When someone finds an injured, sick or orphaned wild animal, the first question is usually simple: What do I do now?
For WildCare Oklahoma, answering that question is a major part of the mission.
The nonprofit provides medical and rehabilitative care for native wildlife with the goal of returning healthy animals to the wild. Just as importantly, its team helps people navigate wildlife emergencies and human-animal conflicts with safe, humane guidance.
On a typical day, that means caring for animals throughout the facility, operating a wildlife hospital and answering roughly 100 incoming phone calls from people looking for help.
For WildCare, staying connected to the public is essential.
Before switching to OEC Fiber, WildCare’s phone and internet service could become unreliable enough to interrupt operations.
“Every time it rained, we had no phone,” WildCare shared in its interview. “Literally no phone service whatsoever.”
For an organization people call when they have found wildlife in distress, losing phone service for an hour or more created a serious problem. Staff could not receive calls or make outgoing calls and unreliable internet meant Wi-Fi calling was not an option either.
Today, WildCare’s OEC Fiber phone service gives the organization three lines instead of the single line it previously depended on.
That means multiple conversations can happen at once, whether staff are helping someone safely transport an injured animal, answering a question about wildlife around a home or simply making an outgoing call without waiting for another conversation to end.
“The phone always works,” WildCare said. “We can do two things at once or three things at once on the phone.”
The improvement extends beyond the phones.
WildCare relies on its internet connection for email, its website, social media and other communication with the public. Under its previous service, even making a basic website update could become difficult because of slow or interrupted connectivity.
Since switching to OEC Fiber, WildCare said those interruptions have gone away.
The organization also reports that its combined internet and phone costs decreased by more than half compared with its previous service.
For a nonprofit supported by donations rather than government funding, those savings leave more resources available to support its mission.
And when WildCare needs help, having responsive local support matters too.
“The customer service is so incredibly responsive,” WildCare said. “I feel like OEC could probably do another side business on teaching businesses how to do customer service.”
For WildCare, reliable communication helps connect people with answers, staff with the tools they need and injured wildlife with a second chance.
