JOELTON, Tenn. (WKRN) — A wildlife rescue in Joelton suffered extensive damage from Friday’s storms as downed trees damaged animal enclosures and left the facility without power for days. The severe weather caused several thousands of dollars of damage to the nonprofit organization Walden’s Puddle.

Harmonious sounds now echo through the organization’s 14-acre property, but Friday, the home for the sick, injured and orphaned native Tennessee wildlife wasn’t so peaceful.

“We had the highest winds, you know, in our area that was 79 or so mile per hour winds,” stated Walden’s Puddle in-kind CEO Lane Brody.

Nearly a dozen large trees were knocked down on the grounds, damaging two mammal enclosures and destroying a raccoon enclosure.

“It’s amazing those guys survived. They were all huddled down underneath the rubble. It was so sad they were a little bit panicked, but we got them out,” said Brody. “You know, we love our animals and our education animals, the ones that are at our facility all the time until they live out their natural life, they can’t be released back into the wild. They become like family to us so we were really fortunate that they are ok.”

Several volunteers from the community came armed with chainsaws over the weekend to help with clean-up. Brody says the trees will be used for enrichment for the animals, so they won’t go to waste.

The home base of the wildlife sanctuary was unscathed; however, it was without power for five days. Brody says they lost medications and food for the animals, one of the nonprofit’s biggest expenses.  

“We only receive the donations from our giving public that love what we do and really want to take care of our Middle Tennessee native wildlife. They support us so we couldn’t do it without our community involvement,” stated Brody.

If you would like to help in recovery efforts, click here.