Who lives at the Wildlife Sanctuary? The majority of the animals that you will see arrive here in one of the four ways: Unwanted Pets, Confiscated Illegal Pets, Injured Animals, or, Accidental Tourists. No matter how they get here all animals receive the same level of compassion and care providing a happy and healthy forever home.
Unwanted Pets
We receive many calls from people seeking to place unwanted pets. Many individuals find out after they have purchased a pet that they are unable to obtain the proper food for it, that it grows much larger than they expected, or that it is not that easy to handle.
Confiscated Illegal Pets
Each year many exotic animals are illegally sold through the international pet trade. Some of our animals were confiscated by state or federal authorities and turned over to the Wildlife Sanctuary for safekeeping.
Injured Animals
Connecticut is home to a variety of wildlife species. Each year many animals are found injured and cared for by a network of wildlife rehabilitators. Most are released back into the wild. However, some animals are deemed not-releasable due to the severity of their injuries. These animals are then in need of a forever home, which the Wildlife Sanctuary provides to many of our native animals.
Accidental Tourists
Each year the Wildlife Sanctuary receives calls to pick up “accidental tourists.” These are non-native animals that arrive in shipments such as lumber, fruit, or, people’s luggage. We have received frogs, tarantulas, scorpions, black widows, lizards, and snakes in this manner.
Current Residents
Mammals
- Chinchilla “Salvador and Obsidian”
- Domestic Ferret “Juliet”
- Domestic Rabbit “Smokey and Cocoa”
- Eastern Chipmunk “Dale”
- Groundhog “Tulip”
- Guinea Pig “Winnie and Duncan”
- Hedgehog “Willow”
- Virginia Opossum “Franklin”
Lizards
- Bearded Dragon “Bowser and Peach”
- Black and White Argentine Tegu “Diego”
- Blue-Tongued Skink “Stella and Leo”
- Crested Gecko “Draco, Jimmy, Stumpy, and Lady”
- European Legless Lizard “Cliff”
- Leopard Gecko “Yoshi and Harriet”
- Sudan Plated Lizard “Jack”
Turtles & Tortoises
- Diamondback Terrapin “Dotty”
- Eastern Box Turtle “Bobby and Bobby Jr.”
- Flordia Softshell Turtle “Braden”
- North American Wood Turtle “T.J.”
- Ornate Box Turtle “Frankie”
- Radiated Tortoise “Matilda”
- Red-eared Slider “Shelly”
- Red-footed Tortoise “Clifford”
- Spotted Turtle “Dot”
- Sulcata Tortoise “Kitty”
- Three-toed Box Turtle “Alf and Alfa”
Amphibians
- African Clawed Frog “Mo”
- American Toad “Randalf”
- Cane Toad “Steve”
- Emperor Newt “Louis”
- White’s Tree Frog “Tank, John Deere, and Silo”
Snakes
- African Ball Python “Indus, Colby, Perry, and Bella”
- Black Rat Snake “Aaron”
- Brazilian Rainbow Boa “Jairo”
- Burmese Python “Stanley”
- Columbian Red-tailed Boa “Bocca”
- Corn Snake “Rusty and Casper”
- Eastern Milk Snake “Adder”
- Honduran Milk Snake “Willie and Honda”
- Lavender King Snake “Opal”
Arthropods
- Asian Forest Scorpion “Obsidian”
- Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula “Rosie”
- Curly Hair Tarantula “Judith”
- Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
- Northern Walking Sticks
