Orange Beach Celebrates Grand Opening of Wildlife Center
On January 6, the City of Orange Beach unveiled the newly completed Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The project was made possible through a local, state and federal partnership, utilizing over $1 million in federal RESTORE Act funds and over $600 thousand in additional funds from the City of Orange Beach to design, construct, and equip the much-needed facility. RESTORE Act funds were allocated to the project by the Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council, of which Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon is a member, as a part of Alabama’s 2018 State Expenditure Plan. Located on a ten-acre site in Orange Beach, AL, the state-of-the-art facility is a significant expansion of a program that began in the late 1990s as a local initiative to respond to injured or sick wildlife.
Previously, staff were limited in the number and types of animals that could be helped because the facility operated out of a small historic home. Thanks to the improvements completed in late 2025, the Wildlife Center is now a modern facility that includes a surgery room, a triage area, exam rooms, and on-site X-ray capabilities. The Center also now has specialized outdoor enclosures to allow appropriate space for a variety of species rehabilitation. This includes a flight enclosure as well as aquatic animal enclosures with secure access to a lake.
 Ribbon cutting ceremony on January 6, 2026. Photo credit: ADCNR
 View of the hospital and aquatic flight enclosures. Photo Credit: Council Staff
 Injured juvenile Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). Credit: City of Orange Beach Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
The expansion of the Wildlife Center provides the City of Orange Beach with an increased capacity to care for animals from the entire Gulf Coast region. Staff, which include interns from across the country who live in Orange Beach to train at the Wildlife Center, now have access to the equipment and the facilities they need to effectively care for wildlife ranging from raptors, pelicans and herons to squirrels and bobcats. This project provides a response to the damage done during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and is a clear example of how Gulf Coast restoration funds are being spent to support communities impacted by the spill. Visitors to Orange Beach and locals alike will benefit from the Wildlife Center’s expansion, and can be confident that thanks to the hard work of the Wildlife Center staff and the RESTORE Council’s investment in the facility, even more animals will be treated, rehabilitated, and released to the wild.
 Wildlife intern handles a juvenile Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) within the newly constructed rehabilitation facility. Credit: City of Orange Beach Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
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