Wildlife Rehabilitation: Saving one life at a time!
(This reporter is clueless about the real story behind Sue Arnold. See comments)
July 6, 7:08 PM
When our domestic animals are sick we take them to the veterinarian, but what happens to injured wildlife? If a car hits a wild panther where does it go? We know Animal Control or Fish & Wildlife is called but then what?
About 13 years ago, Sue Arnold started a wildlife sanctuary to help educate the 4-H students. That evolved into what is today called “Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Inc.”. What started as an educational project evolved into something much more than she could have ever imagined. Sue has created a place that not only educates the public to the wondrous world of wildlife but also invites us all to come and interact with the wild side.
It doesn’t stop there; we asked earlier “what happens after Animal Control or Fish & Wildlife is called?” Sue gets a phone call.
Animal Control brings the injured animal to Sue to nurse back to health. Sue tells us that some of them can be returned to the wild after they have healed but a great many are not. In which case, they find the sanctuary their new forever home. Over the years her sanctuary has grown to inhabit a variety of animals such as: Panthers, African Serval’s, Caracal’s, Wallaby, Pampas Fox, Emu, Peacocks, Monkey’s, Macaw Birds, Llama, Deer, Squirrel’s, and too many other to name them all.
The truly amazing part of this story is that Sue and her husband do this with no government help even though the center is a non-profit licensed facility. She maintains this wonderful wildlife haven on elbow grease; donations and the sale of some of her personally owned smaller exotic animals.
To aid with the financial burden of the center, Sue is also a licensed breeder. She has been breeding and selling Serval’s for many years with great success. Sue is not like most breeders in that she doesn’t just sell the cats and walk away. Sue cares what happens to her baby’s and carefully screens her buyer’s. She asks questions regarding their work schedule, age of children in the house and is everyone on board with this new family member. Perhaps the most important question of all is “Why do you want to own an exotic animal?”. Sue educates them as to how to interact and care for their new furry friend. However, what makes her really special is the fact that if the new owner is unable to continue to care for their cat, it is brought back to her sanctuary.
In addition to the rehabilitated animals that end up living at the center, Sue takes in many others. In some cases an owner may have to move to another state, which does not allow exotic pets, or an owner may have a personal injury that leaves them or their families unable to care for the exotic pet. Sadly enough there have even been situations that she has taken in exotic pets left to the families of deceased owners. On an average year she will have treated approximately 1000 animals. In fact, she has treated approximately 450 animals from January to June of this year. No matter what the reason, Sue just can’t say no to an exotic animal in distress.
Sue Arnold is a truly special woman with a mission in life to help care for God’s wonderful creatures. She is a shinning example of the hope we can all share in mankind. Your donations can help save a “Wild” life.
Author: Brooks Rose
Brooks Rose is an Examiner from West Palm Beach. You can see Brooks’s articles on
Brooks Rose is a woman whom has owned and trained many types of exotic pets, such as African Serval Cats, monkey’s, exotic birds, hybrid wolves just to mention a few. After many years of observing the exotic animal world coming into our neighborhoods she decided it was time to tell the story. As amazing as the exotic animal kingdom is, there is also a tragic side to the attempts of domestication. Reading her work will take you inside the private homes of so many who share their lives with the wild and untamed.
Comments
Carole Baskin says:
We constantly get complaints from people who say you can smell the cat urine inside her home before they even get out of the car. We get more complaints from people who bought servals, jungle cats & hybrids about Sue Arnold than any other breeder. Putting her out of business would end the suffering of so many exotic cats. They almost never work out as pets and the cats end up paying with their lives.
Former Volunteer says:
Several videos were posted by someone named twyliteskyz. The first video I saw showed three serval kittens playing, and I immediately recognized that this video was shot inside of Sue Arnold’s Iiving room. Sue Arnold is the woman in Okeechobee that operates Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center Inc., a facility that claims its mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release native Florida wildlife when in all truth and reality the injured and orphaned wildlife in need of care is neglected to death while the woman is busy buying, breeding, and selling native and exotic wildlife, and soliciting the tax-free donations to pay for the expenses of it all. One viewer posted a question asking how this person could afford three serval kittens, since the inside of the house didn’t look very nice. I don’t think a lot of people realize that their expensive exotic cat has been inbred in the backyard of low class trash.
This is the link to the Sue Arnold story if you want to post a comment.� You don’t have to join to post.
http://www.examiner.com/x-14909-Boca-Raton-Exotic-Pets-Examiner~y2009m7d6-Wildlife-Rehabilitation–Saving-one-life-at-a-time
