{"id":1697,"date":"2020-10-29T22:39:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T02:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/our-work\/wildlife-hospital\/what-we-do\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T14:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T19:57:34","slug":"wildlife-rehabilitation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/our-work\/wildlife-rehabilitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife Rehabilitation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tOver 4,000 injured, sick, and orphaned native animals are admitted to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital each year. Most of those injuries stem from interactions that involve humans &#8211; including car strikes, domestic pet attacks, window collisions, fishing line and hook injuries, gunshots, and toxicosis.\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t<h3><strong>If you find injured or orphaned native wildlife, contact the Conservancy&#8217;s von Arx Wildlife Hospital at <\/strong><strong>239-262-CARE (2273) 8AM &#8211; 5PM EST, seven days a week.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h5>View our patient admission process below.<\/h5>\n\t\t<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wFkgrJ2_xSw?si=f3kaOan1p5TpKe76\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/drkendallcarlin-square.jpg\" alt=\"Drkendallcarlin\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1500\" width=\"1200\" title=\"Drkendallcarlin\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t<h4>\n\t\t\tour work\n\t\t<\/h4>\n\t<p>Providing medical care to injured wildlife has been a priority of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida since 1979. Caring citizens rescue bobcats, deer, pelicans, herons, gopher tortoises, and many other species of native animals and drop them off at the Conservancy for treatment. The wildlife rehabilitation team and a group of dedicated volunteers provide supportive care with the goal of releasing as many &#8220;patients&#8221; as possible back to their natural habitats.<\/p>\n<p>The von Arx Wildlife Hospital is permitted through USFWS and FWC to provide rehabilitative care to native mammals, reptiles, and birds. We are not able to care for marine line, invasive or non-native species, or domestic animals. Please review our <a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/our-work\/wildlife-rehabilitation\/wildlife-hospital-qa\/\">FAQs<\/a> to learn more about animals we do treat, and who you can contact about animals we do not treat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We do not provide patient updates. Please review our policy <a title=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Policy-on-Providing-Patient-Updates.pdf\" href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Policy-on-Providing-Patient-Updates.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t<h4>\n\t\t\tHours of Operation\n\t\t<\/h4>\n\t<p>The von Arx Wildlife Hospital is open from 8AM to 6PM for animal dropoff seven days a week, 365 days a year. This includes weekends and holidays. The phone line is open from 8AM to 5PM seven days a week, 365 days a year at (239) 262-CARE (2273).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/bsfawn-landscape.png\" alt=\"Bsfawn\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1000\" width=\"1000\" title=\"Bsfawn\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tWe Help Over 4,000 Animals a Year\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t10%\n\t\t\t\t\tReptiles\n\t\t40%\n\t\t\t\t\tMammals\n\t\t50%\n\t\t\t\t\tBirds\n\t\t<h3>\n\t\t\tThe von Arx Wildlife Hospital receives no government funding to support operating expenses. It is supported almost entirely by individuals who care.\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/6890a.blackbaudhosting.com\/6890a\/RES-WILDLIFE\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"    rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPlease Make a Donation today\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tLearn More About the von Arx Wildlife Hospital\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/our-work\/wildlife-rehabilitation\/wildlife-hospital-qa\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Opossum.jpg\" alt=\"Opossum\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Wildlife Hospital Q &#038; A<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p>Answers to all your questions about the animal hospital.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wildlife-injury-prevention\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Gopher-Tortoise-6-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Injury Prevent Tile\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Wildlife Injury Prevention<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p>Most people seek to avoid causing harm to other living creatures, so we put together a list of things to do &#8211; or not do &#8211; to help wildlife.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/support-us\/volunteer\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3L7A5026-1.jpg\" alt=\"3L7A5026 (1)\" width=\"6000\" height=\"4000\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Volunteer<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p>We rely on dedicated volunteers to help treat over 4,000 injured, sick or orphaned animals each year. Volunteer opportunities are diverse and challenging.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/our-work\/wildlife-rehabilitation\/wishlist\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/69549084_3315398341820280_6924754077460987904_o.jpg\" alt=\"Wish List Tile\" width=\"1080\" height=\"566\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Wish List<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p>With the help of Amazon.com, it&#8217;s easier than ever to donate to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital! We have created an Amazon Wish List, where you&#8217;ll be able to see the items we need most in order to help care for injured and orphaned native wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<h6>\n\t\t\tHow You can help\n\t\t<\/h6>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tHelp protect our water, land, and wildlife\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/support-us\/membership\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/icon-membership.png\" alt=\"Become a Member\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Become a Member<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Membership helps support our work and gets you free membership to the Nature Center and many other perks. Join today!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/donate\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/icon-donate.png\" alt=\"Donate\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Donate<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The majority of our funding comes from people like you who care about protecting our environment in Southwest Florida.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/support-us\/volunteer\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/icon-volunteer.png\" alt=\"Volunteer\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Volunteer<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>A variety of fun volunteer opportunities are available. Interact with diverse people, learn new skills, and enhance and share your knowledge.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 4,000 injured, sick, and orphaned native animals are admitted to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital each year. Most of those injuries stem from interactions that involve humans &#8211; including&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"parent":1663,"menu_order":29,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1697","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1697"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17550,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1697\/revisions\/17550"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}