Wildlife Rescue of Central Texas (WRCT) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to care for injured and orphaned wildlife, provide public education programs, and promote peaceful coexistence with our wild neighbors. WRCT provides vital services to the Central Texas area that are currently lacking.

WRCT rescues wild animals, offers a central location in Bastrop County for the public to bring animals in need of help, and provides the necessary care to allow these animals to grow and recover before their return to the wild. Not only is this a service provided to animals who will not survive without proper care, it also provides a service to the public -- a professional and reliable organization where they can drop off an animal when they may otherwise not have a place to take it. Caring for a wild animal without proper permits is illegal in Texas. Additionally, without proper training and licensing, the care a wild animal receives, while well-intentioned, is very different from a domestic animal, and may not be the care it needs to successfully return to its native habitat.

There is very little wildlife education programming in the area. As Central Texas continues to grow exponentially, and more land is cleared for development, animals are left with no place to go. Wild animals are driven out of their habitats and forced to live within city limits and in urban neighborhoods, which causes increasing encounters with the public and more human-animal conflict. There are many misconceptions about wildlife and misunderstandings about their place in our ecosystem. At WRCT, we believe in humane coexistence and promote this idea as part of our mission. Our goal is to educate the public and advocate for the vital role these animals play within our communities. WRCT provides educational programs to students, school groups, and community groups to educate the public about wildlife.

We work with Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens, city services such as electric and water companies, local businesses, veterinarians, and city animal shelters. These groups are not permitted to care for wild animals, but regularly receive calls from concerned citizens in need of help. There is not another wildlife rehabilitation center in Bastrop, so we network with wildlife rehabilitation centers throughout Texas and work together to care for all wildlife in need. We want what is best for each animal and provide humane, respectful, high-quality care to each patient with the ultimate goal of release to the wild.