About

What is the Animal Institute?

The Animal Institute is a 100%-volunteer 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit animal protection organization. We are a small grassroots operation supported entirely by a small team of volunteers.

For years, the Animal Institute operated a large-scale wildlife clinic that addressed countless injured, ill, and orphaned animals, focusing primarily (but not exclusively) on 'rabies vector species' (RVS).

Due to a perfect storm of external influences, the wildlife clinic had to be reduced to a very small operation that has no ability to accept further intake at this time.

We have turned our primary focus towards animal education, and this website is now our flagship resource for wildlife rehabilitation education.

Who is Chris Benson?

Chris Benson is the Cofounder and Managing Director of the Animal Institute, and is a very experienced wildlife rehabilitator who is licensed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR). He is also certified by GA DNR for 'rabies vector species' (RVS).

Chris takes a science-first approach to wildlife rehabilitation that is based on the latest advances and research in veterinary medicine, pharmacology, and clinical antimicrobial therapies for infectious diseases.

He is a strong advocate for wildlife rehabilitators to level-up and not just accept "hand me down" information from other rehabbers, because that information often becomes dated by advances in knowledge and understanding.

Chris also conducts field work to study the behavior, motivations, predator/prey dynamics, mating, and parental care of wildlife. While he addresses many species in general, he has deep expertise in raccoons, foxes, and coyotes.