Charlotte County Florida Weekly

Peace River Wildlife Center is on the move




Callie Stahl with Luna, PRWC’s mascot. RUSTY PRAY / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Callie Stahl with Luna, PRWC’s mascot. RUSTY PRAY / FLORIDA WEEKLY

After years of setbacks, slowdowns and backslides, the Peace River Wildlife Center — Charlotte County’s own wildlife rescue — is settling into new hospital/rehabilitation digs in Punta Gorda.

PRWC has an eye toward eventually moving into a permanent hospital site while occupying a separate facility where the public can visit the critters the center saves and nurtures.

Staff and the center’s board of directors recently celebrated their new hospital location on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Punta Gorda with an open house. The building, which was not yet occupied with patients, represented the culmination of years of work and the resiliency of the people involved in rescuing and treating wildlife.

Since 2014, when the wildlife sanctuary learned it would have to move from its current half-acre location in Ponce de Leon Park because it had been erroneously leased the land by the city of Punta Gorda, the wildlife center has been looking for a place to stay. An acre was put aside at Ponce for a new facility, but early on that space was deemed not enough to house a small-animal hospital — and a place where the animals are displayed for visitors.

Above: The sign marking Peace River Wildlife Center’s new hospital operations facility. RUSTY PRAY / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Above: The sign marking Peace River Wildlife Center’s new hospital operations facility. RUSTY PRAY / FLORIDA WEEKLY

“The wildlife center has been in that one spot for well over 30 years,” board president Jerry Jones said while standing in the parking lot of the new hospital. “This is significant to all of a sudden have an extra location. This is kind of a seismic shift for us. It kind of heralds moving the whole thing.”

Overcrowding was an issue before the center took in more than 3,000 animals — mostly birds, reptiles and small mammals — in 2019, a record jump from the previous year of about 400. The center takes in wild animals that are injured or ill, treats them and then releases them back to the wild. If they can’t be released, the animals become permanent residents.

As it stands on its current half-acre site, the hospital is a one-room operation that shares a ramshackle building with a cramped office adjacent to the entrance to the sanctuary. Splitting the hospital from the sanctuary seemed a common-sense decision for center officials, in order to increase caging capacity and give visitors more room to walk around and observe the inhabitants.

Right: Cinder blocks foretell PRWC’s plans to add caging areas to its new temporary hospital facility.

Right: Cinder blocks foretell PRWC’s plans to add caging areas to its new temporary hospital facility.

“The conditions are getting pretty bad,” said Callie Stahl, the center’s executive director. “It was essential for me to get my medical staff into a better facility not only for their health and sanity, but for the animals as well.”

The center purchased the building to house the new hospital with the intention of selling it in the future and moving the hospital once again — this time to a permanent site. Officials expected the facility to be up and running by early February.

“The realization came that we had to move our hospital out of Ponce Park,” Ms. Stahl said. “Just having the ability to cage animals that are in treatment is something we needed desperately.”

STAHL

STAHL

Center officials thought they had landed that permanent site off Taylor Road in Punta Gorda. But when they applied for a special zoning exception, neighbors protested. The center ultimately asked the zoning board to deny its request.

“We’re moving on,” Ms. Stahl said.

Center officials are beginning to explore properties east of I-75, she added.

“In the meantime, we have this to hold us over.”

The center also is negotiating with the city of Punta Gorda to lease property on Henry Avenue, Ms. Stahl said. The site is also home to History Park, the new Punta Gorda Charlotte Library and the Hounds on Henry dog park. The plan is to house the permanent residents and an education building on the Henry Avenue site.

“There is no piece of property that is appropriate for both aspects of the center,” Ms. Stahl said. “We’re basically two entities that feed off one another. You have the public facility that funds the rehab. Without the public facility being successful, the rehab dies. It needs those funds.”

So the center is actively seeking out-of-the-way property for its hospital, and an easily accessed site for its education and public visitation facility. The nonprofit draws upwards of 100,000 visitors a year. All its revenue is generated through fundraisers, donations, its recycle program and sales from its gift and online stores.

The new, temporary hospital is about 2,200 square feet. Robin Jenkins, the center’s veterinarian, called it a “million times better” than the old hospital.

“There’s more room, it’s cleaner,” she said. “The bottom line is, we can’t do what we need to do if we don’t have the appropriate space to do it in.”

The temporary hospital features a lobby with an intake counter, an examination room, isolation room, utility room with a shower, a room for surgery and medical testing, ICU, lab, nurseries, ample space for caging and even some space for the medical staff to take a break.

“It’s like the little things, but, oh, it’s so much,” staffer Amy Rhoads said while conducting a tour during the open house. “We’re not bumping butts with each other.”

“It’s forward progress,” Mr. Jones said. “It shows what we can do. It shows our potential.” ¦

One response to “Peace River Wildlife Center is on the move”

  1. Jerry Decius says:

    Do you have Amazon Order lists?

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