South Florida Wildlife Center gets ambulance to help transport injured animals
FORT LAUDERDALE - The South Florida Wildlife Center received a $118,600 for a new ambulance to treat injured wildlife.
On any given day, the center gets up to 70 new animals. Currently, they have around 400 animals on the property, according to Medical Director Charlotte Cournoyer.
When animals arrive at the center, they get diagnosed, treated, and then released back into the wild. The facilities function like a hospital.
"We determine what medications they're going to need, what type of feeding plan they're going to need. If they need things like bloodwork, x-rays, and ultrasounds. We do all of that here," said Cournoyer.
The work the wildlife center does requires a lot of resources and one of their major pieces of equipment didn't work so well. So, the Brady Hunter Foundation donated a brand new wildlife ambulance and the first year's salary for a driver. It was the work the South Florida Wildlife Center does that inspired the foundation to donate.
The ambulance is still new, so it still has to be decked out with all the equipment needed to rescue and release the animals. The wildlife center is donation based so donations like the one from the Brady Hunter Foundation, really make a difference for them.
Rescue and Release Supervisor, Mari Diaz, says with this new vehicle, the clinic can now do so much more. "Having this vehicle will absolutely allow us to go out into the field and be able to transport from the smallest creature to the largest animal," she said.
The South Florida Wildlife Center is always looking for volunteers. For more information, click here.
