Fur, Feathers, Tails, and Scales! Eva Erdogan

Eva Erdogan

If you take a look around New England, and you’ll find no shortage of rescues geared toward cats and dogs. You may even be able to adopt a rabbit from a humane society near you. But when you have a bearded dragon, hamster, or betta fish you are no longer able to care for, the options used to be essentially non-existent.

Safe Haven Critter Rescue, formed in November 2020, hopes to open up a dialogue about the increasing popularity of keeping exotic animals as companions. They are readily available in every chain store, but what happens to them when they cannot be cared for anymore?

My passion for animal care started when I began work in a retail pet store back in 2016. I was shocked that the only option for most people when they could no longer care for their animals, was to bring them back to the store. The store simply resold the surrendered animals and the cycle continued. I took in a couple of particularly bad critters in and from there and got my first experiences with animal rehabilitation. Since that job, I also have gotten the opportunity to work at my local shelter, as well as volunteering with wildlife rehabilitators. It was time to go out and start my journey (with the continued support of everyone I had met thus far)!

So far, we have done 18 adoptions, which feels phenomenal for only being 6 months in!

One of the first animals we took in was two rabbits who were being given away for free on Craigslist. They had been living outdoors and both had bacterial respiratory infections when we took them in. With the help of the folks at our vet, we were able to get them treated to a manageable level, but they have a lifelong condition that needs a little extra monitoring from their human caretaker. Echo and Ember have been with us since November and are still looking for their new home!

We most frequently take in red ear sliders, rats, and small birds as well. Reptiles especially are incredibly resilient creatures and we had a couple of rehab cases where we’ve seen them make amazing,

Plato, a gecko with Metabolic Bone Disease who was rehabilitated and adopted.

unexpected recoveries and be able to go on to a new loving home. There is a much bigger need for exotics rescue than we have the capacity for, and we tend to have a running waitlist for animals in need. We’ve been very lucky to be able to lean on the other two New England reptile rescues, HerpHaven in Maine, and Rainforest Reptiles in Massachusetts, for

Echo (white) and Ember (tortoiseshell), available for adoption

support with cases we are unable to take on, as well as being able to direct to wildlife rehabilitators and farm sanctuaries. We hope that we are only the beginning of many resources to come for people with exotics who need information or a place to rehome safely.

If you’d like to learn more, visit our website safehavencritterrescue.squarespace.com, or check out our Facebook and Instagram pages, @safehavencritterrescue. We’d love to hear from you!