The concerned calls come into the von Arx Wildlife Hospital all day this time of the year.
A baby squirrel appears it was knocked from its tree. A nest of mockingbirds tucked inside a delivery of landscaping plants look lost. A screech owl small enough to cup in two hands is bouncing along the ground, looking lost.
Nearly 100 of these young patients arrive every week at von Arx, which is part of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples.
Many of the baby creatures that flood von Arx and the region's other animal hospitals every spring were never in trouble. Their parents were close by, doing what wild parents do, leaving the young tucked in grass or on a branch for hours while they hunt for food.
A person finds the baby alone, assumes the worst, and scoops it up. State wildlife officials say most of those rescues were mistakes.
The animals that truly need help, the orphaned and the injured, tend to be victims of the human world around them. A car. A cat. A mower. A tree cut while a nest still held eggs.
In those cases, von Arx experts wrote instructions on their website what to do if you find a sick or injured animal.
“With a box and a towel, you have the tools needed to contain the animal by completely covering it and putting it into the box. You can put the animal in anything that is ventilated, including a laundry basket, storage container, shoe box, cardboard box. Please make sure that the container is secure so that the animal cannot escape. Bring it to the wildlife hospital. “
Baby season stretches from spring into late summer, and admissions roughly double over those months. The von Arx hospital accepts any native bird, mammal, or reptile, and treats more than 4,000 animals a year.
The von Arx hospital relies on donations to care for baby animals. Its annual fundraiser, which they call the wildlife baby shower, lasts until June 21. They can’t accept donations directly, so support to von Arx can be shown through the purchase of supplies on Amazon such as formula, syringes, and folders for records that are then sent to von Arx, or by donating money to a Conservancy of Southwest Florida website.
On Sanibel, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife is seeing the same wave. The clinic accepts donations online to care for the more than 6,000 younger and older animals it cares for every year.
CROW, too, runs a campaign called "If You Care, Leave it There." Its message is the same: if you see a young wild animal, leave it alone, and never feed it. Unless, of course, something is clearly wrong, like an obvious injury or a fallen nest. In those cases, animal rescue experts at CROW can be reached at (239) 472-3644, or at von Arx at (239) 262-2273.
More:
- Male bald eagle found injured in Cape Coral recovering nicely at Sanibel's CROW; release is close
- Collaborative wildlife rescue helps injured bobcat heal, return home
- CROW rebuilds after Ian and helps more injured wildlife survive
- Baby gray squirrels who fell from nests being nursed back to health at Naples wildlife hospital
CROW is seeking donations of hand-knitted or crocheted nests for orphaned and injured baby birds and small mammals receiving care at the nonprofit hospital.
There are at least two more sizeable animal hospitals in the heart of Southwest Florida that care for sick and injured animals.
The Peace River Wildlife Center is in Punta Gorda Isles. The nonprofit rehab and education center take in about 2,500 injured, orphaned, and displaced animals a year, mostly birds. The phone number for their intake department is (941) 637-3830.
In Venice, there’s the Wildlife Center of Southwest Florida. It's a nonprofit animal hospital serving Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties handling native birds, mammals, and reptiles – but not marine mammals. They their after-hours line is (941) 484-9657.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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