Fauna Forest started as the Ferret Forest rescue and shelter for ferrets who were abandoned or in need of new homes. It was a home-based member of the American Ferret Association, operating in Northwest Florida by a husband/wife team of Daniel and Samantha Gump. At the peak, 19 ferrets stayed under the care of Ferret Forest, most of which were rescues, while some were the original pets acquired before the opening of the shelter.

As time progressed, Ferret Forest expanded to accept many small mammals, many of which were exotics that could find no refuge elsewhere. Due to the expansion of species, the name was changed to Fauna Forest. The rescue continued to operate until other obligations forced its closure in 2006. At that time, most of the animals were adopted to loving homes, and those people needing to give up animals were referred to other shelters in the area.

After closing Fauna Forest shelter, it was obvious that a need still existed for animal rescues, shelters, and general resources. The idea was conceived in 2008 to re-open the website as a hub for animal lovers to seek each other for adoptions, advice, or just general fellowship. Other websites had tried pursuing individual elements of the broad plans, but none had combined them into an all-encompassing location for member-driven content on adoptions, animal information, articles, member Q/A, photo galleries, personal pages, and more. Thus, the new Fauna Forest came into existence.