{"id":18822,"date":"2025-10-24T12:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T12:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/18822\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T12:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T12:44:07","slug":"visit-animals-at-orlandos-back-to-nature-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/18822\/","title":{"rendered":"Visit animals at Orlando’s Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s a place where the cute, the hungry, the mysterious, and smart often end up because their lives are in jeopardy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been receiving squirrels, at least ten each day, since last month,\u201d animal technician Frida Acavedo-Sanchez said.<\/p>\n

Other animals attacked many of the squirrels brought to the Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them are either cat attacks or dog attacks. So, pets that are not, like, leashed or kept inside,\u201d Acavedo-Sanchez said.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Since 1989, the Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge<\/a> has rescued injured wildlife throughout Central Florida
\n
An average of 3,000 to 4,000 annually \u2014 or 10 animals per day \u2014 are dropped off at the Orlando facility
\n
The nonprofit rescues and rehabilitates a variety of animals, hoping to return them to the wild
\n
The faculty is open to the public (by reservation) where guests can walk through and see many of their animal ambassadors<\/p>\n

Every day, one after another, people drop off injured animals at the front desk of the facility needing rehabilitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a lot of times they come in, they have injuries. And so, we have to assess the injuries that they have,\u201d refuge executive director Debbie Helsel said.<\/p>\n

For over 25 years,\u00a0Helsel has been treating injured wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s non-stop examining, moving creatures around the grounds, hand-feeding animals and making room for new patients. She said there is one reason animal injuries are not going away soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing so many things to the environment that it\u2019s making it much more difficult for them to survive,\u201d Helsel explained.<\/p>\n

Some 3,000 to 4,000 injured creatures end up at the refuge each year, which measures out to around 10 per day. Often, they don\u2019t have enough cages and space for everyone.<\/p>\n

By appointment, guests can visit the facility and get to meet some of the ambassador animals.<\/p>\n

Those animals can\u2019t return to the wild, and the Orlando facility gives them a permanent home.<\/p>\n

That includes owls, foxes, bobcats and tortoises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Helsel hopes guests learn something about wildlife when they visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal really is for them to be in the wild where they\u2019re supposed to be, not in a habitat where they have to spend the rest of their life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit relies on donations.<\/p>\n

Self-guided tours and guided tours are available for $10 per adult, and children under 3 are free.<\/p>\n

Visit the Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s a place where the cute, the hungry, the mysterious, and smart often end up because…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1684,1595,1011,1013,4092,274,104,28,7151,1190,139,141,140,11881,135,106,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-18822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-app-arts-entertainment","10":"tag-app-human-interest","11":"tag-app-latest-human-interest-stories","12":"tag-app-things-to-do","13":"tag-app-top-stories","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-florida-on-a-tankful","17":"tag-human-interest","18":"tag-orlando","19":"tag-orlando-headlines","20":"tag-orlando-news","21":"tag-randy-rauch","22":"tag-tampa","23":"tag-things-to-do","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}