Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation

Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation Wildlife rehabilitation & education specialists caring for native prey mammals and Virginia opossums, with a special love for rodents. EIN: 85-3040690 Give Wild.

Based in Lancaster, PA, we also bring live ambassador animals to you for engaging, educational programs. Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation is the first and only commercial, non-residential wildlife rehabilitation and education facility in Lancaster County. We specialize in the care of squirrels, groundhogs, cottontail rabbits, and other small prey species who find themselves in trouble because o

f weather, injury, displacement, or human impact. We are 100 percent volunteer run. Every intake, every feeding, every midnight check, every load of laundry, and every student tour happens because our community believes that Lancaster County’s wildlife deserves a second chance. Our approach is simple. Provide the highest standard of care for each patient, educate the public on coexistence, and strengthen the connection between people and the wild neighbors who share our spaces. Through partnerships with local universities, veterinarians, wildlife centers, and passionate community members, we give hundreds of animals the opportunity to heal, grow, and return to the wild where they belong. Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation is proud to hold the Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid, a reflection of our commitment to honesty, accountability, and responsible stewardship of every donated dollar. If you would like to support our work directly, our current Amazon Wishlist is available here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/113CI3A5JFGL2?ref_=wl_share

When you support Acorn Acres, you help us rescue, rehabilitate, and release. You help us teach the next generation of wildlife stewards. You help us protect the animals who keep our ecosystems balanced and thriving. Give Hope. Give Lancaster County’s wildlife a second chance.

🚨 HAPPENING NOW IN LANCASTER! 🚨Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation is at the Million Reasons Festival at Penn Medicine P...
09/13/2026

🚨 HAPPENING NOW IN LANCASTER! 🚨

Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation is at the Million Reasons Festival at Penn Medicine Park and this FREE family event continues until 5 p.m. today!

Stop by our booth to:

🐾 Explore our hands-on TRACKS! wildlife program
🎨 Enjoy FREE face painting
🛍️ Shop Acorn Acres merchandise
🌳 Learn why small prey animals are essential to a healthy ecosystem
💚 Meet the team giving Lancaster County’s injured and orphaned wildlife a second chance

The festival also features games, inflatables, food trucks, local vendors and family activities throughout the ballpark.

📍 Penn Medicine Park
650 North Prince Street, Lancaster
⏰ Today until 5 p.m.
🎟️ FREE admission; some festival activities require tickets

Already here? Come find us! Still looking for something fun to do today? Grab the family and head over.

Please SHARE this post with your Lancaster County friends so they don’t miss it!

News Channel 8 Susquehanna Valley 21 News + LancasterOnline

09/13/2026

A second chance after tragedy. Patient 26-509 is fighting his way back.

When his finder first spotted this sweet groundhog, it was a heartbreaking scene. He was covered in flies, breathing with immense difficulty, and circling; all clear signs of severe distress and potential neurological trauma.

They rushed him to us, and he was in incredibly rough shape upon arrival.

Honestly, when he first came through our doors, we weren't sure we would even be able to help him. That makes seeing these normal, instinctual little woodchuck behaviors today feel extra rewarding.

He is definitely not out of the woods yet, and his road to recovery will require plenty of time, patience, and specialized care. But today, we are choosing to be cautiously optimistic and deeply grateful for every tiny sign of progress.

Please drop a comment to send Patient 26-509 some love and healing energy as he continues moving forward, one tiny, determined paw at a time. 🐾

animallover

🦋 A tiny insect makes a 3,000-mile journey and today, Lancaster County families discovered how extraordinary that journe...
09/13/2026

🦋 A tiny insect makes a 3,000-mile journey and today, Lancaster County families discovered how extraordinary that journey truly is.

Monarchs and Black Swallowtails took center stage during today’s Inside the Wild program at Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation.

Participants met fourth-generation Monarchs often called “Super Monarchs.” Unlike the three generations before them, these remarkable butterflies can live for many months, allowing them to complete the long migration to Mexico. Every Monarch we observed today belonged to this special migratory generation.

