Operation Wildlife

Operation Wildlife Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Operation Wildlife, 23375 Guthrie Road, Linwood, KS.
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Operation Wildlife is the largest publicly funded wildlife rehabilitation facility in Kansas. 501(c)3 not for profit Licensed by US Fish & Wildlife, Kansas Dept of Wildlife and Parks and USDA

09/05/2026

Happy international Vulture Awareness day! 🖤

OWL Open House Sunday, October 4, 2026 1:00 – 4 pm 23375 Guthrie Rd, Linwood KS 66052Tickets can be purchased online a...
09/04/2026

OWL Open House Sunday, October 4, 2026 1:00 – 4 pm
23375 Guthrie Rd, Linwood KS 66052
Tickets can be purchased online at https://new.biddingowl.com/owlopenhouse
Or, you can print the attached Registration form if you prefer to mail a check.

09/02/2026

This yellow-bellied racer became tangled in landscaping netting unable to get free. A Good Samaritan came upon it tangled, struggling to get free and cut the netting but found areas where it was on there pretty tight and decided to bring it to us for further evaluation. Our director was able to get the snake free with no injures to the scales or body! We sent it back on its merry way into the woods, far from new development and any chance of getting tangled up again.

This look says it all! 😅 Today our phone number was OFFICIALLY ported over to our new satellite phone system and we are ...
08/26/2026

This look says it all! 😅 Today our phone number was OFFICIALLY ported over to our new satellite phone system and we are doing our best to work out the kinks!!

Our new software lets us see that we are averaging 3 calls PER MINUTE and it’s getting wild! Rather than going to call waiting, the next call rings to each volunteer cell down the line on the phone tree and we are buzzing off the hook!

Thank you for your patience as we navigate this change! Be sure and leave a voicemail if you don’t get through, we will call you back!

08/22/2026

Shelican the Pelican, has been with us since December of last year and is one of the longest-stay patients in our facility. Shelicans journey has been one of many hurdles but she has finally completed the race to the finish line!

Shelican was named after our volunteer Shelly who made a heroic kayak water rescue after a pelican was reported to be stranded on a pond for weeks after the rest of the group she’d been seen with had flown off and migrated for the winter. Upon arrival at our facility Shelican was found to have injuries consistent with striking a power line in flight. She had a “clothesline” type injury to her neck that resulted in major swelling, as well as damage to the primary flight feathers of her left wing. The combination of these injuries left her weakened and unable to eat, fly, or make migration.

Getting nutrition into her was another challenge- she required tube feeding, fluids, and medications for her first several days in our care until her swelling had gone down enough to start consuming small fish on her own again. Once eating on her own she recovered very quickly, developing a voracious appetite and spunky attitude! She was a very cooperative patient for her weekly weigh-ins, stepping onto the scale in her enclosure almost as if she understood what she was being asked to do. She was back to a healthy weight in no time, but we had no choice but to overwinter her at our facility. As we waited months for her to complete a full molt so that she could regrow her primary flight feathers, she was fed hundreds of pounds of fresh caught fish by our volunteer fishermen. Our many thanks to Kent D King and everyone pitched in to help feed this convalescing bird.

Once we noticed new feathers growing in, the last major hurdle was to locate a pod of pelicans to integrate her with. Pelicans are highly social birds and travel in groups, making it important to her success that we find friends for her before it became time to migrate again. We had reports of a single pelican at the spillway of Perry Lake and decided to scope it out. While our volunteers couldn’t find this pelican, they continued to drive around searching and came across a large pod of 50+ pelicans on a nearby island and peninsula! It was quite the hike team carrying Shelican in her giant kennel out to the tip of the land to get her as close as possible to the other pelicans on the island.

