Skybird Wildlife Center’s
Current Projects
Wildlife Rescue in Durham, ME, Serving the Greater Portland, Maine Area
What’s going on in 2025
DID YOU KNOW? There are very few wild turtle rescues in Maine and none in the mid-coast region.
We’re excited to announce… that Skybird Founder Tari Rowe and family are first-time homebuyers and land owners, marking a new beginning for Skybird Wildlife Center, and place their family and the wildlife rescue center will call a new start.
With two acres of forest and river in Durham, Skybird Wildlife Center can grow and thrive in real ways, while introducing ourselves to the Portland, Maine and surrounding area community.
ANNOUNCEMENT: SPRING 2025
We are excited to announce we are already working on renovations of an outbuilding on our Durham property that will is our flagship clinic space and the area’s FIRST WILD TURTLE REHABILITATION!
With the help of our community, we will be well on our way to completing construction of a full-service “starter space” for rehabilitating our rescued shelled friends.
Support Skybird’s Turtle Clinic!
WISH LIST - SPRING 2025
Our clinic needs for this
spring and summer!
Supplies:
Rubbermaid stock tanks to house large turtles in recovery
A variety of small to large plastic tubs for recovering turtles
Terrariums and fish tanks to raise young turtles in
Donated medical supplies:
rubber gloves, vet wrap, telfa pads, tegaderm, 3M transpore plastic tape, 3M micropore paper tape, aluminum tape, super glue, thin pliable wire, syringes of all sizes, isotonic fluids, fluid lines, surgical instruments.
LOG ON TO OUR Amazon Wishlist here: https://a.co/67gRcH5
HOW DO TURTLES GET INJURED?
They get hit by cars
Run-over by lawn mowers
Have run-ins with pets
Are poisoned by pesticides & chemicals
They have lost their home / habitat
⫸HELP US WITH “STABILIZATION”
Stabilization is the first stage of rehabilitation. This occurs after triage (our intake and exam process), which includes setting up in a quiet, clean, stress-free habitat designed for rest and minimizing damage to wounds. Usually x-rays are needed at intake for further inspection. Importantly, and with your help to grow our community turtle clinic,
the turtle will receive pain medication, rehydration, and antibiotics if needed.
⫸SHELL REPAIR
Shell repair is the practice of mending a turtle’s fractured shell. Once they are stable, case by case we work to bring the shell pieces together with a number of techniques, in hopes that new tissue will grow and be functional enough for eventual release back to the wild.
⫸REHABILITATION
Offering turtles in our care with mindful habitats and diets during their recovery is paramount to our mission and practice. Long term care is usually required for these patients as shells can take a long time to mend. When the turtle proves to thrive and once it’s injuries are stable, it is released to the native watershed or habitat where it was found.
