Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation of Louisiana

Your financial support saves lives! In 2024, WERLA cared for more than 1,000 animals. The need for wildlife rehabilitation and conservation education has continued to increase and our workload has never been higher. Louisiana's native wildlife encounters more vehicular injuries, window strikes, and accidental nest displacement than any other types of admission. Giving our native species a fighting chance through rehabilitation is crucial to the health of our land as each returns to fill an important ecological niche in our beautiful state. Meeting this growing need has come with increased strain as the average cost for our facility to provide these services is approximately $140 per day. Last year, fundraising efforts covered less than half of these costs and WERLA is at a pivotal moment. Demand for wildlife care continues to increase but our resources have not kept pace. With community support, we can stabilize our operations and continue to rescue, rehabilitate and release Louisiana's wildlife.

So what is the actual work that WERLA does? WERLA has removed hooks and foreign objects, provided medical care for head trauma, helped with mending broken bones, and raised countless species of baby animals after being displaced or abandoned, only to name a few. We see all Louisiana species coming through our doors, such as owls, hawks, raccoons, skunks, foxes, squirrels, opossums, beavers, rabbits, songbirds, water fowl, turtles, and yes, even American Bald Eagles. The need is constant and so is our commitment! We receive up to 40 phone calls a day from all over the state, occasionally even Texas and Arkansas. Some days, volunteers and staff spend four or more hours triaging cases, arranging transport, and offering guidance to the public. Every year we meet more people whose compassion guides them to our organization, and we want nothing more than to continue to provide this service to our community.

Volunteers and staff at WERLA look into the eyes of our wildlife every day and are driven to do everything possible to help save these majestic animals. Louisiana's wildlife is worth saving, and funding for WERLA's organization is crucial to the services we provide. The privilege to restore wildlife to health and freedom is the wonder of what we do at WERLA!

Testimonials

"This Wild Life Rescue is by far one of my favorites!!! I have brought so many bunnies, birds, and a baby raccoon over the years and have never once been turned away or told they were full... They love and care for ALL wildlife. Definitly a worthy Non profit that could use all the volunteers and donations anyone could help with. Definitly my go to when a wild life animal/critter is in need of help."
Megan Brown via Facebook Review

"If you are an animal lover this place is incredible! My wife found an abandoned baby squirrel that she was determined to save. Problem is we have no knowledge on how to care for a 2-week old squirrel. She called WERLA and they accepted the squirrel to foster and mentor back into its natural habitat. They take in all types of abandoned wildlife and provide an awesome service to our community. #NonProfitCharityoftheYear