The Sanibel-Captiva Islander and Island Reporter have announced the winners of the 2026 Best of the Islands awards, chosen through print ballots and online voting. CROW’s Amber Strassler was named Best Humanitarian. Get to know Amber and the work behind this community honor in the profile below.

Name

Amber Strassler, CVT, CWR

When did you start at CROW?

July 1, 2018

What does being named a Best of the Islands winner mean to you?

Being named Best Humanitarian was completely unexpected, and I’m deeply honored and moved that the community selected me for this gesture. I work with a team of dedicated wildlife professionals, and it is truly a massive undertaking that one person can’t accomplish alone, so I’m honored to represent that collective effort.

How does CROW’s mission to rescue, rehabilitate and release wildlife connect with what is important to you personally?

Saving wildlife has been a long-term personal mission of mine. Working at CROW has allowed me a platform to pursue these goals. From the moment I started working in the wildlife conservation field over 10 years ago, I felt a connection to this mission – the same mission CROW stands behind.

I sacrificed a lot in my life in order to pursue this line of work, but it is simply because I truly believe in what we are doing and I’ve seen such a need for this kind of service.

I’m grateful there are organizations like CROW that are dedicated to this work and I’m incredibly thankful for this community here that supports us and sincerely makes it all possible!

What motivates you to help others through your work at CROW?

I know how much joy I get from wildlife and I want more people to experience that. I love being able to help educate people on the importance of wildlife conservation. It brings me so much happiness when I can help change someone’s negative outlook of wildlife, encourage others to keep our environment clean, or inspire someone to stop and help a struggling animal.

I don’t want people to miss out on the simple joy that coexisting with wildlife can bring.

I also love that my job gives me the opportunity to serve my community by helping our shared wildlife. CROW wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the community stepping up to give financially, volunteer, or even simply share our message about protecting wildlife. It isn’t lost on me that I’ve been entrusted to care for these lives by our community members.

When people bring us injured/ill animals, they are trusting us to do the part they can’t – care for them, rehabilitate them, and release the ones we can save. That trust is a huge motivator and gives me a great responsibility that I know my entire team is honored to hold. I hope the public sees me as a resource to help the wildlife we share our homes with.

In what ways does your role allow you to make a difference for CROW’s patients, people and the community?

My role as a certified veterinary technician allows me to care for the most vulnerable, often critically ill or injured wildlife. You can think of CROW an ER for wildlife, so we are working to triage and stabilize new admits to our hospital all day, every day.

I love that my role allows me to care directly for these animals and be a small part in their journey through rehabilitation. Even for the ones we can’t save – I’m able to provide as much comfort to them as I can.

This position also allows me to help mentor and teach the next generation of veterinary technicians, veterinarians, and wildlife care providers. We host numerous students each year at the wildlife hospital and that gives me the opportunity to invest in sharing my knowledge.

I love when students get excited about getting to work with such unique wildlife or seeing the moment they learn something new that they’ll carry with them for their careers.

Being able to share what I’ve learned through my own career is a special aspect of what I do at CROW. The more people who are invested in and excited about growing this field, the better off our wildlife will be. And I’m so grateful that my role allows me to contribute a meaningful service to our island communities and surrounding cities.

Whether it is volunteering, supporting our mission financially, or rescuing an injured/ill animal – I could not do my job without the amazing people here.

I fell in love with Sanibel after visiting for the first time over 10 years ago – the wildlife, the small town feel, the sense of genuine community.

To see a community prioritize conservation efforts and coexisting with wildlife in this day and age is a rarity. It is a model for what I hope other areas of our state will become. And it is a huge part of what makes working on Island so special to me. So I sincerely love this community, and I’m honored to give back in some small way.

What is one aspect of your job that people outside CROW may not realize you do? Please provide details.

I think people sometimes overlook how individualized the care is for each species of animals we admit here and how much you have to learn about the natural history of every species that comes through the door.

You learn that appropriate housing for a woodpecker looks different than housing for a cardinal. You learn migration patterns to ensure your patient, such as a swallow-tailed kite, doesn’t miss its migration. And while both raptors, the nutritional needs of an osprey are very different than a red-shouldered hawk. And while most animals should be released from crates, a bird, such as a magnificent frigatebird, will benefit from being gently tossed in the air. The list is endless and quite honestly that is part of what makes this job exciting!

I am constantly being pushed to learn more about the wildlife with which we share our world. I am tasked with not only providing exceptional medical care but also meeting each animal at its own unique needs.

Tell us more about your role at CROW.

