About Us
When native birds have been found injured, orphaned, or ill, the community turns to Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research.
Our professional staff and volunteers provide the best, if not only, chance these animals have to return to the wild.
About Us
When native birds have been found injured, orphaned, or ill, the community turns to Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research.
Our professional staff and volunteers provide the best, if not only, chance these animals have to return to the wild.
Our Vision
Tri-State envisions a world where informed communities demonstrate respect and care for native wildlife through responsible stewardship.
Our Mission
The mission of Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research is to provide professional, compassionate rehabilitation to native injured and orphaned wild birds and contaminated wildlife, and to promote their stewardship through education and humane research.
Our Values
Professionalism
We conduct ourselves with integrity at all times and hold ourselves to the highest standards in our field. We follow all applicable laws and regulations and treat our patients, volunteers, the public, colleagues, industry partners, government agencies, and each other with compassion, honesty, and respect.
Excellence
We strive for excellence in all we do and believe that being prepared to respond to wildlife in need is an essential component of that excellence. As a leader in our field, we seek to advance knowledge and improve techniques through innovation, education, and research. Through supportive mentoring and inspirational leadership, we encourage a commitment to excellence throughout the profession.
Teamwork
We can accomplish our mission only through dedicated teamwork and effective communication. Our volunteers, supporters, and communities are integral members of our team as we work together to help our native wildlife. We value the contributions of our colleagues and industry partners to our mission, and we are committed to working collaboratively with them.
Stewardship
We embrace responsible stewardship of the environment, native wildlife, and our human and financial resources. We inspire others to make responsible decisions and educate them on ways to lessen their impact on the natural world. We value our volunteers and staff and invest in their education and growth. Through sound financial management, we honor the trust that our financial supporters have placed in us.
Professionalism
We conduct ourselves with integrity at all times and hold ourselves to the highest standards in our field. We follow all applicable laws and regulations and treat our patients, volunteers, the public, colleagues, industry partners, government agencies, and each other with compassion, honesty, and respect.
Excellence
We strive for excellence in all we do and believe that being prepared to respond to wildlife in need is an essential component of that excellence. As a leader in our field, we seek to advance knowledge and improve techniques through innovation, education, and research. Through supportive mentoring and inspirational leadership, we encourage a commitment to excellence throughout the profession.
Teamwork
We can accomplish our mission only through dedicated teamwork and effective communication. Our volunteers, supporters, and communities are integral members of our team as we work together to help our native wildlife. We value the contributions of our colleagues and industry partners to our mission, and we are committed to working collaboratively with them.
Stewardship
We embrace responsible stewardship of the environment, native wildlife, and our human and financial resources. We inspire others to make responsible decisions and educate them on ways to lessen their impact on the natural world. We value our volunteers and staff and invest in their education and growth. Through sound financial management, we honor the trust that our financial supporters have placed in us.
Our Founder
Lynne S. Frink, Environmental Activist, 1946-1998
“I don’t think I ever thought of the natural world in terms of a vocation; it was simply a necessary part of my life, like the air I breathe. I am a living part of the world around me, and I feel a bond to every living creature I have the joy of seeing. My work and goals are not conscious choices; they are an ethical and moral part of my being. It seems to me that it is a great privilege for us to be allowed to live in a world so rich and vital, and so full of beauty. There’s not a sunset or a spring violet or a maple tree in autumn that doesn’t renew my spirit, and any small thing I can do to repay the natural world for these gifts, I do with joy.”
– Lynne Frink, Audubon Journal Delaware Audubon Society; June 1985
Lynne’s activism started while she was in Texas in 1970. She was active in efforts to halt poisoning of coyotes on publicly owned lands, to save Big Thicket National Preserve and have Sydney Island set aside as an Audubon Sanctuary for Roseate Spoonbills.
For more than a quarter century, Lynne Frink served as a catalyst for change in the way people perceive and act towards the environment and wildlife. A vocal and compassionate force for the protection of wildlife, Lynne’s leadership was legendary by the time she passed away.
Lynne and her husband John Frink returned to Delaware in 1975 where she was instrumental in founding the Delaware Audubon Society and served as its president. In 1976, following the last of a series of five oil spills on the Delaware River where thousands of animals died, Lynne founded Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research to explore the effects of oil on wildlife and to develop research and treatment procedures. She vowed to never let this tragedy happen again. Today, Tri-State Bird Rescue operates a federally licensed, non-profit avian rehabilitation clinic which cares for 3,000 injured and orphaned native birds annually, and also staffs a professional 24-hour oil spill response management team. Lynne’s leadership, scholarship and service to her life’s cause have earned her world-wide recognition and helped make Tri-State what it is today. We will forever remain grateful to Lynne for her vision, guidance and compassion that have enabled us to save tens of thousands of birds.
In January 1998, Lynne lost a five-month battle with cancer. Tri-State remains committed to carrying on Lynne’s work, making a difference to wildlife and the community.
Our History
On December 26, 1976, during one of the worst winters of the century, the Liberian tanker Olympic Games ran aground in the Delaware River. Oiled Canada Geese were found walking on roadways three miles inland, searching for open water. This spill was the sixth major oil spill in the Northeast region of the United States in a three-year period. Despite the efforts of many people, tens of thousands of animals died as the result of oil contamination. Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research was founded that winter by Lynne Frink for the purpose of establishing a multi-disciplinary team of wildlife biologists, veterinarians, pathologists, chemists and concerned citizens to study the effects of oil on birds and develop protocols necessary to treat affected wildlife. More than 40 years later, Tri-State continues to be a leader in oiled wildlife response and is internationally recognized for its oiled bird rehabilitation and research. Tri-State’s Oiled Wildlife Response Team collaborates with petroleum companies, government agencies, colleagues and concerned citizens around the world not only to respond to oiled wildlife, but also to lessen the impact of incidents on natural resources through contingency planning and training prior to a spill.
In response to community need, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research opened a full-time Wild Bird Clinic in 1982 to care for ill, injured, and orphaned wild birds. We quickly outgrew the original facility because of a rapidly growing caseload and with the help of the community, Tri-State opened a new wildlife facility in 1989. Today, the Frink Center for Wildlife consists of animal care wards, surgery and research labs, outdoor aviaries and pools, and administrative offices. In 2015, we expanded again with the opening of our Wildlife Response Annex, which is a unique building that provides a dedicated space to effectively treat wildlife following oil spills and other large-scale incidents.