Austin Wildlife Rescue

Just dropped off a owl that had head trauma. Super friendly. Support local. Great website and location. They had tortoises, baby coyotes, and more there.

I LOVE this organization. I volunteered for them for about a year and have taken countless animals to them over the years. They have so many wonderful volunteers and truly care about helping injured and abandoned wild animals.
Last summer, I found that a mother opossum had been run over in my family’s neighborhood. There were buzzards eating her and some of her babies were still attached. Others were running around crying and were confused. I was able to get some gloves and carefully catch the wanderers. The babies that were still suckling were a challenge at first but I found that if you try to pull them off they hold on for dear life, but if you lightly drop them a couple inches, they startle and let go and you can pick them up. Anyhow, I was thankful to have somewhere to take them. The volunteer I gave them to said they were about 4 weeks old and this scenario is common in the Spring because opossum mothers walk a lot slower with so many babies hanging onto them. One important thing to do if you can, is to make some sort of financial donation when dropping an animal off. But they will gladly still take animals if you can’t afford to donate money to help care for the animal.

Excellent at caring for nature that needs help**

These people save lives. I’ve brought quite a few odd critters to them over the past 3 years from an entire litter of oppossums to rabbits and everything else.
Recently I just brought them a little baby bird I found one night that almost became a bird jerky pancake under the wheel of an F-​250. Took him in the next morning and as usual the caretakers are so lovely and friendly.
They even let me watch them feed him and they never push donations hard, even though they really need it! Donate!

I love that this organization exists! It’s much needed!

I’m so happy that Austin Wildlife Rescue has undertaken the difficult and harrowing task of receiving, caring for, and when possible saving injured or otherwise helpless wild animals that require care.
I understand how difficult the work must be — but I do wish the woman who was doing intake this morning could’ve exercised a wee bit of patience. No acknowledgement or thanks for our donation, curt, clipped, and condescending. I thought she was going to make the elderly woman ahead of us cry.
Again, I’d rather she be there doing that difficult work with a off putting manner than she not be there at all, but I do wonder if fundraising might go better if she could at least motivate herself to take a little care with the public and utter a ‘thanks’ for donations.
Anyway, good for her for doing the work she’s doing even if i wish she were a little more accommodating. More power to her and Austin Wildlife Rescue.

One day, I let my dogs out into the back yard and all of a sudden they started barking quite a bit. I came out and saw that what they were barking at were a pair of fledgling Mockingbirds. Both looked hurt so I put them in a cardboard box and looked online to find that the Austin Wildlife Rescue would be the place to take them.
Came over and filled out the incident form to let them know what happened. They were very kind and answered my questions as to what was going to be done to take care of the Mockingbirds. They run on donations, so anything that you can provide will help go towards the animals.

Austin Wildlife Rescue is a wonderful place! I had found what appeared to be an injured dove in my backyard and had no idea what to do with it. He was kind of walking like a drunk and fell over every once in a while (like a drunk). I threw some bird seed out in my yard to feed him (turns out, you really shouldn’t feed a wild animal before it has been checked out by a pro). I found Austin Wildlife Rescue after a quick Google search and gave them a call.
By listening to their outgoing message, I realized I needed to catch my feathered friend and bring him to the intake center on east MLK (near 183). I put a bunch of holes in a cardboard box, caught the bird with a towel (he was hiding face forward in a cinder block, which was kinda funny) and kept him in my garage overnight.
The intake center is open every day for drop-​offs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (I think it’s 4). I arrived a bit early but the very nice lady who greeted me gave me an intake form and immediately picked up the bird, checked for a broken wing and determined he was basically malnourished. She said they would fatten him up and eat him. LOL – just checking to see if you’re still reading… she said they would fatten him up and keep him until he was ready to fly.
The center operates solely on public donations so when I dropped off my little dove on Monday, I gave them the $ 29 I had in my wallet. I would have given more, but mama just bought a car and has to save her pennies. The dove, by the way, was the first official passenger in my new car.