We also compared the caterpillar and chrysalis stages of Monarchs and Black Swallowtails. While Monarchs migrate, Black Swallowtails survive Pennsylvania’s winter in diapause, remaining safely tucked inside their brown chrysalises until spring signals that it is time to emerge. Do you know what a green chrysalises means?

The learning continued through art and a little edible science! Learners created watercolor butterflies and painted butterfly cookies using edible paint.

Most importantly, we learned that everyone can help protect these essential pollinators. Planting native host plants such as milkweed for Monarchs and parsley, dill or fennel for Black Swallowtails provides the food and habitat their young need to survive.

At Acorn Acres, wildlife education is about more than learning fascinating facts. It helps people understand how even the smallest members of our ecosystem play an enormous role and how simple choices in our own backyards can help give them their next second chance. 💚 🦋

09/12/2026

Dinner crawled right past his face, but he's not in the mood! 🐸🪱

We thought Patient 26-551 (affectionately known as Tomahawk P. Toad) was about to give us some dramatic wildlife footage. Instead, he let the worm stroll right past him and retreated into his dish. Apparently, he’s a lover, not a fighter! 😂

Don't worry, Tomahawk isn't skipping meals, he just strongly prefers mealworms and turned his nose up at this one. While this video is lighthearted, Tomahawk’s reason for being at Acorn Acres is much more serious. He was clipped by a lawn mower, sustaining injuries along the right side of his body and his eye. We are so happy to report that his eye is looking much better now!

🌱 How you can help toads like Tomahawk: Toads are masters of camouflage in grass and garden beds. Please take a quick walk through your yard to check for wildlife before you mow!

👇 What do you think: Was Tomahawk sparing the worm, or is he just a picky eater holding out for mealworms?

⏰ Our Second Chance Circle match ends September 15, and there is still so much of this incredible opportunity waiting to...
09/11/2026

⏰ Our Second Chance Circle match ends September 15, and there is still so much of this incredible opportunity waiting to be unlocked!

So far, 13 wonderful people have joined the Second Chance Circle, giving Acorn Acres $220 in dependable support every month. We are incredibly grateful for every one of them. ❤️

A longtime supporter has generously offered to match up to $2,000 in new monthly donations, but only monthly gifts made by September 15 qualify for the match. One-time donations, while always deeply appreciated, are not included in this particular opportunity.

Honestly, we don’t love asking the public for help all the time. But monthly support gives us something extraordinarily valuable: funding we can count on throughout the year as injured and orphaned wild animals continue arriving at our doors.

If you have been thinking about becoming a monthly donor, now is the time. Whether it is $5, $10, $15, or whatever feels comfortable, your monthly gift will help provide food, formula, medication, medical supplies, and safe housing for patients just like this sweet little guy.

Join the Second Chance Circle by September 15 and help us make the most of this generous match. 🌰🐿️

🌐 https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/second-chance-circle

Unfortunately, we need to share a sad update about Patient 26-373, our beautiful Pretty Piggy. She had to be humanely eu...
09/11/2026

Unfortunately, we need to share a sad update about Patient 26-373, our beautiful Pretty Piggy. She had to be humanely euthanized.

Pretty Piggy was admitted on June 27, and after weeks of care, things appeared to be looking up. When she suddenly stopped eating, we performed additional examinations and radiographs and took her to our veterinarian for further evaluation.

We discovered that her upper teeth had died and become a serious source of infection. The remaining options were extensive dental surgery to remove her teeth or humane euthanasia. Removing those teeth would have left a wild groundhog unable to return to the life she belonged in. After consulting with our veterinarian and carefully considering her long-term welfare, we made the incredibly difficult decision to let her go peacefully.

We do not often share individual patient losses on our main page. We typically speak directly with the finder so they know what happened. However, because we recently introduced Pretty Piggy to all of you—and because transparency matters even when the news is painful—we felt it was important to share how her story ended.

Wildlife rehabilitation does not always end in release. Sometimes the most compassionate care we can provide is a peaceful end without further pain or suffering.

