Animal instincts

Sandy Carver Boskey is a devoted animal lover, with 40 years of experience in caring for injured creatures. 

“I learned from my mom,” she said. “Growing up, we were always rescuing some sort of animal because we lived on acreage in the woods.” 

Her childhood home was located on undeveloped land by Orlando International Airport.

A Windermere resident since 2014, Boskey took in the occasional rescue until in 2017, when she discovered a baby squirrel had been blown into her yard during Hurricane Irma. While searching for assistance on social media, she found Squirrel Angel — a Titusville-based rehabilitation service — and asked founder Jason Allen for help with her foundling.

“We had more than 100 squirrels within a couple of days after Irma, and we were not able to take anymore,” Allen said. “She ended up taking a squirrel from us to raise with the one she had.”

Boskey eventually partnered with Allen, accepting rescues and moderating the Central Florida Squirrel Rescue Facebook group.

“Sandy’s definitely been a godsend,” said Allen. “She’s done a lot of volunteer fostering of squirrels and other mammals for us over the years.”

Boskey and her daughter, Savannah, currently care for 50 animals from eight different species on her one-acre property. When an animal is able to care for itself, it is released into the Oakland Nature Preserve.

“I take every animal: bunnies that dogs dig out of the yard, opossums, raccoons, I’ve raised several bluejays, woodpeckers, doves,” she said.

Boskey has even cared for southern flying squirrels, a chinchilla and a kestrel — the smallest falcon in North America.

“Windermere Native Outdoor tree service has graciously saved and brought me animals that have been injured or orphaned from tree cutting,” she said. “I take ’em all; they can be mean as a rattlesnake.”

But not literally — because she does not take in snakes.

“As a matter of fact, my neighbor called the other day and had a coral snake and said, ‘Where can I bring him?’” she said. “And I said, ‘I’ll give you the number to Reptile World.’”

Aside from reptiles, Boskey sometimes finds a rescue she can’t accommodate. 

“We had a baby bat a few months ago,” she said. “It was outside of my expertise, so I brought it to a

professional.”

Her other rescue partners include Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge in Orlando, and Fallen Pines Critter Rescue, located in Christmas.

Boskey receives new arrivals on an almost daily basis and estimates the cost of care and feeding to be between $300 to $400 every month. 

“I don’t ask for donations; I am self-funded” she said. “Sometimes, people will insist and offer a little bit of money, but it doesn’t even cover the food costs.”

Rescues are made possible by her other full-time job, which happens to be linked to another childhood interest, inspired by her father.

“My dad had a garage, he was always working on cars,” she said. “He had a 1965 GTO and a 1956 GMC. I started working at the Manheim Auto Auction in 2003 and stayed in the auto business ever since.” 

She currently works at Past and Present Motor Cars in Winter Garden.

Boskey lives a life of giving that stems from a sustainable balance between her mom’s charity and her father’s passion. But the rescues also fulfill a desire to communicate the needs of the natural world.

“I would love to have a larger property with a huge rehabilitation building and volunteers I could educate,” she said. “That’s my biggest goal — to educate people on the importance of wildlife and to care for them not to be afraid of them or hurt them. I practice every day. Every person I speak to, I educate.”