Busch Wildlife Sanctuary spreads its wings in Jupiter Farms 

New $18 million home to help injured wild animals is ‘more conducive to healing’

It’s back to nature for the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. In its new Jupiter Farms home, the thousands of wild animals the nonprofit group takes in are now surrounded by their natural homes.

“We were renters at the old place on 6 acres,” said Amy Kight, CEO in charge of the rehabilitation and education campus. “We were in a neighborhood before. This property is secluded, giving us this distance from urban noise. This is quieter, more conducive to healing.”

The new location is more than triple the size of its 25-year former home off Jupiter’s Central Boulevard south of Indiantown Road. The expansion features a 5,000-square-foot hospital, a large intake clinic, a welcome center with discovery center for kids, an amphitheater and acres for the permanent wildlife residents to spread out.

The $18 million sanctuary set among natural pine, cypress, oak-dotted woods and scrub areas was the result of years of fundraising, grants and money from major donors. It broke ground in 2020 and opened October 2023.

Kight recently led a tour of the grounds.

“We have 19.4 acres, so we said let’s spread out. The enclosures were more of a patchwork at the old place, adding on each year or so, wherever we could fit it. This is laid out more cohesively and makes sense for the animals,” Kight said.

Kight’s been with Busch for 20 years and has a farm nearby. “I could ride my horse here,” she said, laughing. “It’s a thought. Maybe we could build a barn.”

Starting behind the Welcome Center, a wide concrete path meanders around the public areas where cages and enclosures house all the permanent animal rescues — those that were deemed unfit for release into the wild.

“Some were too badly injured to survive; others were kept as illegal pets who now are imprinted by humans,” Kight said. Without a wild instinct, many would starve, fall prey to other animals or become a “nuisance animal” — one that loses their fear of humans. In many of those cases, they would be put down because they were a threat to humans, she said.

“Last year we treated more than 5,000.” About 30 percent of the rescues get back to the wild, she said.

Ninety percent of animal injuries are from manmade sources, with vehicles one of the most common. Fishing line, net and hook entanglement, fencing, traps and poisons accidentally accessed by wildlife account for others.  

From a moth — really — to bobcats

Animals arrive at the facility mostly from Palm Beach County. A few come from Martin County.

“We also partner with Jupiter’s Loggerhead Marinelife Center. They get calls about seabirds and animals and we go get them,” she said.

A large number of the rescues brought in are birds: shore birds, songbirds and wading birds — and all kinds of raptors that prey on the others.

They accept most animals with exceptions of domestic or invasive species such as pigeons and iguanas.

It can get, well, wild in the intake clinic, Kight said. “We’ve gotten everything from a moth — no, really — to a bobcat someone put in their car and drove here with. 

“I wouldn’t have done that.”

They run a 24-hour rescue phone line. Workers are trained to tell the would-be animal hero to proceed with caution. Many injured animals can be aggressive. They advise how to care for an animal overnight, if needed, to be brought in the next day.

They also don’t do “attic cleanouts,” she said. “We get calls about raccoons or squirrels in attics — we have to tell them to call an exterminator. We focus on injured wildlife.”

Exotics are taken to the appropriate rescue. “No gators. The state won’t let us take in alligators for rehab. We would love to rehab them, but unfortunately, once they’re around people, they get used to them and become a threat to them, and it kills their chances to survive in the wild.

“On a heart level, it’s hard,’’ she said.

Busch does have a resident alligator named Freddy. Kight explained that she was prematurely hatched. “A child found her egg and decided to crack it open to see what was inside – and it was a gator,” Kight said. “Since she came out of her egg too early, she didn’t develop properly. She can only open her mouth about 4-5 inches, and she is much smaller than what she should be for her age.”

But thousands still make their way to Busch. “We get all kinds: snakes, frogs, turtles, and opossums — lots of opossums.” It’s the most common animal coming in the door. That’s because it’s usually a mother that has been hit on the road, she said, and leaves behind her brood of up to 13 babies.