I’m so happy this place exists! 4 baby raccoons were found (fell from attic to closet) we put them in a box outside hoping a momma would return but no sign of her for 2 nights. I called this place Monday morning and they told me to take them in HOWEVER I was at work and so was everyone else I called. Desperate, I called them back to let them know I was trying my hardest and the woman on the phone (Robyn I believe) found a way to get them from the house to the rescue! Long story short I called back and the coons are safe at the rescue! Super thanks to Robyn I am so happy they will be taken care of and will be leaving a donation ;)

Wonderful people to the rescue!!! I was walking into my office when I noticed two baby squirrels on the sidewalk. They had fallen from their nest, but were still alive. Their eyes were closed and they were cold. I called the Austin Wildlife Rescue and they offered two options. The first was to create a sling and attach it to the tree so that the mother squirrel would carry them back up to the nest. The second option was to bring them to the rescue center if I felt they were injured. The squirrels had fallen from the tree and hit the side walk, so I took them in. The lady at the rescue center immediately took them in and indicated they would care for them until they were well and old enough to be released. I made a donation and plan to continue doing so now that I am aware of their group. They provide a wonderful service without charge. Donations are a great way to show support!

Awesome people. I called about an injured dove and they told me I could bring it right over. The took it in (turned out it was a lady dove) and gave it medical care and said the prospects looked good. While the service is free, they need all the donations they can get since medical supplies ain’t free so if you bring them an animal try to give what you can. They take checks and credit cards FYI.

Today I called Austin Wildlife Rescue about 2 little hummingbirds that had hit the window of my house. Having never needed to bring in an animal or call about a wounded animal before, I was not sure if they’d deal with these animals or if they dealt only with bigger wildlife. The young woman who answered the phone was so compassionate and understanding and knew from her own experience that these guys were more than likely stunned and would probably be fine after a little while. But just in case they were grounded after 6 or more hours, she said I could bring them in. I was advised to take them out of the shoe box I’d put them in and put in back in the place I found them with a shallow plate of water nearby, make sure they were in the shade and in a nice soft grassy area, and watch out for hungry cats. One just flew off, and the other more shocked guy is now sitting up and holding its head up. He looks like he’ll be fine. Thank you guys so much for your kindness and expertise! And for the young woman who helped me, you’ve totally saved these little guys and saved another young woman from completely flipping out. I will be donating to you all for sure!
UPDATE: The 2^nd hummingbird flew away! YAY! Cue Lion King «Circle of Life»…

One morning my dog was going CRAZY in my backyard. As he’s deaf and partially blind, this doesn’t really happen a lot since he doesn’t really notice many things. I went to see what he was up to and on the side of my house there was a HUGE opossum and her babies! She was not happy with my dog so I tried to shoo him inside. In he went, very confused, and I watched the opossum get her babies and go.
About two hours later I checked the yard and decided I could let my dog out again. We walked around the yard and while I was looking at the area where the opossum had been, my dog brought me a surprise… BABY OPOSSUM! He let me know he had it then ran around the yard. When he finally gave it to me I assumed the baby was dead, but no, it was just up to it’s opossum tricks and was definitely not only alive but had no major injuries. He did, however, have a spot of fly eggs on his eye. I called 311 who referred me to the Wildlife Rescue.
They were SO nice to me on the phone and told me to bring him in right away. Boyfriend and I put him in a shoebox and floored it because they were about to close. We got there with minutes to spare and thank goodness; the woman who checked us in said he would not have fared well when the maggots hatched. She cleaned him off well and examined him for injuries, of which he had none. We left after leaving a donation and feeling much better that the resilient little opossum would be okay!

Oh man, I knew I would make it here eventually.
Picture it: Brunch at chez Katherine. Waffles. Syrup. Owl in the compost pile. Wait, what?
After calling 311, we got ready to head out to Austin Wildlife Rescue. We caught the owl (don’t get me started) and then headed over to East Austin. After going down a gravely path and filling out a form, we were greeted by a volunteer/​worker who gingerly took our new friend into the shop to check it out. She quickly informed us of its prognosis — broken wing — and sent us on our way. Quick, painless (at least for us) and wonderfully kind!

Everyone in Austin should know about this place in case they ever come across an injured animal. I had never heard of them until this spring when I found a young injured dove and was referred to AWR by a vet office. Both times I have been, the staff has been very friendly to both me and my rescue. Remember to donate whatever money you can, it’s the only way we can keep this important and wonderful facility operating!

