C.R.O.W. – Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife

Not what we expected. You pay $ 7 pp to listen to a 30 minute talk of how they care for sick animals. You only get to see a possum that is an «ambassador». …no other animals. I’m sure they do great things but we were mislead.

This place touched my heart. Purely funded by donations. Completely designed to help wildlife and you can tell they are so passionate about their mission. Must see!!! However you will not see animals up close. You can monitor their progress via video because human interaction stresses them and delays healing. Great gift store too!!!

My family recently visited Sanibel and enjoyed our visit to CROW. They do remarkable work and had a very engaging and energetic speaker describe their many wonderful services. It would have been great to see some of the animals, but this isn’t a zoo. The CROW staff explained that they try to limit human contact so that animals stay «wild» and that re-​entry into the environment goes more smoothly. Makes perfect sense. They did share a number of pictures and had several TV monitors with live feeds of the hospital rooms and other areas with animals. Very educational displays that my kids and I all found interesting. Based on prices across the rest of Sanibel, the $ 5 price to get in is very reasonable. Plus it supports great work!

They couldn’t save a little starling… How can they help anything with so little compassion. Would not recommend. Look elsewhere to bring injured birds.

Big disappointment. $ 5 to not see animals. CROW wants to not disturb the animals, so you can’t see or hear them, just a one-​room exhibit with webcams. Apparently Florida hasn’t heard of soundproofing or one-​way glass. AVOID

CROW was started in the 1970’s to rehab injured wildlife. They have a nice learning center where you can learn a lot about what they do. They treat animals with a mixture of traditional and Chinese medicines. They are a dedicated group of people and I think they are doing an amazing job!
They ask for a $ 5 donation per person and have a daily presentation M-​F at 11am. You will not see any live animals as their patients are all released after they heal so they do not want them to become accustomed to humans. The learning center has pictures of past patients and a live video feed from the hospital. Some of the pictures are pretty graphic — and not all of the animals have happy endings. If you find an injured animal you can call them or drop it off 6am –8pm.

Was walking on the beach today when I passed what I thought was a really funny looking log, Turned out it was a local bird (a double breasted cormorant) with a pretty bad boat propellor injury. So I looked up CROW’s phone number and spoke to Tamara who explained to me how to catch the bird without further injuring it. (You should cover them with a towel and always cover their eyes so they don’t panic) I took the birdy to CROW’s clinic where I admitted him as a patient. I was given a patient number so I can call and check on his progress in a few days.
The staff was very friendly and what they are doing for animals is a truly an awesome thing.