The article is called “On the Wild Side” and can be read online or in their April issue at Ocala area businesses.

The article focuses on three animal facilities in Marion County – read all the way to the end to see what she says about Forest Animal Rescue.

Thank you JoAnn Guidry for writing such a nice article!

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.

The hard-working Alternative Break students take a pledge to perform community service instead of joining their partying classmates during spring break. They are a remarkable group of volunteers and have always accomplished amazing things for the animals

First to arrive were 10 students from the UCF for a week. The following week 15 hard workers from OSU and 10 more from UK joined forces to pick up where UCF left off.

They planted trees and thick landscaping to provide shade and visual barriers for the animals at the sanctuary. Then they dug holes 4-5 feet deep and helped to install some new 8′ tall fencing around the building site for our new Bob Barker Animal Care Building.

Stay tuned, more volunteers and photos coming this week!

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!

They are all such impressive people, giving of themselves to help the animals and working so hard in the heat to help us complete this massive project. Thank you guys for making such amazing progress for the bears!

42 students arrived on Monday to spend 4 days of hard work during their spring break. They are working on the construction of our 4-acre bear habitat and making great progress!

This same group was here last year and constructed the fencing around our horse pasture – we were lucky enough to have them join us again.

Below is a video that they made during their visit last year…we will see if they make another one from this year’s visit.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/HRa1cVvpJD0[/youtube]

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!

We can do this!! The deadline to move the animals is approaching fast, but with this kind of help we can make it happen!

If you are over 18 and would like to help us, please download our volunteer application here,  then complete it and save it on your computer (where you can find it) then email it to us. We will add you to our volunteer opportunity email list and all you need to do is sign up and come out!