Some of the sanctuary critters

[dilligaf]

here are some of the bears...

the feller with his tongue out is buddy. He is quite the performer. he does somersaults and dances with us. Unfortunately, i think much of his antics are from psychosis. He was captured as a cub by idiots and they pulled his claws so can never be released into the wild..

The lil fellers are ben and jerry. They were found at a week old by some idiots and then they called the sanctuary after handling them for a week. They will most likely never be able to be released either because of the human imprint that they now have... . In fact Ga has what is called let nature take its course act in place and we are fighting to not have them euthanized by the state... They are just over a month old in these pics

.. the feller with the hose aimed at him is a funny bugger.. He kept trying to climb in his water kettle yesterday and had me bathing him for about a half hour... He kept trying to fit into his kettle and he just wouldnt fit.. sure was fun watchin him try though


annie is the white nosed bear.. she was brought there as a cub after poachers killed her mama.. She has a daughter there as well frmo a accidental pregnancy a couple years back... glimmer is her daughter and is somewhere in the next set of pictures.

[dilligaf]

the first pic here is of some of the big boys.. They are near 600 pounds and are amazing creatures.. They were rescues from a guy that killed the momma a few years back n then called DNR to come get them before he killed them too.. he did get jail and a hefty fine for it...

second pic is deacon,,, not sure of his story but am fairly sure it was poaching or human interference ... he sits rounds and licks the bars on his pen most all day everyday from what i have seen


third pic is my friend that was trying to get in his water... when he couldnt do that, he sat with his hands and splashed the both of us until he had his fill

fourth pic is lil jerry yawning.. he had a full morning with tv crews and plugging to save the sanctuary.. he was waking up from his ride home and getting ready for his bottle


aint sure which one this last one is,,, tis a hard thing to not pet these critters... they seem so docile but yet they are wild , large dangerous beasts...

some of these pics make the cages seem very small and some indeed are ... :( there is a outdoor natural habitat that they are let out to spend time in for a week at a time. just keep in mind if they were not here and being taken care of they would be put down...

[dilligaf]

first pic is the barn owl.. neat bird to watch when feeding.. very pretty guy too

screechee is the office bird. He is a screech owl and the smallest owl in the eastern usa... his flight muscles got trashed somehow and thus will remain in captivity forever.. mean lil shit too..

freedom and liberty are falcons. I aint sure of the story behind them but i do know that we have two others that have come to build nests just above them because of there presence...

pepe is the other office bird.. big mouth snot is what he is... tells every one to shut up! and i love you ... he says alot of other things too but those are by far the most understandable along with hello and goodbye . probably a good thing he is hard to understand,, i am teaching him to say bugger off:D

[mariecstasy]

You aren't allowed to pet them? What purpose is there to that if they can't go back out into the wild anyway?

Is the sanctuary primary concerned with bears? Too cute but yet such tragic stories for them all:(

[mariecstasy]

Never mind, I have the answer to that question, lol....didn't realize you were posting right then.

Screechee makes me laugh:)

[dilligaf]

Taz is a canadian lynx, She is going on 16 which is very old for her type of cat.she is the oldest living can. lynx in captivity She was born deaf and was in a different facility and came to us at 3 yrs old. She is nearly blind as well now so she has her own special habitat where we can go in and out freely and make vibrations for her to come eat... She is used for education purposes so has a harness on...



tasha is an eastern panther. Very very few of them left in the wild(less than 50). I am not sure of how she came to be there yet, but i do know she is part of a program to breed and reintroduce them to the wild... We also have a pair in the other larger facility on site and we are hoping the breeding program works...


Marlin is our grumpiest cat. One that will actually stalk you simply to scare the shit outta you when cleaning and feeding... . He is western panther . He amuses me...

[dilligaf]

because they are wild animals, they are still dangerous and we have to respect them... Some of the ones that are there are quite friendly and the owners do handle them a bit... but human stupidity once we are comfortable in a situation makes us very stupid at times.. One of the panthers ripped a womans arm nearly off a couple years back when she had a friend there and showing her the pretty kitties... awareness of surroundings is key here and knowing that although captive they are still wild..


We do have some critters that are used for educational purposes too that we do handle quite a bit.. the ferrrets, n taz, the possums n snakes , sugar gliders etc,,

[mariecstasy]

Are you in heaven? what a fulfilling job!!!!!

[dilligaf]

here is the newest possum.. her nose is bloodied up because of whatever happened to it that caused her to be taken in... I actually picked the bugger up the other day and asked the owner will it bite me ,,, he looked at me n said perhaps:D...well duh ;) This one will be let free once it recovers..

we have a buncha snakes of various types, from a copper head to diamond back rattler to boas ,pythons, king snakes This is the largest we have and is probably 12 foot long.. The habitat looks small but is about 500 gallon enclosure... She or he is a burmese python.. Most the snakes are there from people having them and when they move from a place simply leave them behind...

Here is one of the sugar gliders.. One of my fav critters.. Tiny lil buggers maybe 6 inches head to end of tail.. These lil guys were left on the steps in the middle of the night a while back...


the deer is a september fawn, she was picked up by humans for whatever reason.. she is soo sweet and although she is supposed to be rewilded i really find it hard to believe she will be... she is just losing her spots now... deer are by far the hardest animals to rehab and return to the wild


and yes marie i find it wonderful and rewarding,, kinda sad in its own way too knowing what we humans have done to our wild critters and there habitats...

