06/22/2026
Today we’re sharing a review that perfectly illustrates one of the biggest challenges we face in wildlife rehabilitation.
The reviewer was upset because we would not provide updates on a turtle they brought to us for free care. What the review doesn’t mention is that every wildlife finder signs paperwork acknowledging that updates cannot be provided.
Why?
Because Bells Ferry Veterinary Hospital is a veterinary hospital first and a wildlife intake center second. Please let that sink in.
For nearly 40 years, we’ve served this community as a family-owned veterinary hospital. Nearly every day, our doctors, technicians, and staff care for beloved pets whose families have entrusted us with their health and well-being. At the same time, we also care for wildlife. We receive injured song birds, turtles, rabbits, squirrels, opossums, geese, hawks, owls, snakes and countless others. We do this as a service to our community and to wildlife, and we are the only facility that takes any and all species of wild animals and rarely if ever close to intakes. We do not receive government funding. We do not charge the public. We rely primarily on donations and a tremendous amount of volunteer effort from our staff.
Wildlife rehabilitation is essentially a full-time job layered on top of our full-time jobs. So far in 2026 alone, we have taken in more than 400 wild animals! Now imagine if every person who brought us an animal requested updates.
To provide a single update, it becomes hours and hours of staff time.
And those hours have to come from somewhere.
They come from answering client questions.
They come from helping sick pets.
They come from assisting families.
They come from treating injured wildlife.
So we made a choice years ago:
We choose patient care over updates. The very thing this reviewer is criticizing is one of the reasons we are able to provide the level of care that we do.
We are willing to disappoint some people who want updates because we refuse to take time away from the animals and clients who need us.
Frankly, if given the choice between spending 20 minutes tracking down the history of a turtle and spending 20 minutes helping a sick patient, we will choose the patient every single time.
And yes, sometimes that means receiving a one-star review.
The reality is that no matter how many evenings we stay late, no matter how many weekends we spend transporting wildlife, no matter how many animals we take in for free, and no matter how clearly we explain our policies, there will still be people who are unhappy when they don’t get the answer they want.
That’s okay.
We aren’t doing wildlife rehabilitation for reviews. We’re doing it for the more than 400 wild animals we’ve helped this year.
We’re doing it for the pets whose families trust us every day.
And we’re doing it because caring for animals has always been more important to us than collecting five-star reviews.
Thank you to our clients, supporters, wildlife rehabilitators, donors, and community members who understand the difference.
We appreciate you more than you know. ❤️
How can you help?
If you’ve had a wonderful experience with your pets or utilizing our wild life service, please leave us a Google and/or Yelp review.
If you’d like to donate to our care of wildlife, you may do so in person, over the phone (770-926-5311), by mail (6410 Hwy 92, Acworth, GA 30102) or via PayPal ([email protected]).
