Savage Hart

12/29/2025

What a year!😅

As 2025 comes to a close, we’re taking a breath — because this year was a big one. It was our first full year in the new clinic, and with that came more calls and more wildlife needing help.

We admitted 357 injured, orphaned, and displaced native wild animals this year — a 16% increase from last year — representing 44 different species. Most of our patients were mammals, followed by raptors (birds of prey) and reptiles. From tiny tree frogs and bats to foxes, bobcats, and Bald Eagles, the animals we cared for this year reflected just how much wildlife shares space with our community. Animals came to us from 23 counties across Georgia, highlighting the regional need for wildlife rehabilitation.

Some cases were tough. Some just needed time. And some required both. Animals that made it through the first 24 hours had a survival rate of over 85%, underscoring how much early intervention matters.

Beyond patient care, our work also had a strong community impact. This year, we served as a hands-on training site for future wildlife professionals, hosting 7 interns who contributed more than 750 hours supporting daily operations, animal care, and public education.
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If you’d like to learn more or support our work, you can find us at https://www.savagehartwildlife.org/

12/27/2025

Saturday Shout-Out 🚓🦉

A huge thank-you to the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office for stepping in to protect wildlife when it mattered most.

After receiving several calls about an owl stranded in the median of a busy roadway, deputies contacted our team and remained on scene—shielding the owl from traffic—until we could safely arrive. Their willingness to stay put helped prevent further injury.

The adult Barred Owl was admitted with head trauma consistent with a vehicle strike, including trauma to one eye. He is currently receiving appropriate medications, supportive care, and close monitoring by our licensed wildlife rehabilitators.

Why this matters:
Savage Hart Wildlife Rehabilitation is the only licensed wildlife rehabilitation organization serving the Chattahoochee Valley. We provide free, lifesaving care for injured, orphaned, and displaced native wildlife and work closely with law enforcement, fellow animal welfare organizations, and the public to ensure wild animals receive safe, legal, and timely help.

Collaborations like this make a real difference—for wildlife and for our community.
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Want to learn more about our organization and how to help wildlife in our community? Visit https://www.savagehartwildlife.org to learn about our mission, the species we care for, and how you can support this work.

12/24/2025

12/23/2025

POV: You’re on the nice list and waiting for your gifts to arrive. 👀
This little face is hoping you’ll check out our Amazon & Chewy wishlists and send something fun for the rest of their stay in rehab.

(Judging optional, but strong side-eye included😜)
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Chewy: https://www.chewy.com/g/savage-hart-wildlife-rehabilitation-inc_b77506439

Amazon: https://a.co/8ACdwoO

12/19/2025

And just like that, we have three Eastern Screech-Owls in care—one red (rufous), one gray, and one intermediate brown. While they may look different, they’re all the same species. Eastern Screech-Owls are color polymorphic, meaning individuals naturally occur in multiple color forms due to differences in pigment, not age or s*x.

Eastern Screech-Owls are Georgia’s most common owl and are well adapted to living near people. They often hunt along forest edges, neighborhoods, and roadways, where all three of these patients were struck by vehicles and are now recovering from head trauma.

One simple way you can help is by not littering food from your car. Screech-owls eat insects, rodents, and other small animals. When food is left along roadsides, it attracts prey—and in turn, predators like owls—pulling wildlife into dangerous traffic zones.

Small actions, like keeping roadsides clean and slowing down at dusk and dawn, can make a real difference for owls and other nocturnal wildlife.
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If you’d like to help support the care of these owls and our other patients, you can do so here or visit our website at https://www.savagehartwildlife.org/how-to-help/donate/

12/16/2025

Busy Weekend at the Clinic

This past weekend, our team admitted three owls and two turtles, all arriving in need of immediate care.

🦉 Eastern Screech Owl — showing encouraging progress after a vehicle strike
🦉 Great Horned Owl — rescued after barbed wire entanglement and remains under close care as we monitor progress
🦉 Barred Owl — admitted after being shot, with injuries too severe for recovery
🐢 Eastern Box Turtle — admitted with severe emaciation and a leg amputation, requiring intensive care
🐢 Eastern Box Turtle — critical condition, requiring intensive supportive care

Cases like these are a reminder of the realities wildlife faces — and this is why wildlife rehabilitation exists. We’ll share updates when we can.

If you encounter injured wildlife, please contact a licensed rehabilitator. And if you’re able, supporting our work helps ensure that when these calls come in, help is there.
https://www.savagehartwildlife.org/

12/12/2025

Today’s the day! 🥗🥪 Support orphaned and injured wildlife by dining in or picking up at Panera Midland from 4–8 pm, or order ALL DAY through the Panera app or online using code FUND4U—good food for a great cause!

12/11/2025

Patient Update: Eastern Box Turtle 🐢

Two months ago, a male Eastern box turtle was brought in after a vehicle strike in Shiloh, arriving with multiple shell fractures and severe degloving of the rear right leg. After sedation, Dr. Carey was able to repair the damaged tissue, and with ongoing care his shell and skin have now fully healed. What he needs most at this stage is physical therapy to rebuild strength and normal limb function.

As we move into winter, his recovery intersects with an important part of box turtle biology—brumation. Unlike mammals that hibernate, reptiles enter brumation, a cold-weather dormancy where their metabolism, digestion, heart rate, and overall activity drop to minimal levels. In nature, box turtles dig into leaf litter or soil, remain inactive, and do not eat again until temperatures rise.

This strategy is essential for their survival in the wild, but it presents a challenge in rehabilitation: a turtle cannot safely brumate while still healing. He needs to remain active enough to exercise the limb, maintain muscle strength, and consume calories to support continued recovery.

For that reason, he’ll stay with us this winter, while we simulate warm-season conditions—maintaining appropriate heat, humidity, and daylight cycles. By doing so, we’re essentially signaling to his physiology that it’s still summer. This keeps his digestive system functioning, his metabolism stable, and his activity levels high enough for effective therapy.

He will be released back to his home territory in the spring.
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To learn more about our work and how you can support injured wildlife, visit our website at https://www.savagehartwildlife.org/

12/05/2025

Boop.

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to one of our juvenile Southern flying squirrel patients and shared that her future roommate was still recovering from pneumonia. Now that she’s fully weaned and medically cleared, we began their introductions—and judging by this nose-to-nose moment, they’ve decided this living arrangement works just fine 🥰.

Flying squirrels are naturally social and often overwinter in small groups, usually 2–8 squirrels, sometimes even more if temperatures drop. Group living helps them conserve heat and share safe nesting spaces. Because they rely on caching (storing food) to survive the colder months, both girls will overwinter with us. The bond they’re forming now is exactly what we hope to see—young squirrels that grow up together often stay loosely connected after release, giving them a stronger start back in the wild.
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If you’d like to learn more about our work—or support the patients currently in our care—visit https://www.savagehartwildlife.org/

12/03/2025

Patient Update 🐢

This gopher tortoise has been with us for about six weeks, and we can say with confidence that she is (by far) our problem child… in the most professional way possible.

Her original habitat lasted approximately five minutes due to her immediate attempts to escape, and because we didn’t want her adding any additional trauma to her fractured shell. So we upgraded her to a larger setup, but her corner-digging quickly escalated, and once she figured out how to open the door, it became clear we needed a new plan.

Thanks to some incredibly compassionate individuals who sponsored our reptile room, she now has a large stock tank with natural sand (a big win now that her fractures have sealed). And we can confidently say she seems the most content she’s been since entering care. Phew 😅

On warm days, she takes supervised outdoor walks where she grazes and absorbs natural sunlight. Indoors, she alternates between her heat lamp, steady snacking, and exploring any safe area we open for her. She has a remarkable ability to locate every tortoise-sized gap in the clinic — under chairs, behind doors, under shelving — so “tortoise retrieval” is now a recognized part of our daily workflow.

We’re grateful for the support that helps us provide specialized care for this patient — an important keystone species in Georgia’s longleaf pine ecosystem.