The Orange Beach Wildlife and Rehabilitation Center had a good problem on its hands last week: not enough chairs. More than 60 residents packed into the dog trot of the facility’s main building for the center’s first-ever volunteer orientation, far exceeding what staff had expected.
“We ended up having a pretty big turnout compared to what we initially expected,” said Brendan Paquin, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist at the center. “We had a little over 60 people come out. We knew that there was going to be a lot of interest in this first orientation given. We definitely ended up having more people coming out than we had initially planned for.”
Not-So-Glamorous but Essential Work
Much of what new volunteers will do isn’t glamorous. Sweeping, mopping, doing laundry, wiping down surfaces and refilling soap and latex glove dispensers make up the bulk of the daily task list.
“It’s not the most glorious work, but is the majority of what we do here and is crucial to the well-being of the animals in our care,” Paquin said. “While our volunteers are crucial in helping us in our normal daily tasks, we want our volunteers to really understand what we do and why we do it to help further our communities’ understanding of wildlife rehabilitation as a whole.”
Volunteers will also learn to mix food for animals across different life stages, including in the center’s “nursery,” which currently houses large numbers of squirrels, possums and various birds. The center treats bald eagles, osprey and hawks — two injured hawks are recovering there now — along with other mammals and reptiles brought in by residents after being found orphaned or in distress.
A Front-Row Seat to Recovery
Despite the routine chores, volunteers won’t be shut out of the more rewarding parts of the work. Staff plan to involve them in triage of new animal intakes and in the releases of rehabilitated wildlife back into their natural habitats.
“We want our volunteers to experience the exciting part of wildlife rehabilitation as well,” Paquin said. “We encourage volunteers to watch as we triage new intakes and make sure they are included when we release animals to get them more involved.”
A Record Year for Admissions
The push for more volunteer support comes as the center faces a sharp rise in the number of animals it’s treating. In a Facebook post, the center announced it had surpassed 1,000 wildlife patients admitted so far in 2026.
“We have officially crossed over 1,000 wildlife patients admitted in 2026,” the center said in the post. “For reference, we admitted 866 patients for the entirety of 2025. We are seeing a nearly 70% increase in admissions from our previous busiest year.”
That climbing caseload is making the extra hands from the community increasingly valuable to a small staff already stretched thin.
“Volunteers are incredibly important to how we operate and how we plan to continue to grow as a center and program,” Paquin said. “Having volunteers doing boots-on-the-ground work in the center allows those interested to get a look at how much work goes into wildlife rehabilitation, while also experiencing how rewarding it is to see these animals recover and grow.”
Returning Animals to the Wild
At its core, the center’s mission is about giving injured, sick or orphaned animals a path back to their natural environment.
“Our mission and goal at the center is purely to be able to help as many animals as possible return to the wild to help our environment and ecosystems thrive,” Paquin said. “Having volunteers helps the individual animals get the care that they need while allowing the center to operate in ways we do not have the time and resources to without their help.”
Paquin said he hopes the newly trained volunteer corps will also become ambassadors for the center’s work, helping raise awareness across the Orange Beach community about wildlife rehabilitation and why it matters.
“They learn more about what wildlife rehabilitation can offer to the community and can help spread the word to those who might be unaware of wildlife rehabilitation and what we do as a center,” Paquin said. “The more people understand the importance of wildlife rehabilitation, the more we can do for the animals, which is our ultimate goal.”