[dilligaf]

smokey and bandits are the resident coons.. Bandit is super duper fat... they are fun to mess with and let them hold my hand n drink from the hose..

striper is a brown skunk who had his scent glands removed so he dont stink.. not sure how or why he is there,,, but he is very very fat too

the last pic is a picture of the cohuttas.. the mtns in the distance are actually probably very near here at the house

[dilligaf]

there are lots more critters there too ... as wel as camp programs, native american living classes, pioneer living classes etc they do alot of educational stuff as well off site...
Primarily the place began as a bear , bird of prey and cat rehab and sanctuary.. but as with all places that do such things they become a catch all .. we are designates a c-4 sanctuary. whatever that means... right now the state says we can no longer release birds of prey until we build a "flight school aviary"... the laws haved changed in recent years on how and what things can be done... they still accept birds but only non releasable ones... this place is the largest place in the southeast too

[mamaKCita]

CUTE! and smelly.

[dilligaf]

actually the smelliest of everything there is the rats!:confused:

[Autentique]

Wow! I want your job! :(

Although Im probably highly unqualified for it, but I do love animals :p

[Kinky Ramona]

Augh, they're all so cute. HHB's talk of your new job reminded me of this animal sanctuary in Oklahoma that my parents used to take us to when I was a kid and we decided we're going to make a weekend road trip there to see it again and probably go camping this summer. I'm soooo excited. I feel like a little kid again.

[scratcho]

Thanks for the pics Dilli.Racoons are pretty amazing.We got called for a roof leak and found a huge hole in the wood shake roof that the buggers made.They just ripped the shakes right off.We didn't fix it 'cuz we thought maybe the babies might still be inside,so we rigged it so the roof wouldn't leak but the little ones could get out when they wanted .Fixed it later when all were gone.While staying in Jonathon Dickonson Park in Florida some years back,I made the mistake of feeding one racoon outside our trailer.I swear the next night there were a couple dozen milling around lookin' to get fed.

[hippiehillbilly]

here are a few more of the coons, new baby possums, rufus our pigeon that was just released n is now a "pet" and pepe up in his summer hangout

[BBAD]

Bears:eek:...I,ve always had nightmares about bears getting in the basement windows:(

Nice Lynx'...we have some around here but theyre so few that we count ourselves lucky to ever see them...and theres reports of a wild panther of some kind being seen a few times a year but nobodies gotten pics yet

[mariecstasy]

wow, so it sounds like you are still enjoying it a lot:) what a fulfilling job!

[dilligaf]

we got us a pile of baby whistle pigs in the other day. Will be takin the camera with me thursday to get some pics of the little guys... talk about sloth like and docile creatures..

yes marie i am still enjoying it ... although its more hours than i would like for the terrible money ... lotta time gone from home,,, lotta role reversal happening and i kinda sorta miss my garden time... but it is a bit of money n it helps and i do luvv the critters... even though i managed to get bit three times the other day... damned possums, bear cubs n a stupid chihuahua:)

[rambleON]

dilligaf, that's amazing. i see you as a prefect fit for the job.

i was reading the sanctuary website and was surprised to read that they are trying to reintroduce the eastern panther back into the wild. depressing to me is that the 3 cats already in their care represent 10 percent of the total population...that means there are only 30 cats total.

i have a friend who squats some land near the gulf cost here in fl...it's about 10 square miles of marshy lands. he spotted a panther in all its glory one moring...it was seen in the same spot i like to camp. it was awesome. but the area is increasingly being developed. most reports say that the panthers are further south....

[hippiehillbilly]

this is dilli, but too damn lazy to sign out


ramble, the authorities say there are about 50 in accounted for of the panthers in the eastern us and they leave room for 50 more non accounted. You would be amazed how many people call and think they see them or do see them... Of course in GA and TN , they are extinct if you ask DNR about them but then refer them to us. We in turn refer them back to DNR.. We have ten panthers there, 3 eastern and only one or two of all ten have been even born in the wild. The rest have either been born on our site or in other programs... I have had 4 calls this week on sightings and three last week and three emails ..Obviously all these people arent nut cases n imagining them...


heres the cubs yesterday,,, they are about 13 weeks old now n little four legged monster with large claws..

[hippiehillbilly]

here is one of our squirrels... ya'll meet "Orison":eek:

our new barred owl is about 2 months old

the hummingbird baby that dropped dead on my finger while eating this morning:( he sure was pretty though

n then theres the lil possums,,, all i can think of when we have them out is that little dinosaurish vacuum cleaner from the flinstones

[rambleON]

this is dilli, but too damn lazy to sign out


ramble, the authorities say there are about 50 in accounted for of the panthers in the eastern us and they leave room for 50 more non accounted. You would be amazed how many people call and think they see them or do see them... Of course in GA and TN , they are extinct if you ask DNR about them but then refer them to us. We in turn refer them back to DNR.. We have ten panthers there, 3 eastern and only one or two of all ten have been even born in the wild. The rest have either been born on our site or in other programs... I have had 4 calls this week on sightings and three last week and three emails ..Obviously all these people arent nut cases n imagining them...


heres the cubs yesterday,,, they are about 13 weeks old now n little four legged monster with large claws..

hahah, that's great. what a cluster fuck it must be to keep referring each agency back and forth to one another.

well, people claim to see UFOs and big foots all the time...thank god you're not getting calls for that too:rolleyes:

here in Florida i really believe that the wild life agencies keep the real panther habitats askew. if they can make it so people believe they are all in southern Florida then they can develop the hell out of the north...

nice pics:)

edit; orison would be proud.lol

[dilligaf]

here is the last batch of critter pics that i took at the sanctuary

[dilligaf]

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