Our Bob Barker Animal Care Building is finally going up!
The painful waiting game is finally over. After a tedious process of designing the building, followed by 8 1/2 months struggling through red tape to obtain the Marion County building permit, we are finally allowed to build!
We brought in fill, cleared trees, built up our driveway, moved our access gates and continued planning, but we couldn’t start construction until the permit was approved. The minute we were allowed, we couldn’t wait to break ground.
The construction has been underway for only 4 weeks and look how far along we are already!
Recent newspaper article includes a quote from Bob Barker himself!
We are so excited to start construction – everything has been waiting on this permit – but we had ‘stalled’ in our fundraising due to the uncertain timing of the project. Now the contractor is moving ahead quickly and we don’t want to stop construction while we raise money!
Will you join Mr Barker in supporting the sanctuary and help complete the project?
We need to keep the donations coming in as fast as our contractor can build!
Donate Now
If you prefer, your tax-deductible gift can be mailed to:
Forest Animal Rescue
640 NE 170th Ct.
Silver Springs, FL 34488
From the beginning:
The Bob Barker Animal Care Building will ensure continuing high standards of veterinary and nutritional care for the animals at Forest Animal Rescue as the sanctuary continues to grow. With the improved capacity for care, the sanctuary will be able to accept even the tiniest, most fragile orphaned bear cubs for rehabilitation and release – while maintaining our high standards of care for the sanctuary’s 100+ nonreleasable rescued animals. It will also provide more working space for our interns, local and international volunteers as they learn proper methods of caring for wild animals in captivity.
In 2016, retired game show host, Bob Barker approved a $100,000 gift from his foundation to set the project in motion. We immediately began the design and planning process, but nothing seems to ever go smoothly the first time.
When we submitted our final design to the Marion County Building Department we discovered that we would need to revise our special use permit, requiring public zoning hearings and even more time. Revisions to the plans were repeatedly submitted, rejected, resubmitted…we were pulling our hair out…
Finally – Marion County hired Jeffrey Camden as the Building Department Director. Brand new on the job, we asked him to look at our project – The permit was approved that day!