South Florida Wildlife Center — Local services in Fort Lauderdale

Here is my experience with the Wildlife Refuge: (RATHER RAPID EUTHANASIA-MERCY KILLING)

SITUATION : a decent size bird fell from the tree on the garden-floor, still a juvenile, I believe that he was in the process of learning to fly. I have recovered it and let him recuperate for 2 hours. At first the bird was leaning slightly on a side of his body, completely silent and in shock. After 2 hours I check on it, and this time the animal clearly improved: proper posture (the way birds usually sit on branches –no longer leaning on a side) making noises and opening its mouth. He even flew from my hand to a branch. However it was clear that it did not fully recover from the fall. Since it did not move very much from that branch

CALL : I have called the wildlife center, and spoke with an employee, L…. Although she was indeed polite (at least at first), I have cordially asked her about the put-down policies. She felt offended and she answered: “yea, that is what I come to work for, to put down animals”. Her sarcasm was not called for. I backed down from my question, I again emphasizes to her that my question was just an inquiry without any offensive background. She told me she felt offended; not willing to argue since, after all I was interested in the wellbeing of the animal not in an ego fight, I told her again that I had not intend to offend her and her work.

DROP: I took the animal to the wildlife Center, I again interacted with lady L. (this time no attitude, she was professional). She told me that they will keep it under surveillance and hydrate the bird.

OUTCOME : When I have called to inquire about the bird, I spoke with another lady, she was also polite and cordial (I believe that her name is S…), she informed me that the animal that I brought in was EUTHANIZED THE NEXT DAY. I asked her for the reasons of this decision, and she told me that neurological issues and a problem with skin pealing from its leg led to this. I can assure you that even though I am not a veterinarian, I certainly did not see any, wound to its leg and while I cannot make any remarks on eventual neurological aspects of a possible head injury, I can assure you that the animal was active when I left it there.

PROBLEM: although I appreciate the politeness of the people working there I cannot but wonder about what I consider to be QUESTIONABLE TIMEFRAME offered to an animal to recover before THE DECISION TO PUT IT DOWN IS MADE. Obviously as mentioned before I am not a veterinarian but I cannot but wonder about the percentage of animals that are brought-in and put down.

CONCLUSION: I don’t regret the donation that I have made to the refuge, but I DO REGRET BRINGING THE ANIMAL THERE, I am rather skeptical about how fast they decide to put down an animal. I understand that space, money and time are important factors so I wonder if the bird received a fair chance to fully recover (it only got a couple of hours, the next day it was put down) and wonder how many animals have met their end in the same manner after having been brought in by the people that found them.

I hope that this review will help the people that find injured animals with their...

BEWARE!! DO NOT TAKE ANY ANIMALS HERE!! My daughter and I dropped off a baby squirrel that we had been nursing for 2 weeks. The squirrel had been eating and acting normally, however we decided that since he is a wild animal that the best thing would be to take him to the sanctuary. When we arrived, the staff was less than friendly and advised us that once we turned in the squirrel that we would have no rights to the squirrel. I only asked that if they felt that the squirrel would have to be euthanized to please call because we would continue to take care of him instead of having him euthanized, to which they replied, NO. I left him there because I figured he was not a candidate to be eurhanized, as he had been eating well and getting bigger everyday. Also, my husband is veterinarian for small animals and therefore we have knowledge on any illnesses that could be occurring with the squirrel and he was fine with the exception of a small rash that we had been treating for the past couple of days. The rash was due to the fact that since he was eating more, he would defacate more and cause some irritation around his lower genital area. When I called that center back on saturday for an update they told me it was too soon and to call back on sunday because they need 48 hours to enter animals into their system. When I called today, I was in tears and total shock when they told me that they had to euthanize my squirrel because he was very dehydrated and because of the rash!!! WHAT??? There was NO way that he was dehydrated because we had been feeding him every 3-4 hours and even if he was when we receive a dehydrated animal, we hydrate them, WE DONT EUTHANIZE THEM!! Also they said he had a rash..... since when do animals get eurhanized for having a rash. I am heartbroken that my squirrel was euthanized for no reason. This center obviously has unethical and unwilling Doctors working here. I took him here thinking he would be rehabilitated and set free NOT killed!! Please don’t take animals here. I took him there having have read the reviews because I only read the 1st few and I agree with a review about how most people are NOT calling to get updates on the animals they dropped off and so they never really find out what happened with the animal they turned in. It seems to me that the people/veterinarians that work here have no desire to care for these animals and are more quick to euthanize the animal then take the time to take care of them!!! My daughter and I 2 weeks, taking shifts to care for this baby squirrel, ONLY TO TAKE OUT TO A PLACE THAT ENDED UP...

These people are fabulous and such life savers! Helped a Florida Cooter recover that we had brough to them after picking it up from roard after being hit by a car.

After leaving Wendy's in Pembroke Pines, we saw a turtle get hit by a car right before we had left. It seemed okay as it's head kept peeking out. Husband maneuvered the car to go pick it up, and as I hopped out to grab the little thing, I was panick-stricken as the back scutes were broken and there was crack up the shell, blood all over. I quickly just picked the turtle up, placed it on a recyclable grocery bag and we drove to the nearest animal hospital whom I will not name as I don't think i'll be going back there. This animal 'hostpital' seem unprepared for an emergency, whether it was my own or not. It was mis-identified as a yellow slider, and another referred to it as a tortoise when talking to the vet in the back on the phone. Veternarian didn't not bother to come out but instead said all that could be done was an examination for $80. What good is that going to do? I couldn't even leave the turtle. What am I going to do? I pleaded if they knew anyone I CAN take this turtle to, and the office girl went into a book of numbers and gave me the number for these people.

Hands shaking and really angry at them, we drove 25 minutes in tarffic with a bleading turtle whom I'm trying to get to ramin calm and thankfully was sweet enough to love chin rubs and pets on the head. I had a feeling that this was someone's pet because it was really friendly, not trying to bite or hide. Just wanted pets.

Upon arrival we were greeted by a sweet and welcoming woman who took the turtle, to which we learned was a native Florida Cooter. We owe them more of a donation as their credit card machine was down at the time and we gave them whatever cash we had because they deserved it more than what the vet was charging for nothing.

We learned it is a 'She' and recovering well even though she lost...