She seemed in disbelief at first but then confidently makes her way over to the group and hops right up on the rock and makes herself at home. We will miss Shelican but are so comforted knowing she has made a complete recovery and has been accepted into a new family ❤️

STORMS, PHONES, AND BABIES OH MY⛈️☎️🐿️Here are just a few of the MANY displaced animals we took in today after the storm...
08/20/2026

STORMS, PHONES, AND BABIES OH MY⛈️☎️🐿️

Here are just a few of the MANY displaced animals we took in today after the storms last night - with several more intakes arranged for tomorrow!

To add to the semi-controlled chaos, today (after hours) we switched over to our new phone system. We can’t thank our tech guy, Rich, enough for getting us up and running! Please be patient with us as we navigate this change. Our new system features an automated menu of options to help navigate any common concerns before speaking to a member of the team, we hope this will be helpful and can make adjustments to these features as we feel out how it works.

If you have any issue getting through to us you can always reach us by email at [email protected] 💻

If any of these little faces touch your heart and you’d like to help to support their care we will include a donation button on the post as well as other ways to support us in our linktree below.

08/14/2026

Blink and you’ll miss it! This hummingbird came to us after a window strike left it stunned and suffering the effects of head trauma. Thankfully a safe place to recover, plenty of nutrition and microscopic doses of medications did the trick! Happy to report this tiny bird is out in time to make migration. We’ve slowed the release video down so you can really take in the moment it experiences freedom again. Safe travels on the long journey ahead!

08/11/2026

The much anticipated baby snapping turtle release day has arrived! You may remember these guys from our recent post on hatch day - all of the eggs found dug up by a predator and brought to us by a young gentlemen hatched after a little over 2 months in our incubator.

Snapping turtle eggs are laid away from water in the wild, and upon hatching the babies make the journey to water. Hatchling turtles are born with a yolk sac that provides them nutrients for the first days of their lives until they make it to water. They will not seek food until this source of nutrition has been depleted. Now that their yolk sacs have shrunken and absorbed the day has come when they are ready to be introduced to water where they will feast on a variety of insects, worms, aquatic plants, tadpoles, small fish, and a variety of other aquatic invertebrates.

Happy life tiny dinosaurs! Be safe crossing the road in the future! To anyone who may be reading this, please think of these precious babies when you see a turtle crossing the road - give them a break, and help them across in the direction they're headed if it's safe to do so! 🐢

PHOTO FOR ATTENTION!Oh boy - prepare for a rant! If you made a Venmo donation to us in the last month after searching f...
08/08/2026

PHOTO FOR ATTENTION!

Oh boy - prepare for a rant! If you made a Venmo donation to us in the last month after searching for our name on Venmo you may have been scammed. Please check your Venmo transactions carefully. This is the fake handle -supportt_ and they are found under the "people" category. We are listed under the "charity" category. I have spoken with Venmo and they would like these transactions reported to them. I'm not sure if they can help you get your money back but it's worth a try.....

Also, Explore Kansas put out a great article about us yesterday but the title of the article is misleading. They are suggesting that people can walk freely amongst the hawks and eagles at our facility and this is not true. I have been turning people away who are just showing up. We are a hospital and are not open to "public" tours except at our annual open house. The photos in this article are from our 2025 Open House.

For our last bit of bad news -- we will be without phone service intermittently throughout the next few weeks. We are transitioning to an all digital system because ATT is not renewing our landline business plan and the new plan they are offering will cost us $ 856 a month. If you need our services - please email. [email protected]

That's all folks ---- have a safe weekend

Sickly little opossum here to let you know OUR PHONES ARE DOWN 🚫☎️If you cannot reach us by phone PLEASE EMAIL us at opw...
08/05/2026

Sickly little opossum here to let you know OUR PHONES ARE DOWN 🚫☎️

If you cannot reach us by phone PLEASE EMAIL us at [email protected]

We are working with AT&T to fix the issue, thank you for your patience and understanding.

Address

23375 Guthrie Road
Linwood, KS
66052

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm
Saturday 8:30am - 2pm

Telephone

+17855423625

Website

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