PALM SHORES, Fla. — It’s not a terribly common thing for a nonprofit to consider itself successful when the population it aids openly shuns the people who have helped them for weeks, if not months. But for Florida Wildlife Hospital, that’s exactly a job well done.

The innocuous facility seated along U.S. 1 near the Indian River holds the mission statement, “Keeping wildlife wild by providing quality, compassionate care.” After working with animals for 50 years, having an animal who is just as wary of humans on the day it leaves as the day it was brought in is a good thing.

Vet tech Corey Mullen noted as much during a swim session with an orphaned, baby North American river otter, which cautiously backed away from her hand in the tank.

“It’s a good thing that she’s still people averse, despite spending so much time in captivity. That’s something that I’m always still pleased to see at this stage,” Mullen said. “It’s one of the most important factors when we go to release.”

Mullen joined the facility staff last year, along with fellow vet tech Dan Groover. Over the half-century that the wildlife hospital has been in operation, it has received increasingly more animals — to the point that, in an average year, it typically treats about 5,000 patients.

In 2016, FWH began partnering with the Brevard Zoo to work with its board-certified veterinarians. But then, just in time for the 50th anniversary, an anonymous donor provided FWH with the funding to hire Dr. April Geer as a part-time vet.

Geer brings over 20 years of animal experience to the hospital and started working with wildlife back in 2015 as a volunteer with the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission and Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute.

She said the advancements in wildlife care stem from the improvements seen in both pet care and even human health. When she spoke with Spectrum News 13, she, Mullen and Groover were using a laser therapy tool pioneered in sports medicine.

“We’re very lucky to have this particular machine. This machine would normally cost around $25,000, but we won this machine at a veterinary conference,” Geer said. “So, we feel very privileged to have this particular machine, which helps us, like I said, to speed up the healing process so that we can get our patients back out in the wild a lot faster.”

The facility, which includes its main building and multiple outdoor enclosures, is funded entirely through donations from the community, community partnerships and grants. Executive Director Tracy Frampton said the wildlife hospital is in the process of building a new, mixed-use, pre-release enclosure funded by money raised on Giving Tuesday 2022 and a match by Four C’s Nursery.

The community dollars support 15 staff members and the work of about 80 volunteers throughout the year. With the funding, the wildlife hospital can also continue its policy of allowing anyone to drop off an injured or sick wild animal for free.

“We never charge for care, but that means we have a huge army of staff and volunteers that are caring for these animals, and the equipment, the food, the medicine, all of that takes a lot of money and we have wonderful supporters,” Frampton said.

With the abundance of wildlife along the Space Coast, staff members find it rewarding to provide the service, and they look forward to the next 50 years of wildlife care.