Ark Wildlife Rescue Needs Your Help

The Ark Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation is a 501C3 non-profit organization that desperately needs your help with funding to accommodate the ever growing number of injured and orphaned birds, mammals and reptiles that come into our care. In 2016 we rescued and rehabbed almost 1600 animals!  We are anticipating seeing a 30% increase in intakes for 2017.   Funding is also needed for the species specific diets required to properly feed the diverse range of animals to whom we give sanctuary.  Many people are not aware that our organization and organizations like us receive no funding from local, state or federal agencies for the tireless and expensive work we do!

Baby opossums often come into rehab in large groups.  Mothers are struck by cars or killed by dogs and the infants can be saved and raised to release.


Food prep is expensive and time-consuming and usually a pre-dawn project.

The migratory birds such as loons, gannets, grebes and pelicans are arriving now and often finding themselves depleted, injured and in need of critical care. Additionally, spring baby seasons are right around the corner which means hundreds of baby birds, grey squirrels, flying squirrels, opossums, and various others. One baby bird alone can eat up to 12 times/day at a daily cost  of almost $15. 
Baby bird season brings hundreds of hatchlings, nestlings and fledglings to The Ark.  Very young birds need to be fed every 1/2 hour and even older babies require a labor intensive feeding schedule that includes diets ranging from syringe feedings to fresh fruit, vegetables,  insects and even fish and mice.

Karen Lynch, founder of The Ark has been dedicated to the care of our native wildlife for over 20 years and this huge undertaking has been accomplished largely through the efforts of just Karen and two other women, Thaida and Valerie. All three women work 7 days a week tending to the needs of our native wildlife. Incredibly, The Ark has in fact not only been run by but also largely financed by the personal monetary contributions of this small team of three.

Orphaned babies can often be reunited with their moms if conditions allow for it.  We educate the public on how to facilitate  reunions prior to bringing babies into care.  Even so, wild babies are a huge part of our rehab workload.

Gopher Tortoises are an endangered species and often are badly injured by car strikes.

The Ark is a 501C3 non profit and receives no funding or support from local, state or federal agencies. Our intakes come via calls for help from the public as well as calls for assistance from Florida Fish and Wildlife, local sheriff departments, state parks, veterinary hospitals and even Fire and Rescue and Beach Patrol.

Rescues, like this snowy egret who was entangled in fishing line and hanging 40 feet up in a tree, are one way in which we  help negate man's negative impact on our native wildlife.



Rescuing ducklings from a parking lot storm drain.

Pelican rescue at Mayport Naval Base.

The help The Ark provides even includes rescues for flighted birds. Typically birds with leg injuries or entanglement issues were impossible to help if they remained flighted. The Ark remedied this situation through the purchase of a $1600 net gun … another personal expenditure by The Ark team. 143 birds have been rescued since the net gun was purchased in February 2015!
A net gun rescue. The black flashlight-shaped net gun and the yellow net it fires can be seen top right. This was a young mallard duck with fishing line entwined around it's legs.  He was still able to fly and therefore not attainable using a standard capture net.  'Daffy' was freed and released back into the pond he shared with six juvenile siblings.

Most wildlife rehabilitators do not assist with rescues at all … typically animals must be contained and transported by the public to the facility for help. While transport by the public is absolutely a key component of getting help for wildlife, The Ark logged approximately 40,000 miles this past year in rescue calls. Many were avian lives saved thanks to the net gun purchase and some were issues where the public simply was not able to handle or transport an animal in need. Mileage costs were another expense that was absorbed by The Ark team personally.

Our goal at The Ark is to give orphans and injured native wildlife a second chance at living out their wild lives.

Marsh Bunny

Anhinga

 Baby Little Green Heron


Snapping turtle surgery to repair hook and fishing line injuries.

To date, Karen, Thaida and Valerie have been 100% focused on rescues and animal care, a 24/7 commitment, especially during baby seasons. However, the growing number of intakes and rescues each year necessitates that we also focus on the fund raising required to keep The Ark “afloat.” What began as a humble backyard rehab has grown into a very important resource for injured and orphaned wildlife and we really need your help to continue to be a safe haven for so many animals in need.

Note fishing hook lodged in the mouth of this softshell turtle. With a few  local vets who generously donate their services to  wildlife, we can often remedy unfortunate situations such as this.

It is our belief that we as humans are meant to be stewards of our planet. Often the wildlife we assist has been impacted by urban sprawl, irresponsible use and disposal of harmful chemicals, and littering which results in almost daily entrapment and entanglement rescue calls. Help us erase a bit of the “footprint” we humans have been leaving on the environment and our wildlife.



Please donate what you can.  It's a scary time for The Ark, as we cannot even allow ourselves to imagine not being about to respond to the calls for help that come in daily.

Also please share this fundraiser with friends, family, business associates, etc. through facebook, twitter, instagram, email, linkedin … every way you can! 

There are truly no words for how thankful we are to all who can donate and share.  Your contributions are tax deductible and our wildlife will directly benefit from your generosity.   Those of you who work for businesses who match charitable donations....please keep us in mind!


The Ark was able to rescue this poor juvenile woodstork on Super Bowl Sunday of 2015.  He apparently mistook this electrical conduit for a snake and attempted to swallow it.  The tubing was successfully extricated and the woodstork, a species on the Threatened List, was given some TLC and released several days later.