[Animals] Wildlife rescue rehabs injured animals

[Love Pulse]

 

From a modest trailer near the end of an obscure road in Homosassa, Nature World Wildlife Rescue offers a last chance for freedom to the approximately 500 wild animals it annually tries to save from broken wings, dislocated limbs, bug infections, and the other traumas they 've suffered.

Before COVID, about 1,200 wild animals were assessed and treated annually by the all-volunteer staff of the nonprofit group that was founded in 1985 by the former Homosassa Springs Nature World attraction and veterinarians K.C. Nayfield and Mark Lowe of Midway Animal Hospital in Homosassa.

Today, Mary Opall owns the property, holds the permits, and is the director of the facility, which she said is the only freestanding wildlife rescue in an eight-county area. Sure, there are other rescues, but they mostly operate out of people's backyards, according to Opall.
Nature World mostly cares for birds, and such amphibians and animals as squirrels, bobcats, fox, deer, otters, rabbits, armadillos, opossums, tortoises and turtles. They don't rescue alligators or snakes.

The group is funded through donations. It does not receive any government money. That makes it tough to pay the $30,000 a year it costs to feed the animals who are undergoing rehabilitation, not to mention the utility and supply bills, and other costs.

Yet, the facility has saved up enough money to upgrade its building. The Nature World volunteers expect another single-wide trailer to be set up soon, but it would be nice if they could upgrade to a double-wide, they said.

Meanwhile, the volunteers are content to tend to their furry and feather-bedecked visitors to see what they can do to get the animals released back to nature.

“My passion is to see them be released,” Opall said. “That is a success, for sure.”

Not all the animals can be released. Some have to be euthanized because their injuries are too serious. Others who wouldn't survive in the wild but who, nevertheless, could successfully live out their lives with a little TLC may become longtime residents and part of Nature World's menagerie of animals used for educating children and the greater public about how to respect wildlife.

Nature World works closely with veterinarians to assess and treat animals and to determine which ones can be saved, the volunteers said.

“You have to do what’s best for the animals,” Bussiere said.

Before COVID, the volunteers would take some of the animals with them when they gave talks at schools or set up booths at area festivals.

Things are a little quieter since the pandemic set in — but not that quiet.

On a recent Saturday, Sonja Bussiere, who's the group's treasurer, was answering the phone and driving around the area in her jeep, picking up five baby squirrels, four baby raccoons, and a baby opossum.

Bussiere rehabilitates Nature World's raccoons and deer at her home.

During a recent visit to Nature World, there were all manner of birds, gopher tortoises, a coyote, and at least one baby raccoon in residence. Opal said the cast of animal characters constantly changes.

And each tortoise, bird, or animal has its own story, as do the people who work at the Rescue, as well as those who phone the facility and have spotted an animal that's in trouble.

Bussiere, Opall, and volunteer Christina Hunley told of a female semi driver who was passing through Ocala on the Interstate. She spotted a grounded red-tailed hawk, captured the bird, and put it in her truck. She phoned Nature World as she headed for Arkansas.

She received advice on how to care for the hawk while she was on the road, and when she returned five days later, she drove the bird to Nature World.

“We took care of it, fattened it up, and released it near Ocala,” Opall said.

Then, there was the blind deer who fell into a gravel pit and later was patched up, the swan whose mate had died who was coaxed to stop grieving, and the tortoises hit by cars whose shells are mending with the help of surgical screws and safety pins.

There also was the grounded young eagle with an eye problem.

A veterinarian initially assessed that the bird had a fungal infection and prescribed appropriate medicine. When the eye didn't improve, a volunteer said, “Let me see.”

Upon close inspection, the volunteer discovered a tick in a fold of the eagle's eye. When the tick was removed and the antibiotics prescribed, the eagle perked up and soon could see, fly, and be released.

Opall, Bussiere, and Hunley each have unique stories to tell, too, of how they got involved in saving wild animals' lives.

Opall met a woman from Nature World at a festival, who invited her to a meeting. Next, the woman told Opall they were going to rescue a young sandhill crane.

Opall said she drove the woman near where the crane had been spotted, and they looked and looked until suddenly, the woman screamed, “There he is.”

Opall didn't see him. She was looking near the ground for a baby bird.

Where? Where? she asked.

“Well, he's looking right at you over