Pretty Piggy was known, cared for and treated with kindness until the very end. We are deeply sorry her story could not end differently. Thank you for caring about her with us. 🤎

Scooter and Skeeter have officially been called up to the big leagues!These two have graduated from our baby opossum roo...
09/10/2026

Scooter and Skeeter have officially been called up to the big leagues!

These two have graduated from our baby opossum room and moved into the “Groundhog Burrow” which, despite its name, is currently filled mostly with growing opossums. Wildlife rehabilitation is funny like that. 😂

This move means more room to grow, more independence and one very important step closer to freedom. Before we know it, Scooter and Skeeter will be ready for release and heading back where they belong!

Can we get a little congratulations for the newest residents of the Groundhog Burrow? 🐾

🍂 Our fall calendar is PACKED and we would love to see you! 🐿️🦫Come meet our wildlife ambassadors, talk with our team, l...
09/09/2026

🍂 Our fall calendar is PACKED and we would love to see you! 🐿️🦫

Come meet our wildlife ambassadors, talk with our team, learn something new, and maybe take home a little Acorn Acres merchandise!

📍 September 13 | Million Reasons Festival | 1–5 PM
We’ll have TRACKS!, wildlife ambassadors, merchandise, and AJ in the dunk tank!

📍 September 19 | Red Creek Wildlife Center Open House | 11 AM–5 PM
Come visit our information table and meet some of our ambassadors!

📍 September 26 | Wags Whiskers and W**e at Britain Hill | 11 AM-5 PM
Find us with wildlife ambassadors and our information table!

📍 October 10 | Albatwitch Festival in Wrightsville | 11 AM–5 PM
We’ll have wildlife ambassadors, information, and merchandise!

📍 October 17 | Millersville Parade & Block Party
The parade begins at 8 AM, with the block party immediately afterward!

📍 October 31 | BATS! Inside the Wild at Acorn Acres | 2 PM
Join us at the clinic for the final program in our 2026 Inside the Wild series! (this event is for children and registration is required)

📍 November 20 | ExtraGive
Visit our table at Tellus360, then join us at the Acorn Acres clinic for our ExtraGive Open House: The Next Second Chance. Peggy from Red Creek Wildlife Center will be joining us, too!

Whew😅 we told you it was a lot! Which event will we see you at? ❤️

#ᴀɴɪᴍᴀʟʟᴏᴠᴇʀ

🚨We are on our last bottle of Tide! 🚨At Acorn Acres, the washing machine rarely gets a break. Every day brings piles of ...
09/09/2026

🚨We are on our last bottle of Tide! 🚨

At Acorn Acres, the washing machine rarely gets a break. Every day brings piles of blankets, bedding, and other laundry from the animals in our care. Keeping those items clean and properly sanitized is an essential part of keeping our patients healthy.

We are urgently in need of Tide laundry detergent, laundry sanitizer, and bleach. If you’re able to add a bottle, or two 👀, to your next shopping trip or amazon purchase, we would be incredibly grateful!

Please visit the Donate page on our website for more details:

🌐 acornacreswr.com/donate/

Thank you for helping us keep the laundry moving and our patients safe. Even the most ordinary supplies make an extraordinary difference here. ❤️🐿️

09/09/2026

Inside the mind of a baby squirrel: starring Patients 26-434, 26-444, 26-522, 26-525 and 26-547. 🐿️

It may look like tiny squirrel chaos, but there is real survival behavior happening here. Squirrels are prey animals, so anything unfamiliar must be carefully assessed. They pause, watch, sniff and use their sensitive whiskers to investigate before deciding whether something is dangerous, edible or completely irrelevant.

Their pouch also provides more than an adorable place to stand on your friends. Young squirrels naturally grow up alongside littermates, receiving warmth, security, companionship and opportunities to practice normal squirrel behaviors. These five may not have been born siblings, but being raised with compatible squirrels of similar ages helps them develop as wild squirrels; not tiny humans in fur coats.

Which baby squirrel thought are you having today? 😂

Address

PO Box 201
Millersville, PA
17551

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 6pm
Sunday 9am - 6pm

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