I had no idea this service existed, until I found a bird my dogs had critically injured in the backyard. I went to a local vet to have it humanely euthanized, but they referred me here where they did the unfortunate deed. I checked their website afterwards
I don’t know that it’s really even the sort of service you’d search for on Unilocal,but I figure putting in a review will give them some exposure by accident.

So, yesterday morning at 9:30 am, my neighbors pointed out a baby squirrel that had fallen about 40 feet from a tree above our condo’s parking lot. It wasn’t moving. They said the momma squirrel had been next to it when they noticed it, then she left. We figured it was dead. Fast forward to about 1 pm when I saw it moving – a lot. It had a lot of head trauma (cuts, exposed bone over the nose, dried blood). It couldn’t have been more than about 5 days old.
My neighbor called Wildlife Rescue while I got some shade for the little guy. The guy told her to leave it alone and not to give it any food or drink. She described his injuries and told him the mom looked at the baby and left shortly after he fell. He said we still needed to leave it to «give the mom a chance» to come back and get it. He said if it was still there in the morning (i.e. about 24 hours after it fell) that we should bring it in to Wildlife Rescue.
Well, that just didn’t seem right to me. I left him out there, checking on him periodically (at one point I had to move him because ants were starting to get at him), but I could tell he was getting dehydrated. At 9:30 pm, I decided I couldn’t leave him out there overnight, because he would surely be either dead of dehydration or eaten by a cat or other animal. I figured the momma had 12 hours to come get the baby; she had her chance.
Thank goodness for the internet, because I was able to look up what to do to take care of him. It was a long night. I gave it about ½ cc of homemade pedialyte (found the recipe online at
) every 3 hours through the night.
I called the Wildlife Rescue at 9 am when they opened today. The guy I talked to was completely beligerent to me. He told me I should not have brought it in the house (after 12 hours of it on the ground with severe facial injuries) because the mom «needed a chance» to come get it (never mind that she looked at it shortly after it fell and left it!). He also told me it was wrong of me to give it the homemade pedialyte (which I described as mixture of water, sugar, and salt in proportions I found on a squirrel rescue board online). He told me I shouldn’t have done that because it’s bad for the squirrel, and if I gave it anything, it should have been Pedialyte. I told him it *was* pedialyte – just homemade. He still barked at me that I shouldn’t have given it to the squirrel because I don’t know what I’m doing and it’s bad for it, and I just need to «bring it in» so they can take care of it. I was SO mad and upset. I never felt so bad for trying to do something good. I was thinking to myself, «You should have told me to bring it in to you yesterday, you jerk. The poor thing would have completely dehydrated without the little I gave it, and it certainly would have died if I left it outside.» (Oh, and by the way, I saw this morning on the Wildlife Rescue website that they recommend leaving a baby squirrel on the ground for only 2 – 3 hours to give the mom a chance to come get it!)
So, I drove to the Wildlife Rescue with the little guy – he was barely breathing at this point – half hoping (so I could tell him how I felt about how he treated me on the phone) and half fearing (because I didn’t want that guy to touch the baby squirrel) he would be the one to take it from me. Well, thankfully, a wonderful woman named Susan met me as I got out of my car. She was so kind. I immediately started bawling as I told her the story of the squirrel & what the guy had said on phone yesterday & this morning. She was flabbergasted. She kept saying things like, «You know why the momma left it, right? Because it’s face is so badly injured,» and «You can’t leave it outside on the ground overnight with these injuries! The ants will get it!» She told me she was proud of me, that I did exactly what needed to be done (including the pedialyte). She assured me that she was going to «have a little talk» with the guy who answered the phone and that «there are going to be some changes around here, because there is no excuse for that kind of rudeness.»
(Note: at this point, a woman came to drop off a fledgling blue jay and told Susan that she was just «scolded» on the phone by a guy for picking up the bluejay – who was on the ground in the middle of downtown Austin.)
So, Susan assured me she was going to get a tube in my little guy to get fluids right into his stomach, give him a muscle relaxer so she could clean his wounds without him feeling pain, clear his nasal passages (as they were filled with dried blood), and put some NuSkin on the exposed bone above his nose. I called later, and he was «holding his own.» Yea!

