Fad Pets Given Up By Owners, Injured Wildlife Find Haven, Love At Nonprofit Center

MADEIRA BEACH, FL — They're "Oh, so cute" until you get them home and have to start taking care of them.

Sonny Flynn, founder and managing partner of the nonprofit Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center, has heard this story repeatedly.

Someone falls in love with the "pet du jour" and purchases it on a whim without thoroughly researching the animal and its needs first. Then, when the pet begins to grow and isn't quite so cute, or when the pet's care becomes too time-consuming or expensive, the pet owner who just had to have the little critter can't get rid of it fast enough.

It's this kind of tragedy that led Flynn to start the 10,000-square-foot Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center at 12973 Village Blvd. in Johns Pass Village, Madeira Beach, in 2011.

While, as its name indicates, the center is, indeed, home to a number of alligators, it's also a refuge for 250 other species of animals, including lizards, snakes, turtles and tortoises, amphibians and small mammals.

Ninety percent of the animals at the center are rescues or surrendered or orphaned wildlife that can no longer survive in the wild.

Some wild animals come to the center from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and local nonprofit wildlife rescue groups.

The center is licensed by the FWC, Florida Department of Agriculture, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the USDA to care for native wild animals.

Others are exotic species purchased by people who later realize their care requires more time than they're willing to give.

Whether rescued from the wild or surrendered by an owner, the number of animals is quickly outgrowing the center's home, prompting the need to expand.

During the center's first fundraising event, Kiss a Gator Black Tale Gala Feb. 19 at the The Don CeSar, attended by 110 people, Johns Pass Rescue, the nonprofit organization behind the Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center, announced it is launching a major expansion.

The nonprofit has leased 2 acres of land at 6000 150th Ave. in Clearwater from Henry W. and Pamela M. Sindlinger of the Farmer & The Farmer’s Wife that will be developed into a refuge for some of the center’s rescues that require larger enclosures and the ability to bask outdoors in natural sunlight.

The Johns Pass Rescue & Farm will include a small farm to grow organic fresh produce for the rescues, a petting zoo, and extra space for the rescues the center now has to turn away due to space constraints.

“We are excited that this new chapter of our rescue’s growth has finally become a reality," Flynn said. "This land will allow us to expand our current educational offerings beyond animal rescue and conservation, although that will always be our primary focus. However, we will now be able to offer programs in the culinary arts, horticulture and a variety of other disciplines."

Flynn said opportunities to assist with the development of the new property will be announced soon. The nonprofit will need volunteers to help clear the land and construct buildings as well as corporate and individual sponsors of exhibits and programs.

In addition to caring for the rescues, a major mission of the center is education. The center hosts on-site and off-site educational programs and tours for thousands of people each year, educating both children and adults about the exotic wildlife that make their home at the center and ways people can coexist with wildlife in their native Florida environment.

"Because of the ongoing needs of our resident wild and exotic animals, education and conservation are at the heart of the alligator attraction," Flynn said. "Our staff is dedicated to our mission to educate guests, dispel myths, and highlight the beauty of all our residents."

Flynn said the center is constantly adding new and unusual animals to its menagerie.

Among them are a pair of 12-week-old baby skunks. Flower, a chocolate (brown-colored) skunk, and Roma, a lavender (light gray and white) variation, were brought to the center by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"Both of these species have unique colorings and, in nature, mothers reject these babes who are different and force them out of their burrows where they're not likely to survive," Flynn said.

Other exotic species making their home at the center include Maya, a short-tailed opossum, one of the smallest of the opossum species. Native to the Brazilian rainforest, Maya was a rescue.

Fat Albert is an owner surrender. He's a Dupasi, also known as a fat-tailed gerbil, found in the deserts of Egypt. Their tails are fat because they store water and food in them, similar to the way a camel stores water in its hump.

"Don’t let the appearance of these cute critters fool you," Flynn said. "They have been known to defend themselves against predators such as scorpions, spiders and snakes."

Since Fat Albert doesn't need to worry about predators at the center, he spends his day sleeping, taking sand baths and lying on his back with his legs spread eagle.

"If you’re never seen a Duprasi in person, you’ll definitely get a kick out of him," Flynn said.

