The neck of a young Egyptian goose pierced by an arrow. A pellet lodged in the spine of a gray squirrel. Two baby panthers hanging onto life after being hit by a car.
All were found by good Samaritans and taken straight to the South Florida Wildlife Center in Fort Lauderdale, where an expert staff works to rescue and rehabilitate an estimated 12,000 wild animals each year.
For more than 50 years, the center’s staff has fixed broken wings, removed fishing hooks and tended to orphaned wildlife. The animal hospital is a major operation, with a staff of 30 running the state’s highest-volume wildlife rehab center.
But come September, the South Florida Wildlife Center will likely lose its home, board chairman Jeff Arciniaco told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The county leases land at 3200 SW Fourth Avenue to the wildlife center for $200 a year. That lease is up in September.
The property, just north of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, is needed for an airport maintenance facility, county officials say.
The wildlife center knew this day was coming.
Board members are in the midst of negotiating a deal with the Broward School District to lease 8 acres of swampland in Southwest Ranches purchased by school officials in 2004.
The land would need to be de-mucked and a new facility built. And it’s far from a done deal, Arciniaco said.
It’s hard to say whether there will be an agreement by September, said John Sullivan, spokesman for the School District.
“They’re still in negotiations,” Sullivan said this week.
With time ticking, Arciniaco and his fellow board members are hoping to find another place to relocate in case the Southwest Ranches deal doesn’t work out.
“We can’t afford to be closed for one day,” Arciniaco said. “We’re the nation’s largest trauma hospital for wildlife. We do surgeries no one else does. We are still keeping our eyes open for land. Deerfield Beach would work. Hollywood and Dania Beach would work. Who’s going to do this if we’re not here?”
Founded in 1969, the South Florida Wildlife Center is a nonprofit that relies on donations, corporate sponsorships and grant funding to operate and carry out its mission to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured and orphaned wildlife.
The center plays a vital role tending to thousands of animals a year. Birds, turtles, squirrels, rabbits, pelicans, raccoons, coyotes, opossums, snakes and bats are among the 350 different species that receive care.
Arciniaco says he has reached out to the office of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis for help and found a sympathetic ear.
“They are searching to see if they can find us a piece of land or an abandoned building,” Arciniaco said. “There is land out there but we can’t afford it. There’s land in Davie with a building that can be converted, but they want over $6 million.”
Arciniaco said he also plans to reach out to Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Ben Sorensen, whose district includes the wildlife center.
“I’d be happy to try to help,” Sorensen told the Sun Sentinel. “I’m happy to explore other options. I don’t know if it could be city park space or land we own in unincorporated areas. I don’t know what their needs are. They provide a wonderful service for animals that are injured and in need of help. Let’s try to help them and find options.”
If land can’t be found in Broward County, Arciniaco said the wildlife center might have to move to Palm Beach County.
“If something came up for the right price in Palm Beach County or Boca Raton, I’d get my board to jump on it,” he said. “But we don’t want to go too far. We have to be here for the animals in Broward. Most of our cases are local. We get a lot of pelicans injured from fishing hooks. We’re a trauma center. Our nursery is full of babies. And we’re just hanging in there.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan