Tows and Tails

04/01/2024

On the road! 🛻

21/12/2023

Happy Winter Solstice ✨

13/12/2023

Willow napping by the fireplace 🥰 she is doing really good

09/12/2023

Update on Willow: she seems to be slightly improving! She has shown some interest in food and has ate a little bit on her own. She’s also a little more active. She’s definitely a strong girl and we appreciate all the positive thoughts and prayers!

Also thank you all for the condolences for Bogey. I’ve read all of your comments and it means so much. Rescue is not always easy, and this week has definitely been a challenge for us 💜

08/12/2023

This is not a post I expected or wanted to make. I know this comes as a shock, but we very unexpectedly lost our sweet Bogey. I’m at a loss for the reason, and not knowing makes this loss even more difficult. He was THE SWEETEST raccoon we have ever had. He never growled or got an attitude once in his life, with anyone. And that’s very rare for a raccoon. He was always so happy and so sweet to every person and every animal he met. He will be greatly missed and always loved. We love you Bogey Bear 💜

06/12/2023

Evenings with Birdie

05/12/2023

Update on Willow: the vet gave a steroid injection, and some meds to take at home. She still isn’t eating, so we are doing subq fluids and hopefully the meds will kick in and start helping. She’s such a resilient and strong girl, and we’ll keep helping her fight as long as she has the will 💜

04/12/2023

Please keep our sweet Willow in your thoughts. She isn’t going well 😔 we have a vet appointment tomorrow, and she needs all the love and positive vibes we can get 💜

29/11/2023

A huge thank you to our local children’s store, Wiggle Worms, for giving our sweet girl this adorable onesie! She’s going to be so cozy tonight 🥰💜

28/11/2023

Time to shop for some new onesies! Crystal outgrew her premie size and now needs newborn size 💜 (these help keep her warm during winter, as she can’t quite regulate her body temp to stay warm enough)

08/11/2023

Crystal has been getting her laser therapy twice a week, focusing on the curved areas in her spine. The goal is just to make sure we keep her in the best shape for a long time! She does so good at her appointments 💜

07/11/2023

🚨 Big update 🚨
This decision was not easy to make, but it we fully believe that it is the right one for us. Moving forward, we will be focusing solely on our sanctuary, and will no longer be accepting intakes for rehabbing.

What does this mean? It means that we will provide a permanent home for raccoons that are unable to live in the wild. We will not be taking in babies to rehabilitate and release. There is such a need for raccoons that can’t live in the wild to have a safe, permanent home. And that’s what we will focus on. Tows and Tails Sanctuary will remain a licensed, 501(c)(3) rescue.

Why? We currently have eight permanent raccoons in our care, and that takes up A LOT of our time and resources. They deserve the very best care, and it is our responsibility to provide that. Beau and I also run a business together, which takes up an enormous amount of time and energy as well. The last few years of rehabbing, running a business, and operating our sanctuary have been overwhelming to say the least. In order to give the level of care these animals deserve, we have to focus our efforts. The raccoons in our care are all special needs, requiring a lot of time, energy, and of course love. Quite simply, running a sanctuary, business, and rehabbing was too much. We can’t be excellent in what we do if we are spread too thin and constantly overwhelmed.

My plans were to get my own rehabbing license (we have been sub-permitted with Ark for the last several years), so that I could have volunteers under my permit continue to help take in babies to rehab, allowing Beau and me to focus more on the sanctuary. However, due to upcoming changes in the laws by FWC, that will no longer be a realistic option. We will maintain our own license for sanctuary residents, but no longer be sub-permitted for rehabbing. FWC is making it very difficult for rehabbers right now, but more on that later.

I can still help network with other rehabbers to help our community connect with a licensed rehabber when needed. I can also still assist with reunification of babies with their mother. We hope you understand, and please know that this decision was made with a lot of thought and love. If you have questions, please ask 💜

04/11/2023

Birdie snacking on some almonds hidden in a log. This is great enrichment for our raccoons! See how she uses her paws to find food? Raccoons have very sensitve paws and use them to “see” what they are touching, which helps them locate food in the wild!

