Educational Ambassadors

George is a male Big Brown Bat. He was found inside a home during winter. Unfortunately, he needed partial finger amputation. A veterinarian at Avian and Exotic performed the surgery and he now is healthy and active. He will never be able to fly which prevents his release.  George loves food and being waited on. Most of the bats at the rescue prefer to get their own insects from the food bowls, but George prefers to have his meal served to him in bed. 

Crisco is a male Big Brown Bat. He walked into a restaurant's kitchen from outside completely covered in oil. We believe he had crashed into/gotten stuck in the grease traps. We cleaned him up with Dawn Dish soap but unfortunately, he did sustain a wing injury during the accident. He cannot fly well enough to be released. He does enjoy getting in his flight practice! Crisco is a very outgoing, social bat.

Bramble is an Eastern Box Turtle. She was found in a backyard blackberry patch with no eyes. We believe she likely got an infection over winter while brumating that caused her to lose her eyes, but we don't really know. She came in emaciated, but otherwise in good health. While we will never know exactly what happened to her eyes, we know she was struggling to find food in the wild. She does not let her disability stop her and climbs everything.

Raymond  is an Eastern Box Turtle. He was found at a gas station and is obviously an escaped or dumped pet with no survival skills. He unfortunately has some shell deformities suggesting he didn't get the best care in his former life. He has never met a stranger, and is not shy around people.

Eastern Box turtles are protected in Indiana and are a species of Special Concern. Box turtles belong in the wild, please do not take them as pets (this is also not allowed). Both Bramble and Raymond are unable to survive in the wild and we hold special permits to keep them. Besides people illegally taking box turtles as pets, a big threat to them is traffic. If you see one in the road (if it is safe to do so) please help it cross in its direction of travel.

Sherlock is a female red eared slider. She was purchased as a pet, but the previous owner could no longer keep her.  She now lives as a pet with our founder Jen Hancock and comes to educational programs to help people learn about turtles and other reptiles. .  Sherlock cannot be released because she is not from the wild and would not have the skills needed to survive.

Turtles live a very long time and require lots of specialized care so research should always be done before you consider one as a pet. You should consider things like their dietary needs, lighting, housing, cleaning, veterinary needs, etc. and how that is going to fit in to your life for their lifespan. Turtles should never be taken from the wild.

Cleo was our first education animal. He has unfortunately passed away, opossums do not live very long. He joined us during educational programs to teach people about the value of opossums and wildlife conservation.

Cleo’s background:

Cleo came to the rescue on June 9, 2023 after being attacked by another animal. He had multiple bite wounds and was mentally “not totally there.” His wounds were treated and his body has healed as much as it can. He was a happy little guy but he would have been unable to survive in the wild as he could not do many opossum things like climb.