Venice Wildlife Center Relocation

Stephanie Hydrusko Boor is organizing this fundraiser to benefit Wildlife Center of Southwest Florida.

Tax deductible

We have to move...We NEED your help.

My name is Stephanie and I am a volunteer at The Wildlife Center of Venice. We have many dedicated volunteers who help every day with everything from rescues to maintenance to caring for our patients. We rescue over 4000 sick, injured and orphaned wildlife every year. We need your help to continue this care. Below you will read a letter from our director, Kevin Barton about what the center would like to achieve moving forward.

The Wildlife Center of Venice, Inc. has the awesome opportunity to finally own its own property and satisfy long pent up growth demands in the very same neighborhood we've resided in and served since 2004. We not only love the neighborhood, we really love the property across the street. The beautiful and open pastures can easily accommodate our multitude of cages and aviaries, while still providing a private and tranquil setting ideal for the recuperation of our patients as they prepare for a return to the wild.

The house is also ideal. It is small and basic, but perfect for converting into a fully functional rehab facility. We would finally have a proper, "front door" patient reception area, complete with a welcome center and gift shop, none of which we've ever had before. Also we would gain substantial square footage within this house, beyond our current location, allowing significant upgrades in animal care facilities including treatment, critical care and nursery rooms, adapted specifically for the great variety of wild birds, mammals and reptiles we serve daily.

This is our best hope to make the necessary move without loss of service to any of the wildlife communities within our primary service range covering all of Sarasota and west Charlotte Counties. This is not easy as we've grown to treat over 4,500 such wildlife patients every year, making us the largest wildlife rescue and rehab center by patient count in our region. The Wildlife Center of Venice, Inc. has struggled to meet this ever growing patient load despite many stated facility shortcomings. Our dedicated staff, volunteers and supporters deserve a lot of credit.

We love this property, the goats that come with it, the neighbors and neighborhood. This location has been key to our growth, as we are centrally located between our networking partners in the tri-county area, as we work together to leave no patients behind. The catch to all of this is that we require $150,000 to secure this property purchase down payment and facilitate necessary moving costs, and we need it fast. If we can pull off the heavy lift on this dream property purchase and secure the loan, our monthly facility rental fees will be reduced from current levels, immediately, and at the end of the day the Wildlife Center of Venice, Inc. will finally own its own destiny.