03/11/2023

Crystal is a busy girl, and there’s a reason for that. We take Crystal out with us a lot, and here is a little explanation why:
Because of her physical limitations, Crystal relies on us for enrichment and activity. I don’t take her out in public to show her off or get attention for having a raccoon. It is for her benefit. It is so that she isn’t at home by herself when we are out. It’s to make sure her intelligent brain gets all the stimulus she needs to stay happy and healthy. There are certainly benefits to the public seeing her, she gets to help people understand and love these often misunderstood animals. But at the end of the day, Crystal is with us so much because it’s good for HER. Her happiness is our biggest priority 💜

26/10/2023

Come see us tomorrow, at the Halloween Festival at the Yulee Ballpark! Crystal will be there passing out candy! 🎃

26/10/2023

We decided to take Crystal to a physical therapy specialist, just to ensure we are doing everything to keep her healthy and happy! The doctor and her team were absolutely amazing! We’ll be doing some therapies just to ensure we keep our special girl in the best shape for a long time 🥰

23/10/2023

Monday reminder to *try* and make healthy decisions 😂🥦

17/10/2023

Crazy Cakes! She loves to play 🥰

13/10/2023

An awesome article in our local journal about our rescue and our special girl! 💜

By Pat Foster-TurleyI am always impressed by the devoted animal caretakers in our midst. For a while now I have been volunteering with Jonathan Howard at the Ark Wildlife Care and Sanctuary out in Hilliard and I continue to meet other wildlife rehabilitators who rescue and rehab wildlife under Jonat...

03/10/2023

Accepted or Rejected: banana bread 🍌🍞

29/09/2023

Please sign and help us protect rehabbing wildlife

Save Florida's Wildlife: Stop Unfair FWC Rule Changes for Rehab Centers

29/09/2023

🚨‼️ PLEASE HELP ‼️🚨
FWC has proposed a draft of updated regulations, some of which would be absolutely detrimental rehabbing wildlife in our state. Please follow the link to voice your concerns! They will be voting on these soon so we need to speak up!
➡️➡️ https://myfwc.com/license/captive-wildlife/public-comments/

Some of the biggest concerns are:
1) all wildlife will be admitted to the main facility (instead of allowing sub-permitees to intake wildlife). This will require finders to handle wildlife (big increase in bite risk, especially with difficult to handle and RVS animals), transport them to a facility that (in our case, for example) is a far drive. Only to then have the sub-permitee also drive to the facility and bring it home to foster. LOTS of babies will not get the care they need because finders are often not willing or able to make that drive.

2) Once weaned or when baby is 12 weeks they must be returned to main facility to finish rehabbing. BIG issue here is that this is going to completely overwhelm the main facility, and not all sub-permitees do babies! We all are set up to contribute in different ways. Some subs can’t do bottle babies because they don’t have the time to feed every 2-3 hours due to work. But they have excellent outdoor enclosures to assist with later stages of rehabbing, like wilding and teaching survival skills. This proposed law will only allow subs to take small bottle babies, and that’s it.

3) currently we are able to keep an animal in rehab for 180 days. They are trying to change that for most mammals to 120 days. This is MUCH too young for raccoons! The chance of survival at 4 months old on their own is minimal. They stay with their mothers in the wild for up to one year. Why would we put our time money, energy and resources into an animal only to release it prematurely, creating a low chance of survival?

4) any animal deemed nonreleasable will be required to be transferred to a rehabber that was not involved in the animals rehabilitation. This is very problematic because these animals form strong trust and bonds with their caregiver that is not easily replicated with a stranger. It would cause incredible stress on some of these animals to be handed off to a someone they don’t know and trust. Also, the caregiver knows that animals specific needs better than anybody, and this regulation would transfer the burden of care to a new person to learn, and also a new veterinarian would be required to take on a new case. I believe that medical nonreleasable cases should be considered separate from animals being claimed, as “imprinted”. Imprinted animals should be extremely rare, and in those cases going to another rehabber may actually help with the wilding process. However, animals that are truly medically nonreleasable should be able to stay with their caregiver if that caregiver is set up to provide lifelong care.

Please take a moment to follow the link above to submit your thoughts!! 🦝

29/09/2023

The TOWS behind Tows and Tails 🛻🦝

26/09/2023

Raccoon Roundup 🦝 (all are nonreleasable due to medical reasons and live at our licensed sanctuary)

25/09/2023

Accepted or Rejected: Vegemite! Cherie and Stuart, thank you SO much for such a cool package!! 🇦🇺

24/09/2023

Sunday snackies 🍎

23/09/2023

I haven’t been posting on here as much as our insta and TT, but I’m going to start adding more content on here moving forward. Here’s Crystal’s story, which I’ll keep pinned at the top so it’s easy to find 🖤