Care for AWARE's Ambassador Animals

At AWARE Wildlife Center, similar to other non-profit organizations the world over, one of the things that we do on a daily basis is to tell others about our mission. We rehabilitate injured and orphaned native Georgia wildlife and prepare them for release back to the wild. We educate the public about wildlife issues, teaching peaceful coexistence and promoting habitat preservation. Those words say exactly what we need them to say about what we do. However, we also realize that the true centerpieces of this Global Giving project--AWARE's ambassador animals--define our mission and sustain our organization much more than any words ever will.

All of our Ambassador animals came to AWARE broken, battered, injured, or incapable of survival in the wild. We rehabilitated them always with the glimmer of hope of eventual release. When that was not possible, we sought other ways they could survive in captivity--usually by teaching people and hopefully saving others like themselves. For example, Windy Sue Whoo our resident barn owl and her sibling were cruelly beaten with a shovel because of a fear by people that the owls would eat their cat. Unfortunately, Windy's sibling perished in the attack. After overcoming her fear of people, Windy now serves as an ambassador for other owls and helps teach people about peaceful coexistence with wildlife and basic biology facts about owls, how they live, and what they eat. For example, most cats weigh 5 times more than owls whose diet often consists of mice and other small rodents.

We suspect that Savannah the bobcat, another AWARE Ambassador, was kidnapped on purpose by people when the den she was living in was destroyed by a bulldozer. We believe that her mother and a sibling were killed in the process. In her role as an ambassador, Savannah's story teaches us to cherish wild animals and their habitat by keeping them where they ultimately belong--in the wild. They are not meant to be pets that live inside with our other domesticated animals and sleep with people.

AWARE recently hosted its 3rd Annual Art Auction to benefit wildlife. The event was highly successful thanks to donations from local and national artists as well as support from the local community. The art was beautiful but the biggest attraction by far that drew crowds of people were our Ambassador animals who reminded us all of why we were there and why it is important to donate to this cause. Thank you!

Links:

• AWARE Wildlife Center