Giving wildlife a second chance!

Walden’s Puddle is proud to be the only professionally staffed wildlife rehabilitation and education facility in Middle Tennessee.  We are located on 14 rolling acres in northwest Davidson County in Joelton, TN – just outside of Nashville. With each passing year, the demand for our services grows. Last year, we admitted more than 1,700 animals into our facility.   Should you find an injured or orphaned wild animal, we invite you to call our Wildlife Hotline at (615) 299-9938.

To provide care to sick, injured and orphaned native Tennessee wildlife and to provide educational experiences to the community, allowing for a greater understanding and appreciation of wildlife.

Walden’s Puddle began in 1989 as a home-based rehabilitation center. In 1991, we were incorporated and established as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization as we moved into a building in the Berry Hill community of Nashville.

The mid 90’s saw Walden’s Puddle searching for a new home and it wasn’t long before the perfect site was found: a 14.5 acre tract of rolling hills with a natural spring fed creek and a small residence in Joelton, Tennessee. Located within Metro-Davidson County, the property was close enough to Nashville to be a very short drive, but distant enough from the hubbub of the city; Joelton was the perfect location.

Today, Walden’s Puddle is still found on this same beautiful stretch of land, but our building has grown a bit.

The facility is a converted home. Downstairs is dedicated to various rehabilitation functions: a mammal room, bird room, exam/emergency room, nursery, kitchen/diet prep room and more. Upstairs houses our administrative offices: Executive director and Animal Care Manager, as well as the Admission Lobby and Educational Animal Exhibits.

Outdoors you will find the pre-release enclosures for rehabilitated animals to acclimate to environmental conditions before their release. We also have Educational Animal Exhibits for some of our resident non-releasable animals.

Some of you may have seen us on Channels 4 and 5 on March 5th when we enlisted the help of Mike Wilson of Expert Tree Care to help us re-nest a Great Horned Owlet. The owlet was blown from its nest during a storm on the TBI campus at Hart Lane. The nest was torn apart so we had to rebuild the nest to reunite the owlet with the siblings that managed to stay in the tree. One parent was back on the nest by 6:10 pm.

We were also able to get another Great Horned Owl back home on some private property in Franklin on the 25th. This nest was in a pine that was so full it could only be found by looking for food remnants under the tree. We couldn't see where the nest was or if there was a sibling still there. Mike started climbing and finally reached the nest about 10 feet from the top of the 75 foot tall tree--all on a very windy afternoon! Indeed, there was an irate sibling, puffed up and clacking its beak. Again, we had to rebuild the nest to reunite the owlets. This time, both parents flew into the tree within minutes of each other, around 7:30pm.

We always want to reunite babies with parents whenever possible. While we are very good at what we do, the parents can do it much better. A Great Horned owlet would be with us for 5-6 months before being ready for release and it would cost us at least $500 simply to provide food for it during that time. This is another reason it makes good sense for us to re-nest raptor chicks whenever possible. Thanks to Mike Wilson, we have the ability to do so.

On another note, we are still in need of Reception/Admissions volunteers for every day of the week except Monday. Basic duties involve returning phone calls, setting up appointments for animal admissions and accepting those admissions in our lobby. There is a small amount of training required, as well as committing to a 3-4 hour shift. Our hours of need are from 8:00 am-8:00 pm Tuesday-Sunday. Please email us at wildlife@waldenspuddle.org or call 615-299-9938 and leave a brief message if you are interested.

We are pleased to announce our partnership with CoolPeopleCare.org. CoolPeopleCare and the newly launched CoolMomsCare aim to be THE online destination for anyone who wants to make a difference. We are happy to be partnered with others who are making a positive impact each and every day.

No events are scheduled at this time. Please check back soon!

Found an injured or orphaned animal?
Call our Wildlife Hotline at (615)-299-9938

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OUR GOAL:
The goal at Walden’s
Puddle is to return as many wild animals as possible to nature. No animal is turned away as long as we have adequate funds. We are
not species-specific, instead choosing to assist all wild
animals in need.