About

History

As the parent organization of the Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary, Octagon Sequence of Eight was awarded it's 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable status on July 9th, 1992 . Prior to and since, the volunteers at Octagon Wildlife have rescued and cared for over a thousand animals. As a non  profit, the very best is done for the animals we care for. Octagon is blessed with the most outstanding volunteers, contributors, and support any organization could ask for.


Octagon does not buy, breed or sell any animals.  Since new management took over in May 2005, no intentional breeding has taken place.  At times, animals we take in, often through State and Federal confiscations from unlicensed owners or animals having to be transferred from closing facilities, may already be pregnant without our knowledge. We do everything to provide for the mother to be. Volunteers go to extremes to care for the offspring once they are born, which they then become residents of Octagon.  

Today

Octagon leases the land, which is privately owned, for $1.00 per year and is responsible for any and all maintenance. The director lives on the property and volunteers her time as does the rest of the volunteer staff.


Many times, when an animal passes away, it is donated to reputable colleges and universities. This allows anthropologists to further study how age and diseases affect the species.

 We welcome visitors to engage (from 6 ft away) with our animals.  We also welcome school groups.  High School students can earn school credits for various classes.  Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts can work toward a scout badge.  Interns may volunteer to earn college credit hours.   

Monthly Costs

Many people have no idea what it takes to keep our animals safe, secure, and healthy. Octagon does not receive any federal or state funding.  All money comes from grants, donations, fundraisers, and admission fees. Here are how monetary donations are used each month:


    Raw meat                                                    $3,500.00

    Other animal feed                                 $ 500.00

    Veterinarians - services, medications, etc.                                                                                   $ 500.00

    Electric                                                           $ 800.00

    Telephone                                                    $ 300.00

    Septic                                                              $ 300.00

    Insurance.                                                    $ 325.00

    Gas - picking up animals, food, etc.                                                                                                   $ 450.00

    Supplies                                                        $ 1,600.00

    Office                                                               $ 100.00

    Total                                                                 $8,375.0


Message from our Director

Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary is a non profit organization (nursing home/retirement village exotic animals). We are NOT a zoo. Though we rescue zoo type animals, they are 20 to 30 year generations of being born, raised, and sold in captivity to be a "pet" or used in a business. None of the animals have been taken out of the wild. 

Many of our animals are on medication. Their enclosures are above and beyond the FWC State and USDA Federal regulations.  All the animals that love water, have pools.  The shade cloth over their areas cools the temperature down by 15 degrees and the covered houses allow them to get out of the weather. The animals all have toys to play around with for daily enrichment. Our primates even have TVs!

We are regulated by USDA Federal, USDA State, Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC).  Our veterinarian care program is specific to every animal species we care for. Laws and vet care change all the time. Some of the animals we acquire come from FWC and USDA Federal confiscations. We are not a government owned facility, therefore, do not receive any funds from these agencies. In fact, they are not required to help care for any animal they bring to us and we fully understand this.

FWC officers will, however, drop off food when available to them which helps us feed over 500 pounds of raw meat and 100-200 pounds of produce every day/night. 




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