The painful waiting game is finally over. After a tedious process of designing the building, followed by 8 1/2 months struggling through red tape to obtain the Marion County building permit, we are finally allowed to build!

We brought in fill, cleared trees, built up our driveway, moved our access gates and continued planning, but we couldn’t start construction until the permit was approved. The minute we were allowed, we couldn’t wait to break ground.

The construction has been underway for only 4 weeks and look how far along we are already!

Recent newspaper article includes a quote from Bob Barker himself!

We are so excited to start construction – everything has been waiting on this permit – but we had ‘stalled’ in our fundraising due to the uncertain timing of the project. Now the contractor is moving ahead quickly and we don’t want to stop construction while we raise money!

Will you join Mr Barker in supporting the sanctuary and help complete the project?

We need to keep the donations coming in as fast as our contractor can build! 

Donate Now

If you prefer, your tax-deductible gift can be mailed to:

Forest Animal Rescue
640 NE 170th Ct.
Silver Springs, FL 34488

From the beginning:

The Bob Barker Animal Care Building will ensure continuing high standards of veterinary and nutritional care for the animals at Forest Animal Rescue as the sanctuary continues to grow. With the improved capacity for care, the sanctuary will be able to accept even the tiniest, most fragile orphaned bear cubs for rehabilitation and release – while maintaining our high standards of care for the sanctuary’s 100+ nonreleasable rescued animals. It will also provide more working space for our interns, local and international volunteers as they learn proper methods of caring for wild animals in captivity.

In 2016, retired game show host, Bob Barker approved a $100,000 gift from his foundation to set the project in motion. We immediately began the design and planning process, but nothing seems to ever go smoothly the first time.

When we submitted our final design to the Marion County Building Department we discovered that we would need to revise our special use permit, requiring public zoning hearings and even more time. Revisions to the plans were repeatedly submitted, rejected, resubmitted…we were pulling our hair out…

Finally – Marion County hired Jeffrey Camden as the Building Department Director. Brand new on the job, we asked him to look at our project – The permit was approved that day!

Happy Valentine’s Day from everyone at Forest Animal Rescue.

Remember not to eat the roses today.

Since their arrival at Forest Animal Rescue just before Christmas, Cody and Oatmeal have been playing nonstop. They are incredibly happy with their new home in sunny Florida…and they haven’t even experienced the best part yet!

They are loving their pool, climbing platform and the ball that we gave them, but they will soon be out of their quarantine habitat and into a wooded 4-acre compound with three other black bears, Dolly, Elizabeth Rose and B-Bear!

Would you like to volunteer with us to help finish the last few habitat adjustments so they can go out and play in the woods? Here is how you can GET INVOLVED

Would you like to help us to BUY MORE TOYS so they can each have their very own long-lasting ball? We have raised much of the money already, but need your help to pay for everything.

Luckily, this little bear won’t be in captivity long. She was captured in a backyard by FWC, near too many humans…in a place that was not the best for bears.

She came to us for evaluation and will be ready to go soon! She is being held in our rehabilitation area, far from any human activity. She is prevented from seeing people while she is at our sanctuary.

Poor little Faye was old enough to be on her own, but was covered in ticks and parasites – she was anemic from that struggle. We gave her an extra boost of deworming and a little time to gain strength. Faye is scheduled to be released after the hog hunting is finished next week.

This adorable bear is lucky – even though she was captured in a neighborhood, she is still properly afraid of humans and since she is so young, she hasn’t had a chance to establish her own territory.

That works wonderfully for her because she can be set free in a more appropriate place in Florida, far away from humans, without the risk of her returning to the same place to discover people’s trash and learning to become a nuisance bear.

Please join us in backing their project – Starting today, backers of the game can leave name suggestions in the main comment section of their Kickstarter Page. Tomorrow, we’ll announce your top three most suggested names along with one suggestion from the Bears vs Babies team.

Name Suggestion Period

Tuesday, November 15th, RIGHT NOW – Wednesday, November 16th, 3pm PST

Name Voting Period

Wednesday, November 16th, 3pm PST – Thursday, November 17th, 11am PST

Campaign Countdown Livestream

Your winning name will be announced during thier CAMPAIGN COUNTDOWN LIVESTREAM on Thursday, November 17th, 4pm PST (you can tune in on the Kickstarter Page)

Notes: We reserve the right to override any names we deem inappropriate. Bears vs Babies is supporting Forest Animal Rescue from our their personal accounts and no money from the Kickstarter campaign is being donated. We hope you’ll join them in supporting the sanctuary. Donate Now

96.3FM – 1370AM Ocala, FL

Learn more about what you can do to get involved with the sanctuary and how to help with the upcoming rescue of two tigers and two bears!

Last but certainly not least!

The University of Delaware Alternative Break group consisted of 40 students who worked extremely hard. They tried to complete the bear habitat and came very close…but we ran out of time. The completion of the project is finally within our grasp – thanks to the hard working volunteers from Delaware!

Thank you to all of our amazing Alternative Break volunteers – we couldn’t do it without you!

We will be organizing groups of local volunteers to work on specific days to finish the project – contact us about volunteering if you would like to help!

Of course, we can still use everyone’s help to pay for the materials that we need to complete the project, all donations are tax deductible!

On Saturday we had a wonderful group of 25 hard-working volunteers from Westbrook Services.

This is the same group that has helped us with electrical, water lines and so many other areas, their skill set is astounding! They brought tools, heavy equipment (even an auger to dig post holes!), work trucks and lots of smiling faces.

On Sunday, a group of 16 students from the University of Florida picked up where the Westbrook gang left off.

The volunteers represented the Healing Animals Division of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the University of Florida’s Pre-Health Honor Society. The put in a day of very hard work and the progress is amazing!

We love our Alternative Spring Break volunteers! Stay tuned for updates  – over the next month we have over 100 volunteers from all over the country arriving to each spend a week of work with us! 

If we can keep up with the materials as fast as the volunteers can build, we will finish one of the largest bear habitats in the country in record time!

If you would like to donate to keep the building materials coming for the new home for the bears at the sanctuary, simply put a note with you gift and we will use it for that purpose. Thank you!