BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. — An elderly Bradenton Beach couple known for rescuing and nursing injured wildlife back to health in their home is now at risk of losing it all after the double blow from hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Over the years, Ed and Gail Straight, through their 34-year-old non-profit, Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center, said they have rescued, rehabilitated or assisted in rehabilitating more than 150,000 animals.
"The front part is our house, although it always incorporates animals anyway, but the back part is specifically for the wildlife," said Gail Straight, owner of Wildlife Inc. in Bradenton Beach.
While her husband Ed was moved to another home to continue his recovery from an illness, Gail Straight and her grandson worked to evacuate hundreds of animals in their home sanctuary ahead of the hurricane. Still, they lost some of them in the process.
However, with the double devastation and destruction from the hurricanes, they don't know if they'll be able to rebuild.
They have lived in their Bradenton Beach home for a total of 54 years and turned it into an animal sanctuary because of Gail's love for animals.
"I was raised with animals as a kid I collected frogs and lightning bugs and everything else. I’ve always let them go, but I was always into animals and we always had a dog. I don’t know what to do without them," Straight said.
"I think the environment needs somebody to help protect them at this point because the environment seems to be going downhill pretty quick. There is no environment. It’s all turned into houses and golf courses and we need a place for the poor animals to go," she said.
Now the couple and the animals they love so much have found themselves in a helpless spot.
"We have nothing we lost both of our cars we lost all of our furniture. Basically everything — I have no computer; I have no anything to contact people with," said Straight.
While the gutting and mucking process has begun, the home is however overrun with mold and because of how sensitive Ed's medical condition is and the challenges with continuing his care in a safe environment, he is unable to return home.
"It's almost embarrassing for us to ask for anything, but because Ed is on dialysis three times a week because he's in kidney failure, I had to buy a car and the car dealers don't seem to be dealing very well so I will be in debt for the next 20 years paying the car off," Gail said.
But that has still not stopped her from responding to the influx of calls for distressed wildlife and opening her flood-battered doors or trying to find volunteers to assist with an animal rescue.
"We just had a call from someone that apparently didn't know we had a hurricane here that had some little rabbits. Just because there's a storm doesn't mean that animals don't get hurt so we are still accepting calls. We are just not taking tons of them right now until we get the house and everything put back together," she said.
"We have been doing it for so long that I don't even know what to do with myself when I'm not taking care of animals, and if all I had to do was look at the devastation in the house, I would probably go nuts. We'll get it done one way or the other. If I have to take out a loan I'll take out a loan," Straight said.
Despite the heartbreaking turn of events for the family, Gail is hoping for a positive outcome to a desperate situation.
"We will be okay, we will survive. You just have to laugh it off. Everybody is doing it. We just happen to have the animals too," she said.
Currently, many of the animals are staying with volunteers but some owls, falcons and smaller animals are being sheltered in a safe part of the sanctuary.
The couple's situation has also been further complicated because of laws governing non-profits. Since their ordeal has come to light through social media, some members of the community have been able to galvanize and generate around $38,000 in donations for Wildlife Inc.
However, the problem here is a majority of those generous checks and payments were made to the non-profit and can only be used for the animals on items like food, medicals and transportation. Since the home the animals are housed in belongs to Ed and Gail, donations for repairs or securing a new location have to be made in their name and not to the nonprofit.
To help Ed and Gail Straight you can click on their GoFundMe or mail checks to:
- Gail Straight and Ed Straight
- Address: 2207 Avenue B, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217
To help Wildlife Inc., you can visit their Facebook Page or mail checks to:
- Wildlife Inc.
- Address: 2207 Avenue B, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217
- Phone number, if needed: (941) 778-6324