like you have that in you you go oh she's a little camera i don't know she looked when we did that call right there oh my goodness how beautiful is this right here on the boards what body of water is this is this just like a little lake this is Cedar Run Lake um it is stream fed but it also spring fed so we have water coming up from the ground to help filter into the lake and fill it up you guys look beautiful along the water look the water is reflecting the fall color we see that there what a shot from right here to right over there just incredible to connect with nature in more ways than one right it's serene turtles out there on the log too enjoying the beautiful day let's walk over a little bit more you said you got some turtles, you must have eagle eyes not owl eyes, they have their favorite spot, let's see over here, I'm gonna zoom in a little bit, oh okay, they're subtle, it's on the left side right there so see those little semi-circle shells right there on the wood, that's where we're seeing some of those turtles, so from here it looks like we might have a painted turtle and a red belly turtle on there, there are most common ones that we get to see but we also have some snapping turtles in this lake, I'll stay away from them, they're they're a little bigger and a little meaner, so yeah definitely stay away from that. It's crazy to me. I'll tell you something. I just put in my contacts before the show started. I don't know how well you can see them because I can't spot, oh, it's this turtle. It's that turtle. You must have great eyes as we walk around nature here in Burlington County and say, oh, actually living up there in the tree. I see that. I see this. And that's got to be fun too, the little bit of a seek and find around Cedar Run. Yeah, we definitely challenge the kids to find things along the trail. Like even if we're learning about water quality, we want them to notice the different things that they see, but we also, our educators get used to kind of noticing the different things to point out to everybody. For sure, and speaking of beautiful to see around the lake right here, what would be something we would learn about water quality if one of the science classes from a school came out with you? Our most favorite thing that we do in our lake is pond dipping, so we look for different aquatic insects. Like who's living in here basically? We have a lot of dragonflies in here, and a lot of folks don't know that dragonflies actually start out in the water, similar to mosquitoes, so they'll hatch in the water, they'll spend some time there and then eventually they climb out of the water and they fly off like a dragonfly and there's different colors I learned there are yes, this time of year we're seeing a lot of the red ones, we might see some as we are on the bridge, they like to land on the bridge railings I could see that this was so funny so last week for Good Day Uncut we were live at a cranberry bog right up the road from you guys and a red dragonfly landed right on the equipment next to the red cranberries i'm like this is perfect this is meant to be that was my first time learning that there were more dragonflies than blue growing up in Chester County in the Brandywine River. I've only ever seen blue so it was neat to learn that from you that yeah yeah we can definitely see different kinds. Yeah yeah so they're the most common thing we find in the water but we also have a lot of other aquatic insects and what the kids learn is that there is different insects that start out in the water but also that it indicates the water quality so certain insects wouldn't be found here if the water wasn't good. That's a great indicator of how nature works together. Wow it is absolutely beautiful here i'm looking forward to seeing some more residents right on the other side of this bridge on the other side of this break we are live this is Good Day Uncut on Fox 29 or Fox Local philadelphia who are we talking about that would be Cedar Run here in Burlington County philly come in philadelphia we are uncut wow what a beautiful day look at that sun we are live in burlington county we're right here at Medford's Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge just down the street from downtown medford not too far out of philadelphia is these guys they're looking for you you can come anytime look they got the hours of admission they're open seven days a week pretty reasonable come and learn about all the different animals we saw a little bit in the nature center now we'll learn about some of the animals that like and by the way they got a big event coming up on the first i heard about what's going on the first it's kind of like a big open house on the day after halloween and by the way there's no excuses if anyone's late because we changed the clocks that day we fall back so but it's all day long yeah hey it's great to meet you what's your name i'm drew nice to meet you my name is laurie swanson i'm the director of wildlife rehabilitation and what's your name i'm dr amanda cameron i'm on staff veterinarian thanks for being with us today of course so i'm gonna joke for a second here so go with me did anyone bring in the eagles you know we're a little down these days with the team so but for real someone actually could bring in a physical eagle i bet you see all sorts of animals who is coming in the doors here to you guys so every year we get around 185 different species so we're seeing all kinds of different wildlife species that are native to new jersey we only take in native species and we're seeing everything from tiny little songbirds up to, like you said, eagles. We can get coyotes and foxes. So we take all sizes of animals. Well, we appreciate you bringing in some foxes. It's Fox 29 in Fox Local Philadelphia. What are some of the animals we see in here in these different spaces? Can we walk down? So yeah, so these enclosures are our permanent wildlife ambassadors. So as Mike had previously mentioned, these animals came in with injuries that prevented release or they were raised by humans so these animals will stay here for the rest of their lives there's just a feather flap in there did you hear that who's in here this is Fabio he is a black vulture and he's actually one of our education ambassadors so he is glove trained to go out on education programs just like Clementine who you met a little earlier Fabio knows how to show off to a camera i see