NAVARRE, Fla. — Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge announced that it will be pausing intakes of orphaned wildlife to best serve the patients currently in its care.
The nonprofit wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation center is located in Navarre. Their services extend to five counties across Northwest Florida.
“PLEASE, contact us if you find orphaned wildlife so we can try to coach you through reunification or direct you to another resource. We don’t want to leave our community hanging, and will still try to direct you to the best possible options for your situation,” said the refuge center. “We may be able to help with injured adult animals or orphans with dire injuries, but we are hoping to help connect those with true orphans in need to other rehabbers in the area to help.”
Most of the patients the center has now are orphaned wildlife. According to the center, the decision comes down to its high intake rate. The center’s staffing numbers aren’t enough to keep with the demand.
“We are only making this choice so that we can stop ourselves from getting into a situation where the animals in our care are not getting what they need to survive and be returned to the wild,” the center said. “We also have to keep up with the care and needs of our permanent ambassador residents in addition to all of our patients.”
To avoid unsustainability, the center says this was its last resort.
“Our interns are regularly staying past 7 or 8 p.m., unpaid, to help us with baby feedings, and we just can’t keep it up forever,” the center said.
The center said to stay up-to-date with its social media to know when it’ll be able to accept baby intakes again. Other Florida rehab centers can be found here for the time being.
Refuge centers that are closest to Navarre are the Sandspur Wildlife Sanctuary in Gulf Breeze and Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest FL in Pensacola.