Wichita Falls Reptile Rescue

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."  ~St. Francis of Assisi

WFRR is listed with RescueNetwork.org, Anapsid.org, and as the N. Texas contact for Gulf Coast Turtle & Tortoise Society 

We're 1 year old this month!

[ 5/1/08 ] Our first reptile raid. See the rest of the story on our turtles page.

We would like to thank the following people for making a generous donation to help us continue to fund our operations:

Randy and Paulette Duncan "a couple of friends of Horny Toads"

All donations have our gratitude...

Larger donations have our gratitude

Displayed here

It is now Spring, and we will probably be swamped again this year with many injured turtles and lizards. Currently we are dealing with several rescued Horned Lizards which came down ill shortly after emerging from hibernation and taking part in one of our educational presentations.

Your donations are desperately needed to help pay for food costs; and as always, veterinary care, medications, and basic supplies.

 Please help us help them.

WFRR is regularly in need of the following supplies:

• saline
• betadine
• sterile syringes ( 1/3cc to 1cc )
• feeding catheters ( 8Fr. and smaller )
• veterinary antibiotics and reptile safe analgesics
• surgical gloves
• Bene-Bac
• dental acrylic ( for turtle shell repair )
• Pedialyte or equivalent ( unopened/unflavored )
• Q-tips and paper towels
• undamaged aquariums and aquarium lighting fixtures

WFRR accepts donations of these items any time, and we can arrange for pick up within the Wichita Falls area. To donate, please see the "Contact Us" page. Thank You.

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May 23rd is World Turtle Day, It's a good day to help the desert tortoises in California, especially those slated to be translocated by the military due to proposed expansions at Ft. Irwin and Twentynine Palms, to try to assist us in making sure they do not suffer the fate of the recent 770+ that were just moved from their lifetime homes in designated critical habitat and have suffered predation, injuries, death and illness. Some of the wildlife biologists who assisted in the move are caring for desert tortoises from that move who have had limbs chewed off, and from their comments on the LA Times article/video, are heart-broken as they have had a personal relationship with some of these tortoises for years in studies in their native habitat.

There are over 340 members on this list, the desert tortoises, protected under the ESA, and living in areas designated Critical Habitat areas, really need ALL our help.

PLEASE VISIT:
http://tortoise-aid.org/desert_tortoise_survival_alliance.html
to read articles, reports, and view videos.

THEN PLEASE VISIT AND SIGN THE PETITION at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stoptortoisetranslocation to help us gain some weight to assist the Center for Biological Diversity and other concerned organizations in stopping future planned translocations until better methods can be tested, proven, and then implemented.

Please cross post this to others, pass it to friends. HELP US HELP THE DESERT TORTOISES.

UPDATE:

If anyone is interested in this last ditch effort to save any remaining turtles, we are meeting Saturday, May 24th, from  9:30 am until about noon at the Fondren entrance (parking lot) of the property ( 14502 Fondren Rd Missouri City , TX 77489-1701 ). Penny, who is in charge of this, will be in a white Missouri City truck.

If you can come and want to play in the mud, and if you have buckets, totes or any containers to house fish or turtles until they can be released the same day- bringing them would be very helpful, we would love to see you there - GUARANTEED Great fun for families!!!! !! :)

If you need more information, call Penny on her cell at  832.248.9469 

Bring drinking water - it will be hot.  Bring a change of clothes and lots of towels. ___

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The following is a message from Penny Barrett Hornsby. If you can help, contact her: pbh4935@gmail. com

5/1/08

I work for the City of Missouri City (Texas).

I found out yesterday that the developer/ contractor who is converting
the Willowisp Golf Course into a business park will be draining and
filling in many of the site's 14 lakes.

No plan had been made to relocate the hundreds of turtles and fish from
these lakes; which would mean that the contractor will be backfilling
over the fish and turtles, burying them alive.

I am heading up an effort to relocate the turtles.

I have been given 2 weeks.

I will need help with making the traps - which would entail making a
tube of chicken wire, closing off one end and turning in the other end
so that once they are in, they cannot get out.

I will be able to guide anyone that needs assistance with this task.

I will need as many volunteers as possible for the scheduled move dates
(TBD).

I will be surveying the site today to see what it will take to get as
many out as possible.

Once I have established all of the details, I will have several move
dates (possibly relocating a small group each day and then having two
big move days on the weekends).

If anyone knows of any group or organization that that specializes in
this sort of thing, knows a volunteer group that might be interested, or
can volunteer time for the relocation, I would greatly appreciate it.

The more volunteers we have, the more turtles we can save.

Also, I am not equipped to do anything about the fish.

Please feel free to offer suggestions or to direct me to someone that
might be able to help.

Thank you.

So far over 30 turtles have been relocated by rescuers in the last week.

If anyone is interested in helping to save these turtles, frog and fish, we are meeting Saturday and Sunday at 9:30 am at the Fondren entrance (parking lot) of the property (14502 Fondren Rd Missouri City, TX 77489-1701 ). Penny, who in charge of this, will be in a white Missouri City truck.

This past Fall we attended the Eco-Fair with the local Texas Master Naturalist chapter, as representatives of both WFRR and the Horned Lizard Conservation Society. We answered many questions about the habits and conservation of Horned Lizards, and of their food sources and habitats in our area.  

Our yearling captive bred Horned Lizards were on display to help educate the public. Occasionally, as for this little girl, they helped out by making themselves available for closer inspection. Many of our young visitors had never seen or touched a real Horned Lizard before. There were also many adults who had not seen one in years. 

A young boy plays peek-a-boo with his new Horned Lizard face mask.

WFRR is listed with RescueNetwork.org, Anapsid.org, and as the N. Texas contact for Gulf Coast Turtle & Tortoise Society