I’m so grateful to Susan & this organization (I made a donation and will continue to do so). Susan is amazingly compassionate and knowledgeable; I trust her without reservation. However, the guy on the phone is a liability and shouldn’t interact with the public, at least not without more training.

Great people, performing amazing charitable work, protecting animals and helping a community.
I cannot say enough about the short visit I had at the Austin Wildlife Rescue. My situation was a simple solution for them, but it was a task for me.
Most recently I rescued 1 of 2 Red Slider Turtles from the 45 Tollway (1 was struck before I could get to it), dodging traffic and running in the sweltering heat (even at 8:30 p.m.) my compassion called that I do what I could; after all, I have no idea what they were doing here this far on the tollway.
After the rescue, I now needed help… what do you do with a turtle that has a cracked shell, is bleeding, is very lively, and it’s near 9 p.m. at night?
You contact your best resources like anyone else would do in this modern age, I «Googled» it! (lolz)
Among the many searches for the Austin area I located a great website by this group that contained much information and a phone number, once called, that provides you a detailed message to help you leave a message in the proper department.
Learning what I learned, I kept the turtle in a box, provided it a small cup of water it may wish to drink and waited till the next morning.
The next day I brought the wounded road warrior to the shelter. The location entrance is hard to see if you are not looking for it, so keep your eyes opened.
Pulling onto the property you can easily see that this is a great sanctuary for healing, recovery, and adaptation for many types of animals by the thick shaded overhead cover, distance from the traffic noise on MLK, and the serene feeling that the workers provide.
When I arrived I was joined by a woman who found an injured dove. We both filled out the paperwork that was presented on the table; basically describing the animal you are bringing in.
After the paperwork was completed a worker came out and we presented our injured friends to her. She was a great help and readily accepted the dove, spoke with the woman, and then she was on her way while the dove was in great hands.
It was then my turn and the process was just the same. Explained my story, she reviewed the injuries, and diagnosed that the turtle should be fine.
During the conversation, the young lady simple started the repair process, without hesitation, of the shell by getting it glued together in spots, securing it, and then noted that it will need to wait for time to repair itself. The turtle was happy, and would most likely be fed soon after it had a chance to settle down.
In conclusion, I donated the dollars I had in my pocket, requested some business cards for reference and friends, and headed on my way.
I am not aware of how many animals they take in, but I do see that they need volunteers, and money or donations to help them care for deer, birds, rabbits, and all other animals that you may find in the Central Texas Area.
So if you should find the need to have a wild animal cared for, and you have it in your heart to rescue them. take them to Austin Wildlife Animal Rescue. They will graciously do what they can with what they have, and while there give a great donation to a non-​profit group that could use it very well.
*as a side note*
I placed a phone call on the previous night and left a voice mail… well they DID return the call to ensure I was attended to, the animal taken care of, and not assume that I was «that guy» who brought in the turtle on the same day. With customer service like that, you would think that they need to teach many more businesses how to react to customers.
It goes to show, their care is from beginning to end.

One morning we were having coffee on our deck while watching the dogs frolic about the backyard. They seemed extremely curious about something behind our woodpile. Then I noticed a bird trying to make it up to the chain link fence.
We brought the dogs inside immediately, and we discovered a medium-​sized blue jay. It was unable to fly, and it seemed to be in shock, so we wrapped it in a towel and placed it in a plastic crate. By calling 3−1−1, I was transferred to Wildlife Rescue. Unlike Animal Control for strays dogs and cats and annoying neighbors’ roosters, Wildlife Rescue was extremely helpful, and we were at their facility within the hour.
They take rescued wildlife depending on the particular circumstances — it’s best to call ahead. When we arrived with our blue jay, we were told that she was this spring’s hatchling, and that she’d suffered from a concussion. Her wings were perfectly fine, but her injured birdie brain prevented her from flying properly.
Their service is free, but they graciously accept donations.
P. S. Please remember that all wildlife should be handled with much caution and you should not give them anything to eat or drink.