The California Wildlife Center celebrates National Wildlife Week, and hosts an open house on Sunday, where people can learn more about the center and the wildlife it helps.
By Dena Feingold / Special to The Malibu Times
It’s springtime and that is when most animals produce their offspring. It also means more injured and orphaned wild animals appear throughout our urban sprawl. With the arrival of this season, the California Wildlife Center is gearing up to treat sick, injured or orphaned wild animals so they can be returned to their natural habitat. In concert with National Wildlife Week, the CWC, a nonprofit organization founded in 1998, is hosting an open house on Sunday so the public can learn more about the center, local wildlife issues and the programs they offer.
Located at a former ranger station on state parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains, the CWC has taken in more than 520 animals this year. Victoria Harris, a board member who has been involved with the organization for seven years, said the purpose of the CWC is to educate people about how to coexist with their wild neighbors.
“We want to help the public avoid bringing animals in or prevent confrontations that rarely have a good result for the animal,” Harris said. “For every animal we take in, we speak to about five or six people on the phone. Sometimes it’s as simple as putting the baby bird back.”
Guests of the open house will tour the center’s facilities, including the indoor and outdoor animal enclosures and hospital.
“There are pictures and samples of things, like how to recognize a fledgling bird,” Harris said. “Know that the bird is OK to be on the ground-that is how it is learning how to fly.”
There will also be a video presentation and educational talks, and professionals will be available to answer questions about how to exist with wildlife. For children, there will be drawing contests and the opportunity to dissect sterilized owl pellets to learn about the natural history of what owls are and what they do.
According to the CWC, most animals that are brought in are a result of being weaned from their mothers, are underfed and are just learning how to take care of themselves, or may be injured. Just recently, seven opossums weighing about 35 grams were brought to the center.
“Their mother had been hit by a car, and the people who found her knew enough to check her pouch for babies,” Harris said. “These [opossums] will be with us for about eight to 10 weeks, when they will weigh approximately 450 grams, at which point they will be released.”
While it may be tempting to help what appears to be an orphaned animal, not all animals brought to the center need to be rehabilitated. Mothers often leave their young for periods of time to forage and feed. “A baby fawn was brought in two weeks ago and was about 10 days old,” Harris said.
The CWC brought the fawn back to where she was found, opened the crate she was in and slowly backed away.
“We waited for the little baby to start crying and [we] looked for the mother and there she was, at the top of the hill. She came down and nuzzled the little fawn and the little baby followed her.”
Among the more than 500 injured animals the center has taken in this year have been elephant seals, sea lions, harbor seals, bobcats, fawns, gray-horned owls, hawks, coyotes and squirrels. Currently, there are about 40 animals in the CWC hospital and another 150 in home care. The latter are in the care of a group of the longest-serving volunteers who have been trained to take care of orphaned animals.
The center originally began as a transport facility for injured wildlife. It is run on grants and donations and is staffed with mostly volunteers.
The open house takes place Sunday noon to 4 p.m. The CWC is located on three-acres at 26026 Piuma Rd., just east of Malibu Canyon Road in Malibu Canyon.
More information about the organization and this weekend’s open house, or about handling sick, injured or orphaned wildlife can be obtained online at www.californiawildlifecenter.org or by calling 818.222.2658.