A record year, built by volunteers.
In 2025, Carolina Wildlife Sanctuary cared for more animals than any year in its history. Every number below represents a real patient, a real phone call, and real hours from the people who keep this sanctuary running.
Carolina Wildlife Sanctuary is a licensed 501(c)(3) wildlife rehabilitation facility based in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Every patient is cared for by a team of 20 trained volunteers, working on rotating shifts around the clock during the busiest months of the year.
We have no paid staff. Every feeding, every transport, every late-night hotline call is handled by someone who signed up because they wanted to help.
81 species, one mission: back to the wild.
From cottontails to songbirds, our patients came in through every door imaginable. Here is who we saw most often, and why they needed us.
Top Species Treated
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Eastern Cottontail 39.8%
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Virginia Opossum 26.1%
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Carolina Wren 13.4%
The remaining 20.7% spanned 78 other species, including songbirds, raptors, waterfowl, turtles, squirrels, and bats.
Top Admission Causes
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Orphan 39.2%
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Cat Interaction 19.2%
The rest came to us from window strikes, vehicle impacts, entanglements, illness, and habitat disruption.
A sanctuary for the Piedmont.
Our hotline takes calls from across the region. In 2025, patients arrived from:
- Concord
- Charlotte
- Huntersville
- Kannapolis
- Salisbury
- Davidson
- Mooresville
Every dollar came from our community.
In 2025, Carolina Wildlife Sanctuary was funded entirely by individual donations, membership contributions, and community fundraisers. We received no grant funding and no government support.
Every meal prepared, every enclosure cleaned, every animal released was paid for by neighbors who chose to give.
You made every release possible.
To everyone who called the hotline, drove an injured animal across the county, dropped off formula, answered a volunteer text at 2 a.m., or sent a donation because the work mattered to you: thank you. 651 patients came through our doors in 2025. The ones who walked, flew, or hopped back into the wild did so because of you.
If you want to keep this work going into 2026, here is how.