Our Mission
The Pegasus Foundation aids in rescuing and rehabilitating domestic and wild animals, awards grants to animal welfare initiatives, and supports vibrant and healthy ecosystems through strategic partnerships and sound environmental policies.
How We Began
The Pegasus Foundation’s Journey began in March 1997 as a private foundation.
Prior to Pegasus’ formation, Barbara and her husband Charles (Dave) Birdsey created the Orenda Wildlife Trust in 1986 after they rehabilitated a baby raccoon and learned firsthand both the challenges and the lack of resources for rehabilitation of injured wildlife. The Orenda Wildlife Trust’s key focus was to protect valuable wildlife habitat and to promote wildlife rehabilitation training and the use of protected lands as release sites.
Eventually Orenda’s wildlife rehabilitation program was taken over by The Humane Society of The United States (HSUS) and operated as a wildlife training facility and hospital on Cape Cod. As it grew, those facilities were renamed Birdsey Cape Wildlife Center which is now part of the New England Wildlife Center.
Over the years, advocacy and initiated projects became as important as our philanthropic investment in and partnership in nonprofit organizations.
“Our work is to continually develop a vision for entire ecosystems. The connections between wilderness and human-centered landscapes are as real as the air, water, soil and climate we all share. The next ten years are critical for many species and the quality of life we will pass onto future generations.”
-- Barbara Birdsey, Founder and President