what's going on right here he knows how to work the camera hence the name Fabio Fabio is showing off all the feathers. And as you can tell, he is imprinted. Wow, hi Fabio. Hey, you are not kidding around or messing around. And this has to be one of the rewarding things of the work, right? You're saving the animals and then we get to connect and learn from them from all ages, from my height to the little ones that are walking around today from Hamilton Township. Yeah, we love having the permanent residents. We're happy to be able to provide them a home if they're not able to be released, and it does give us the opportunity to educate people of all ages. As Erin mentioned, our education programs are coming through, but even the general public can come and walk around seven days a week and learn about all of our native species and hopefully really gain an appreciation for them. I appreciate how many different enclosures you have. We have so many here as you walk through the Pine Barrens and on the trails. When you do get animals, what's that experience like are you getting calls 24 7 well we do get calls 24 7 um if anybody brings us an animal after hours they are able to still leave it here and we'll be able to pick that animal up in the morning and provide it any medical care that it could possibly need while it's here is that let me just ask you guys as we look around and see some of the different animals that can't go back into the wild that you guys are giving a new life to anyone watching right now if there's an injury to a local animal we're able just to bring the animal here that's that's an open an invitation? Yeah, as long as it is a native species to New Jersey, they are welcome to bring it out to us. As Amanda said, we're not able to be open 24 hours a day, but we have a 24-hour drop off. But we are happy to take animals that are in need, whether they're injured or they're orphans. I was talking to someone who I think saw a raven that was injured. And you guys have some ravens here. Yes. I didn't know we had ravens in the Northeast, but we do. And this was back when she went to school in New York some people you know they want to help an animal and she got out of her car right away when she saw a bird was injured she doesn't know anything about animals she just wanted to help so it's good to know there's resources in our community to help the animals to go to the right place and i just think it's great what you guys are doing i just want to ask about you when you're working with some of the animals what's that experience like i mean you're probably just in like save mode but it has to be rewarding when you see them do well yeah it's incredibly rewarding to be able to release them back out into the wild um that's the goal yeah that is definitely the goal we see such a variety of animals throughout the year different times of year we see different types of animals with different types of injuries so it's always different every single day but incredibly rewarding when we're able to do everything we can for them and get them back out into the wild who just jumped right over here we got we got to see this right over here what type of bird he's a peregrine falcon i'm learning more about birds i never even knew before yep and he's here because he does have a wing injury so he would not be able to survive or hunt on his own in the wild. I'll tell you what, let's head to break with a look at this peregrine falcon. Look at that huge wingspan. I hear the wingspan can go 24 to 39 feet. Ah, frowning arrow, 2.4 to 3.9 feet. I'll get my facts straight right after this. Boy, it's beautiful here. We got the fall color. Not only what you bring today, you should like you grab some mums, but here at Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, just downtown from just outside of downtown Medford they're saving animals they're giving them some new life you get to connect with nature just enjoy the vibes they got walking trails they got that scenic lake they're looking for donations too there are non-profits so if you want to help them out just head on over to their website and guys what a fun half hour with all of you so we were just talking about some of the animals that come in what are some of the most common injuries that you do see and how you save them yeah so most of the animals that we see come in due to some kind of issue related to human infrastructure so we see a lot of animals that are hit by cars a lot of animals that come in um with window strike injuries oh sure and then a lot of orphaned and injured babies as well um so those are some of our most common things we in our hospital in our medical suite we're able to perform all kinds of procedures um and surgeries so you guys are world class in there i saw the facilities and it's impressive yeah so that's our brand new space. I've been here on the staff about three months now and we've already performed some orthopedic surgeries as well as various different types of things like laceration repairs or treating animals for different toxins or other injuries as well. I'll tell you later in life, I know I'm going to have some issues with these knees. I'm already feeling it. So I'm coming to the expert then, the orthopedics. So guys, the first, you're doing a big shin dig. Get with the deets on what's happening here on the first. Now everyone's welcome any day to come by and tour. It's about ten bucks for admission, but what's happening on the 1st? So November 1st from 10 to 3 is our Autumn with the Animals. It's our most fun festival of the year. I want to show the logo. It's right here. Targeted toward our families. Food trucks, right? Food trucks, vendors. We'll be having crafts. We'll be doing animal programs. Is it free? Is it admission? There is an admission. But it helps support the nonprofit right here, and that's why you're trying to bring people in, help expose new people to the area, like the school group I see right over there from Hamilton Township, from Atlantic County. They're walking through to learn about the animals. So the first, you're going to be excited for that. Absolutely, yes. Like Aaron mentioned, it's our biggest on-site event. So it's when we have the most people here on site. And there's something going on on every corner of the property. Every single corner. So we'll be looking around on the first. They're coming from Burlington County. I will see you tomorrow from somewhere new.