Wildlife Hospital Fund

Treasure Coast’s Wildlife Hospital Fund (est. 2018)

One of the greatest challenges to be faced in the sustainability of our community is finding ways to make our natural heritage directly meaningful to people. A critical component is providing rewarding local experiences to the thousands of new residents who annually make Florida their home, including part-time

residents. One way to help the public develop a stronger environmental stewardship ethic and greater sense of place is to provide them with an opportunity to easily connect with the natural environment, and interpret what they see, hear, and feel in the outdoors.

The Treasure Coast Wildlife Center is an evolution and expansion of the Treasure Coast Wildlife Hospital which has served this community for more than four decades. It is not a zoo exhibiting caged animals, nor is it a museum displaying inanimate materials, although it incorporates elements of both. Rather, it is a cultural resource, available to students, artists, photographers, and the public at large, as well as those with specific interests in wild creatures and the natural environment. The Center exhibits live native plants and animals as they are actually seen in nature, and interprets the natural environment for the enjoyment and edification of visitors. Situated in the heart of the Treasure Coast, where there already exists a high level of environmental awareness, this facility both serves public needs and enhances the prestige of the entire community.

Treasure Coast Wildlife Center owns more than 290 acres of natural preserve that surrounds and supports the Center’s bricks and mortar footprint. Pine palmetto scrub, oak hammocks, grassy savannahs, and lakes and wetlands are home to wildlife ranging from songbirds to bald eagles, rabbits to deer. A network of trails winds throughout, providing additional opportunities for bird watchers, photographers, nature lovers, and others who appreciate both passive and guided excursions. One of the unique elements of the Wildlife Center is live wildlife displays with the animals themselves seen in their natural habitat. Interpretive naturalists provide information as appropriate, but the setting itself also allows reflection, contemplation, and absorption of both the cognitive and the emotional impacts.

The Wildlife Center is a source of community pride, as important as an arts center, a museum, or a school. Indeed, it includes all of those elements, providing educational, scientific, cultural, and recreational

benefits to the community, while helping to instill far-reaching values. It helps to build a stronger sense of community, and an increased awareness that the community is a model place to live and work. It serves as a magnet for ecotourism and enhances clean, green and professional economic expansion and diversification. The Center is designed to attract new visitors and to encourage others to return often, through dynamic exhibits and interpretive programs. It serves all ages and segments of the community: students and teachers, clubs and civic groups, business and community leaders, families, seniors and juniors. By providing access to our natural heritage, Treasure Coast Wildlife Center opens the door to nature’s classroom and makes it easy for people to connect with the environment and observe the delicate balance of nature first-hand.

Visit Treasure Coast Wildlife Center’s website HERE.

If you are considering making a bequest to the Wildlife Hospital Fund of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, we recommend the following language:

Bequest Language

I hereby give, devise and bequeath _________ and No/100 dollars ($DOLLARS)… OR
I hereby give, devise and bequeath ____ percent (___%) of my total estate, determined as of the date of my death,…

…to the Wildlife Hospital Fund of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, a nonprofit organization located at 700 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 200, West Palm Beach, FL, 33401.