Hope for Wildlife TV show sparks social media frenzy

The Hope for Wildlife Society is going viral.

Located in Seaforth, Hope for Wildlife is a non-profit rehabilitation centre for wounded, orphaned and distressed animals. The organization has attracted plenty of social media attention recently, garnering more than 100,000 likes on Facebook.

A year-old clip from the society’s TV program–which is also called Hope for Wildlife–has over 13 million views on YouTube. The show is produced by Arcadia Content, and has been huge for spreading the word about Hope for Wildlife and all the important work that they do.

“All this social media attention is pretty great for the show,” said Craig Ferguson, a director at Arcadia Content and producer of the Hope for Wildlife show. “We’re pretty excited, because more and more people are finding out about the show and all the important work Hope and her team do at the wildlife centre. For an organization in Seaforth, Nova Scotia to reach out to 100,000 people is pretty incredible.”

The show has been on for six seasons, and the seventh premiered last week on Cottage Life. Each hour-long episode follows members of the Hope for Wildlife team as they embark on one of their missions. The show has covered everything from rescuing a group of stranded ducklings to nursing a starving bobcat back to health.

The clip with more than 13 million views is from an episode about an orphaned fawn getting adopted by another deer in the wild. For Ferguson, getting up close and personal with the day-to-day operations of Hope for Wildlife is all part of the fun.

“I would say seeing the veterenarian at work is even better than seeing the animals,” he said. “Every season of the show covers an entire year of work. It really is a lot of fun.”

But one of the most impressive things about the show is the international attention it’s received. Ferguson said it’s airing in about 100 countries around the world.

“It’s amazing for a little show from Nova Scotia to get fan mail from places like Thailand and Istanbul. We have great viewer support in Eastern Europe as well,” he said. “In fact, the Eastern European broadcaster ran a sweepstakes last year, and the top prize was a trip to Seaforth to volunteer at Hope for Wildlife. Can you believe that?”

Hope Swinimer, founder of Hope for Wildlife, said the organization has grown immensely since the TV show began. She rehabilitates more than 3,000 animals per year, and that number is only going up.

“I don’t know where we would be without this show,” she said. “I’m sure we would still exist, but maybe not at this level. This was one of those things where I didn’t know what to expect going into it. But honestly, I couldn’t be happier with how it’s all turned out.”

For more information about Hope for Wildlife, check out www.hopeforwildlife.net.