30°26′40″N 86°52′59″W / 30.4444835°N 86.8829648°W
Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge | |
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30°26′40″N 86°52′59″W / 30.4444835°N 86.8829648°W | |
Date opened | December 7, 2019 |
Location | 3051 Cloptons Circle, Navarre, Florida 32566 |
No. of animals | ~130 at any given time |
Director | Crystie Baker |
Website | https://emeraldcoastwildliferefuge.org/ |
The Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation center in Navarre, Florida. [1] [2] [3]
The refuge was originally located in Okaloosa County, Florida, in 1994. At first, while there, the program operated out of private homes, before eventually opening makeshift facilities in 2000. [4] The program, with the help of the local community managed to find more permanent facilities in 2005, before eventually moving to new purpose-built facilities in Navarre. [4]
The refuge opened in the location in Navarre in 2019. The new facility cost approximately $1 million, and was greatly assisted by local volunteer and charity organizations, such as the Boy Scouts of America, the local Navarre Garden Club, and the Girl Scouts of the USA. [1]
The refuge includes a raptor rehabilitation center, public environmental outreach to the regional area, and professional animal-care staff. [5] [6] The refuge has also assisted law enforcement and wildlife authorities in the investigations of deaths of endangered animals. [1] [7]
The ECWR responds to certain crises involving local animals that animal control services cannot easily manage, such as issues involving birds of prey or beached marine mammals. [5] [8] The facility cares for approximately 130 animals at any one given time for rehabilitation purposes, but often takes in more after natural disasters. [9]