The center also has five Vietnamese pot-bellied and Juliana teacup pigs. Purchased as impulse pets when they are adorable tiny babies, all too often these pigs are surrendered by their owners who mistakenly think they'll remain small. They can actually grow to weights of 250 to 300 pounds.

"When we adopted our pigs Brutus and Barley, they were both in dire need of help," Flynn said. "Barley was traumatized and extremely underweight for a 3-month-old piglet. When you bring on an abused or traumatized animal, the first thing you have to establish is trust. This can be a very difficult process because the animal assumes you will mistreat it as it’s been mistreated. It took two weeks for Barley to allow himself to be touched, and even then, he appeared frightened and hesitant."

She said the staff is trained to take their cues from the animals. They don't force interaction. Instead, they slowly and patiently build trust with the animals.

"Over the next year at the center, Barley learned to trust us and now gets excited when he sees us," Flynn said. "He enjoys interacting with our staff and visitors and can be quite the showman."

Brutus was also severely underweight when he arrived at the center. In his previous home, he was brutalized by other pigs. With pigs, often runts–or the smallest of the litter–are cast aside, Flynn said. It is not uncommon for the runt’s brothers and sisters to bite them, trample on them or simply keep food away from them making it hard to thrive. In some situations, the mother herself bites the little piglet.

"When we took on Brutus, he had pig bite marks all over his body. He also had a bacterial infection and was having seizures. The first week we had him we weren’t sure he would make it. It was touch-and-go and a lot of sleepless nights," Flynn said. "The veterinarian couldn’t give us any assurances that he would survive. It wasn’t until we had him for about two months that we started to see improvement."

The center is also home some less cuddly critters — ball pythons, bearded dragons and other snakes and reptiles that parents purchase for kids who beg for them. Unfortunately, kids are naturally fickle and soon lost interest in the pet.

Ideally, owners of these pets will turn them over to a place like the Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center, which is equipped to care for them, and not simply release them in the wild to fend for themselves.

Currently, the FWC is battling a growing population of ball, Burmese and African pythons, green anacondas, green iguanas, tegus and and Nile monitors that have been illegally released into the wild by pet owners who no longer want them.

These former pets are either killed by predators or become predators themselves to native wildlife, consuming the eggs of threatened tortoises, sea turtles and birds.

Other fad pets that have been purchased by pet owners only to be turned over to the center when the buyers realize they can't care for them include sloths from the Central and South America rain forests, hedgehogs from Asia, Africa and New Zealand and chinchillas from the Andes mountains.

One of the more unusual illegally imported species that have been relinquished to the center are poison dart frogs from South America. The center has five species of poison dart frogs, which are only toxic if consumed. Their bright colors colors make them a family of kids who visit the center.

Youngsters are equally fascinated by the scorpion and tarantulas that live at the center as well as the marsupials and exotic birds that are illegally smuggled into the country to be sold as pets.

The alligators, however, continue to be the center's most popular attractions.

The allow visitors to safely view the gators up close, the center has devised a habitat featuring an circular acrylic window that emerges in the center of the habitat. Visitors can stick their heads into the window for a close-up look at the gators.

Visitors are also permitted to hold a baby gator (the gator's mouth is temporarily taped to prevent bites but the reptile is unharmed). The center's collection of young gators two rare albino alligators.

Other favorites are the center's sloths and Rudolph, a giant, 90-pound tortoise who was an abandoned pet that a good Samaritan brought to the center. He was one of the first residents of the 10-year-old center, celebrating his 30th birthday on Dec. 23.

"We do our best to create an experience for them that is very similar to the natural habitat in which they would live," Flynn said. This includes providing them with ropes and rocks to climb and burrows to hide in. "Some of them have had shockingly bad lives before coming here. We give them a place to thrive."

The nonprofit center is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. Tickets to tour the center are $10 for children 3 to 12, $15 for those age 13 to 59 and $10 for seniors over age 60 and members of the military.

The funds are used to care for the animals and maintain the center.

Animal lovers can help by making a donation to the center. Donations can be made online. The center also has an Amazon wish list that includes specialized and often-pricey items such as bedding for the snakes; special blankets for the hedgehogs and chinchillas; chew logs for the rabbits, chinchillas and rats; and pet beds for the pigs.

Those wishing to help with the new center in Clearwater can contact the center at 727-329-8751.