Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Howard.
Hi Jonathan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Oct 25 2009 I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, at 44 years old. The diagnosis was on my birthday. I had been married 5 months I coped as well as could be expected. Several months later my daughters found a fawn in our yard. We tried unsuccessfully to reunite it with its mother. I decided I would raise her and wanted to do it the right way. She became my number one concern taking my mind off of cancer. She was a blessing, I named her Lilly. Lilly stayed around approximately 2 1/2 years. She was always free to go and outside or wherever she wanted to be. If I was outside, she was always constantly with me. At night she would come and beg to come in the house and we would allow her to sleep on the couch. looking back now as a wildlife rehabilitator we were fortunate that it worked out with Lilly the way it did. Most of the time imprinting does not work out.
I worked under another rehabbers license until 2012 at which time I became licensed. I realized there was nowhere to send permanently impaired or injured animals that could not be released back into the wild. My friend Don Musser and I decided to form a corporation to achieve sanctuary status in the state of Florida. In April 2014 we opened the ark Wildlife Care and sanctuary Incorporated a nonprofit 501(c)(3) with a goal of providing permanent homes to Wildlife that was imprinted or impaired, and could not go back into the wild. One of the veterinarians we work with is on our Board of Directors as a medical director. We work with Michael Payne in Callahan at full Circle animal Hospital and Dr. Alicia Emerson, who is on our board of directors. We have a fully equipped hospital on site at our facility. Our specialty for years was taking the most critically injured and sickest wildlife from other rehabs that could not provide care for them or veterinarians that would not see them, many will not treat Wildlife at all. Our sanctuary grew into more or less the land of misfit toys. Many of our animals have permanent injuries or impairment. Amputations, blind, neurological issues, psychological issues, and some that were just not wanted by people after they purchased them from breeders. We have animals from confiscations, zoos that have closed, surrenders from people that could no longer care for them and animals from other facilities that were deemed non-releasable by the state of Florida and had nowhere else to go. We currently have over 225 animals. We have endangered species animals, we have almost all native Florida Wildlife with the exception of a panther and a bear, we do not work with any reptiles or birds. Three years ago we re-branded as OtterSpace Wildlife. The purpose of this was too fold. FWC changed the Wade rehab rehabilitation in the state of Florida was done. I disagreed with many of the new rules and procedures and with our sanctuary growing away it had we stepped back from most of the rehab. We still do otter, beaver, mink, and nutria. Starting in 2023 we began working with save a fox corporation. The second reason was to eliminate confusion with a facility in Saint Augustine that only does birds and had a similar name.
As of today, we have 130 red fox here that have been rescued from fur farms, have been surrendered, and have been confiscated by law-enforcement from people that had them illegally. I believe we are the largest Fox Rescue in the country counting actual Fox on hand. We have also begun to work with several breeders throughout the state that when their conservation breeding program retires an animal, it comes here to live out its life. We are a nonprofit corporation and support comes from the local community and donors who make it all possible. Our current monthly expenses are running approximately $5800 a month. We were able to hire two part-time zookeepers in order to keep up with everything. Both of those ladies have been a blessing to our facility and our amazing. At least once a month now if not more frequent, we get calls to take in more animals. We took out a mink out of Minnesota and then got another one that had come from the Rocky Mountain mink rescue. Then a mink owner in San Diego found out that we had mink and sent hers here. We are one of very few facilities in Florida that actually have Florida mink. We currently have bobcats raccoons otters, red fox grey fox mink Prairie dogs skunks Patagonian cavities Muntjac Deer, caracals, servals, a very rare fishing cat, wolf, whitetail deer, axis deer, squirrels, emu, sulcata tortise, and I am sure I am forgetting someone. It definitely has been a life-changing experience. It’s eight days a week 366 days a year 25 hours a day. But it is an absolutely amazing life to live.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Any endeavor like this is going to have its ups and downs. The most stressful is coming to the end of the month and realizing that we can’t cover our bills for the month. Having the sick animals that you’re up 24 hours at a stretch with trying to pull them through. Being called and told that a new animal is coming in. Do you have a place to put it? And having to build an enclosure on short notice, sometimes only days. Never getting a vacation, never being able to be away. Every day, having something that has to be taken care of whether it’s medically on an animal, mechanically on a piece of equipment, air-conditioning, plumbing, electrical, fencing, etc.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I retired from the federal aviation administration with 29 years of service in the air traffic control division. 17 years is in our traffic controller 11 years is a supervisor and a year in training/quality control. Prior to that job I worked as a commercial/industrial electrician. And in shipyards. my brother told me something years ago that is always stuck with me. Whatever you do do it to the best of your ability and whenever you buy something buy the best you could afford never half do anything. A lot of people are amazed at what we’ve accomplished here in the years we’ve been here. But we put our heart and soul into this place and as much a part of it as the post in the ground, the slabs of concrete and the trees you see growing.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I have to say Don Musser. He has been here as a friend through the good times and the bad. My wife who has stood by me and put up with me and all of my ridiculousness. The lovely ladies who volunteer here. Our two zookeepers, Amanda and Tory. And a couple of guys who’ve helped me do things that I couldn’t do on my own.
Pricing:
- We are now open for scheduled tours. Our website list hours of availability and prices.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://OtterSpaceWildlife.com
- Facebook: OtterSpace Wildlife
