Wild West Animal Rehab (Texas Country Reporter)

Meet some curious critters & the people who care for them at Amarillo’s first-ever wildlife rehabilitation center.

Wild West Wildlife Animal Rehabilitation Center
Stephanie Oravetz
2901 N Soncy Rd.
Amarillo, TX 79124
Phone: 806-680-2483
Website: https://www.facebook.com/wildwestwildliferehabilitation/

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Video Script:: 

hi mama I know you're so protective you're a good girl yes you are you'd be hard-pressed to find many people who begin their day arms deep inside of a possum cage hey Janet can you come help me for a second but for Stephanie Orbitz handling mini marsupials isn't just another day on the job there we go it's what she lives for Eagle Mom there you go I know I've been an animal lover since I was born I mean it's something you're born with my mom has stories of me as a toddler I can't catch bees even though they stung me don't worry loving to catch frogs and toads and I had to kiss them all and then I would take big buckets and put them all in that and carry him around when I ran out of room I'd put him in my my pants pockets and yeah she had her hands full with me well they say until you've loved an animal one soul remains unawakened and with every bee or frog little Stephanie got her hands on she grew more and more in love with mother nature's creatures so naturally she dedicated her life to saving them so you decided to go into rehabbing animals yet so when I was 13 my mom said you know what they're looking for volunteers at a veterinary hospital here in dallas-fort worth why don't you do that because she could clearly see this was not changing it was not going away and she was not gonna let me have a ton of animals so I started volunteering at this veterinary hospital is a very large one it was 24 hours and I loved it hey come on little love coming there you go when I moved to Amarillo about 4 years ago I went to tech sparks my life office and said hey I've got a permit for rehabilitating and they were like great and I had 200 animals coming in 5 months through my laundry room because that's where I was doing it and then the following year it was over 700 animals then finally I was like we're gonna need a center hi and that's how the Wild West wildlife rehabilitation center was born located in Amarillo what started off inside Stephanie's home has grown into a full center that covers 26 different counties from bottle-fed coyotes to baby badgers Stephanie and her volunteers are kept pretty busy but once they get a call they hit the road to save the day so sometimes we have to go a couple hours north to go help with an animal and bring it all the way back and sometimes we get things as far as three hours south how are you I mean the lot of times the people will meet us halfway and that helps a lot but yeah we do a very very large area so what happened here I was walking back down this way and I found him in the weeds okay before I moved here all the wildlife with the exception of like some of the federally protected birds was pretty much euthanized you did the right thing I'm he's definitely dehydrated and you can tell just by looking at his tongue how dried out it is so for me I love being able to help and save something from suffering any way that I can nice to meet you Tim thank you for doing that [Music] hey dr. wolf hello hey we've got a injured burrowing owl that we just got a call on and wanted to see if he could take a look at him Stephanie will be the first to tell you that none of this would be possible without the help of her volunteers or people like dr. Janice wolf at Canyon Road Animal Hospital it's where her animals get x-rays and surgeries to help them recover from anything from dog attacks to roadside accidents got a mucous trains in his mouth but it's also where sometimes she gets the worst news of all will he flap or move his wings no I didn't feel any brakes a little difficult time on that right side what does it do when you lose an animal it's really hard certain cases are a little bit stronger when we get the hard cases where the people are being ugly to the animals the animal we all suffer the same and so that part is really really hard you know we got a possum and a poor yesterday and the people thought it was hit by a car it's actually dr. Wolf's and it was shot with a BB in the spine just because somebody didn't want to pass him in their yard and so now she's dragging her back legs what makes it the saddest to me is that somebody's heart would not feel compassion for something else I know we can't save everything but we shouldn't be mean to anything and those cruel hearts is the thing that is harder for me to not get emotional about than anything else don't if you if you don't like the animal that's fine but don't hurt it let it be or call somebody like us who will come out and do something great yeah looks like you're growing on it doesn't take long to see just how important the Wild West rehab center is it's a place where animals are given a second chance at life and even though Stephanie knows she can't save them all it's all worth it when she finally gets to set them free what she want for these animals is you want to rehab them and then release them back to the wild right absolutely when you release an animal a common question we get is how can you release it I would never be able to do that I've raised it you know how do you not get attached because they were never ours to begin with they're all God's creatures they're his and they're meant to be free and I always feel like I would rather be able to live 20 years doing what I love and being free and wild then living in a box my whole life you know and it's got to be the same for them they need to be back out in the wild where they belong so people say it's it's got to be hard when you release them but it really isn't it's beautiful [Music] it's breathtaking majestic and beautiful for Stephanie the release of a group of newly rehabbed owls is also emotional soaring off into the distance as the Sun sets these gorgeous birds represent everything she's fighting for and every animal she's cared about since she was a little girl I've always fought for the underdog because they were here first and we come in and we disturb habitats and move things and then they're left in situations it would normally be left in we have a responsibility to them how long will you do this till I die that's what I'm supposed to do when I get up I love what I do and and I feel like I'm contributing and giving back to the world so I feel blessed that I get to do this [Music] [Music] you