In the early hours of September 26th, Hurricane Helene passed by our sanctuary. Though it was several miles offshore, the force of the winds caused significant storm surge and flooding on our campus. About 4 feet of sea water was pushed onto our campus, through all of our buildings and onsite structures. Luckily, we did not lose any birds in this storm. However, we did suffer significant damages to our facilities. Among the items damaged included our x-ray machine, washers and dryers, multiple computers, oxygen converters, medical supplies, aquarium equipment, and much of our gift shop and animals’ enclosures. In addition to the damage to sanctuary property, the onsite apartments that house our two onsite staff persons were flooded and these staff persons lost countless items of value, as well as sentimentally valuable items. This damage, though difficult to quantify, adds up to at least $500,000. Thanks to the support of our community and our volunteers, as well as significant contributions from our staff members, we have been able to begin the rebuilding process and have been able to ensure safety for our resident birds to this point- but there is still a lot of work to be done to restore our ability to pursue our mission of rescue, rehabilitation, and release of Florida’s native birds, as well as providing the best of care to our permanently disabled resident birds.