I work as a certified veterinary technician floor manager. I’m also a certified wildlife rehabilitator. I work closely with our doctors to provide emergency care for injured, ill, or orphaned wildlife.

I get to work with anything from bobcats to bald eagle to pelicans to gopher tortoises and everything in between. We have a heavy avian caseload, so it is a birder’s dream to get to work with these amazing native and migratory birds up close and personal!

I have the privilege of overseeing the treatments and husbandry of our intensive care patients as well as a variety of other duties such as assisting with triage, taking X-rays, getting blood samples, placing IV catheters, coordinating sample collection for research projects, and mentoring our student externs and new staff.

This job is very fast paced and requires flexibility to work beyond typical work hours. In a wildlife hospital you never know what emergency might walk through the door or when that emergency might come. I also love that my role challenges me to learn more and more about each species we see! I make it my mission to ensure each species’ specific husbandry needs are met while they are hospitalized.

Please list what you consider to be your Top 3 accomplishments at CROW.

1. Having grown in my career to take on a floor manager position here at CROW. I have enjoyed each different role I have taken on since I first came on board over 8 years ago, but it has been a personal goal to grow into a more senior position, and I feel very blessed to have been given that opportunity.
2. Coming back after the devastation of Hurricane Ian. I still have a hard time thinking back to that event and the loss of lives, property, and even wildlife in our direct communities. My family and I sustained significant personal losses, and the CROW campus was substantially hit as well, so there was a lot to process personally and professionally. There were definitely moments where I considered leaving my job and moving away. But as a team, we made it through. We showed up each day to care for more animals in need and continue serving our community in that way, even working out of a temporary setup for months in North Fort Myers while Sanibel was closed off. In 8 years of working here at CROW, those months after Ian ended up being the most purposeful and meaningful to me. As a team and as individuals we learned a lot about our resolve to continue our mission and as difficult as it was, I’m grateful now to have been a part of that comeback.
3. Being part of helping so many animals. This is often a very difficult job, with some very hard days that test your capacity to cope with sad outcomes. But those patients that we get to release – those are the victories that keep us going. Seeing an animal get a second chance at life and return to the wild to be a productive member of its species – it is very, very special.

What is the best part of your day at CROW?

My favorite part of my day is when things are finally calming down toward the end of day, patients are cared for, and I can read out CBCs. I’ve always enjoyed avian and reptile hematology and completing manual white blood cell estimates and differentials, and I love that I’m able to utilize that skill set here at CROW. Did you know that a burrowing owl eosinophil looks different than a screech owl eosinophil? Exotic animal hematology is truly fascinating!

Doing teaching rounds on hematology is my favorite topic to go over with students because they all get very excited to learn about different cell types!

Favorite species to work with?

While I love all our patients, I do have a particular affinity for birds. Anything uncommon or rare is probably my favorite. We had a red-footed booby that will forever hold a special place in my heart. But aside from rarities, I’m well known to love warblers and all migrating songbirds!

As CROW celebrates the 30th anniversary of its student program, what would you like people to know about your role in mentoring and training the next generation of wildlife professionals?

I’m so grateful for each person – the veterinarians, rehabilitators, vet techs, etc. – who invested in me over the course of my career in this field. It is such a niche field and so much of what we learn is from someone else in this field having taken the time to teach us something valuable.

I aim to pass down as much as I can to the next generation of wildlife care providers. I try to make it a positive learning environment for students at CROW, give thoughtful insights, stay patient, and help them grow in their own career journeys. I hope that when they leave us, they have not only really awesome memories of getting to work with amazing wildlife, but also new skills and knowledge to take with them to further strengthen our collective mission.

Is there anything else about your work, accomplishments or time at CROW that you would like us to know?

Just that I’m always working to do more for our wildlife – whether that be assisting in collecting data for ongoing research projects or collaborating with biologists regarding new and exciting projects, my goal is be a good steward of the skills I have and use those to serve our wildlife and our community.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I’ve been incredibly blessed to follow my passion and work in wildlife rehabilitation.

In the over 8 years I’ve been here at CROW, I’ve seen well over 30,000 wild animals come through our doors in need of help. It is a great privilege to be a small part in their care.

I’m so thankful for a community that not only saw a need to help our wildlife but took action and funded a wildlife center where second chances happen and people like me can work to make a difference.

Best of the Islands 2026

CROW’s Dr. Jessica Comolli, CROW’s Research and Medical Director, was named Best Veterinarian. Get to know Dr. Jessica and the work behind this community honor in the profile here.