Rehabilitation includes physical therapy. In the past, birds were sent to the South Florida Wildlife Center in Fort Lauderdale to relearn how to fly in its avian flight structure.

Now, Busch Wildlife will have its own flight rehab structure, she said, pointing to a large steel framework under construction behind the visitor’s center.

We pass cages with named birds and animals: Gary, the orphaned sandhill crane. Leia, a permanently injured red-tailed hawk. Only the permanent animal residents are named, she said, usually by volunteers. Those that have release potential are assigned a number, so that the staff doesn’t get attached or imprint on them.

Some rescues are sent to the University of Florida veterinarians, who use cutting-edge and experimental techniques for rehabilitation. She said prosthetics made for bird wings and beaks, and other procedures that are helping save wildlife come from their labs.

Kight shows off the more than 7,000 trees and other plants that have been added. All were donated.

Most recently, a pollinator garden was planted next to the gator pond, built with a grant from the state. “We’re talking to a beekeeper,” she said. “We want to have our own beehives. We’d like to sell our own honey from the hives.”

Students are coming

Busch Wildlife’s 34 employees and 100 volunteers of all ages care for the animals, present wildlife lectures and lead tours.

In the 5-acre rehabilitation area, a full-time vet sees to the animals. But more are coming.

“We’ve just entered a partnership with Loggerhead Marine Center for one-year veterinary internships. The students are coming in July.”

The students will have a stipend paid from funds raised for Busch. Generous donors and organizations are involved in the sanctuary’s fundraising, and there are opportunities for the public’s support.

“You can adopt an animal or sponsor trees. There’s the gift shop, too.”

Coming from the bootstrap site before, they remain thrifty. “We repurposed cages and enclosures.”

A company in Illinois sent its students here to build ponds as part of their training—free to Busch. 

The otters, Tater and Tot, swim in the newest pond; they are the playful animals everyone loves to watch, she said.

There’s Greyson the gray fox, and two sister Florida black bears: Kiona and Tehehya. “They’re 18 now. They came to us as cubs. Mom was a nuisance bear and lost her fear of humans.” They’re from Apopka.

They were snoozing in their shelters. “They are the laziest animals. The only less active are the opossums.”

Also sunning themselves were the pair of Florida panthers, Tahmahla, 10, and Charlie, 6, lounging everywhere but in the pond built for them. She called to them and they raised their heads, but went back to sleeping upside down.

“They’re dorks,” Kight says. “They’ll never do what you want. Only what they want.”

Then comes the most notorious animal in the sanctuary: Stu, the whistling duck. He comes running when called, quacking as though conversing with Kight.

“He was found as a baby and was a difficult release because he imprinted on humans from the start. He has no idea he’s a duck,” she said.

They tried to put him back into the wild, but apparently lonely, he wandered into a garage sale nearby, then a church, trying to fit in, she said, shaking her head. “We just went and got him. He had an adventure for a week.”

‘We can use some birds’

To release the rehabbed animals, she said, they work with partners like Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management, which oversees wildlife preserves and natural areas. 

“They let us know what they might need. We’ll get a call — ‘We can use some birds,’” she said. Busch delivers.

Nearby in the amphitheater, a bus group from a school was learning about owls. Kight said the education element the new property has afforded them is priceless. Groups from around the county come by bus to tour and learn from lectures. 

“We get school kids, senior centers and clubs,” she said. “They bring their lunches and make it a day trip.”

Groups that want to tour can sign up on the website, which also has applications for volunteers. Ages 8 and older can apply, but there’s a waiting list. “Be patient, we’ll get to you,” she said.

The curious can sign up for an email newsletter to track patients as well. Currently, a peregrine falcon is being followed through intake to release. Patient No. 4501 was admitted in October with a severe fracture in her right ulna. After surgery, she’s been undergoing therapy to regain strength in the wing. She’ll be working with an on-staff falconer to relearn wild instincts.

If you go: Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, 17855 Rocky Pines Road, Jupiter. Open 10 am to 4:30 pm seven days a week, rain or shine. Closed New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Admission by donation.