Third of Three Free Events

CALLING ALL NATURE LOVERS!

THREE FREE EVENTS

The nonprofits are:
Rescuing Ocala Wildlife (ROW) and Swamp Girl Adventures

Many people are not familiar with two of the nonprofit organizations benefiting from these three events, so here’s some background information on just these two:

On December 31, 2022, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) ended its program of permitting volunteers to transport injured and endangered wildlife to rehabilitation centers, essentially closing the program that connected the public with the volunteers. Rescuing Ocala Wildlife (ROW) recognized the necessity and was formed in 2022.

The following is an example of a day’s rescue efforts, although the day does not end; it is 24/7/365:

Every kind of wild animal is found multiple times every day by the public. Volunteers pick them up and transport them to rehabilitation centers. Here is an example of a volunteer’s day: 7:00A.M. a phone call arrives from Rescuing Ocala Wildlife (ROW) to a volunteer about a turtle hit by a car in Lady Lake. The shell is split, and guts are exposed to the elements and ants. The volunteer leaves home and drives (using own vehicle, gas, and equipment paid for by Self) to pick it up and take it to Swamp Girl Adventures, in the Kissimmee area. 

While the volunteer is out, more incoming calls are routed from ROW to volunteers to pick up a bald Eagle on the ground in Yalaha, an opossum injured in Umatilla, a injured Sandhill crane on a golf course, a baby squirrel that has been mauled by a cat in Eustis, a migrating bird that ran out of strength and was found on the side of the road in Groveland, an orphaned and starving otter in Leesburg, or an orphaned raccoon in Clermont…

As you can imagine, it takes a village to get a critter from Point A to Point B. Sometimes it requires more than one transporter, with an exchange at the halfway point. Oftentimes the critter needs to be caught by the volunteer, so, again, multiple volunteers are needed to coordinate how that will be accomplished safely. 

Getting back to the injured turtle… it is in GREAT HANDS at Swamp Girl Adventures! It was x-rayed, given antibiotics, and the shell was tediously mended with the most innovative materials. After full rehabilitation it is released back into the wild to accomplish what it was created for.

Below is a copy and paste from these two nonprofits websites:

• Rescuing Ocala Wildlife (ROW) is a volunteer-based 501c3 nonprofit organization comprised of individuals dedicated to saving injured, sick, and orphaned wildlife in Marion County and surrounding areas. At ROW, we possess the knowledge and tools to humanely capture wildlife as stress-free as possible and transport them to a licensed wildlife rehabber. We save wild lives one animal at a time, and there is no job too small, from newborn opossums to Great Horned Owls; our mission is to provide safe transportation to whatever animal needs our help. We serve Marion Sumter, Citrus and Lake counties, but transport animals to licensed rehabbers in a total of 9 counties across Central Florida to get them the best care possible!  

https://www.rowildlife.org/

• Since 2009, Swamp Girl Adventures has been educating the public about Florida wildlife, promoting conservation, and helping firsthand with wildlife in need with a focus on reptiles and amphibians. In 2022 we cared for 718 reptiles and amphibians across 28 counties in Florida! Many of these cases were gopher tortoises a protected species in Florida. Conservation is important to the survival of these animals in the wild and we are working to build a full facility that can do more for Florida’s wildlife. Project RRRCORA is all about saving lives and understanding impacts of diseases on reptiles and amphibians to better help conservation practices. 

https://www.swampgirladventures.org/

BRING A YOUNG PERSON, IF YOU CAN

All three events are being held in areas that children can run and play after the event ends. You do not want to miss any of these free, educational events hosted by Marion Audubon, UF/IFAS Extension Marion County and Swamp Girl Adventures!