If you were unlucky enough to miss the California Wildlife Center’s annual “Wild Brunch” fundraiser last weekend, plan on signing up for next year’s shindig today. If not necessarily wild, it was a crowd-pleasing, happy-face-inducing neighborhood party that went a long way to ensuring that one of Malibu’s most effective and necessary nonprofit organizations continues to thrive in a laboring economy.
Since 1998, the CWC has rescued and rehabilitated nearly 30,000 land, sky and marine animals. As the largest urban national park in the country, the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area houses wildlife ranging from coyotes to red-tailed hawks to sea lions. With human encroachment on their habitat, more and more injured wildlife ends up at the Wildlife Center’s doorstep. The center, which operates purely out of donations with no governmental funds, takes them all in, rehabilitates them and releases them back to their wild life.
One thing the CWC got right Sunday was in staging the event (held at a private estate on Pacific Coast Highway) over lush lawns, under budding trees and a formidable tent, with magnificent views of the Pacific and all its teeming wildlife.
And if lack of parking is any indication of event achievement, the Wild Brunch was a staggering success. Once on site, poster-size photos of rescued animals lined the driveway, eliciting more than a few “awwwws” over baby possums and round-eyed owls.
As a fundraiser, the Wild Brunch seemed to balance heavily laden silent auction tables with just the right amount of mojito and wine-tasting booths (courtesy of Patron Tequila, Ventura Limoncello and a number of Malibu-area wines). A quick tour allowed one to realize that you could spend your lifetime tasting only California coastal wines and never get tired of the palate. Sips of chardonnay, merlot and cabernet sauvignon from Caro’s Ridge, Dolin Malibu Estate Winery, Cosentino’s Winery, Colcanyon Estate Wines and Jorian Hill served only to beg the question: Why has there not yet been a Malibu AVA (American Viticultural Area) established?
If the wine didn’t please, the silent auction offerings certainly would. Sports items included Deer Valley ski retreats, Channel Islands visits and sport fishing, Yoga Works sessions and bags of “manly gloves” for every sporting occasion.
Local restaurants like Nobu, Spruzzo, Geoffrey’s and Taverna Tony chipped in with dinners and international getaways sending patrons to South Africa, the Arctic (to meet polar bears), Bora Bora and Malibu’s Biggest Loser Resort. Dolphin sculptures by Laran Ghiglieri and original photo prints of Marilyn Monroe tempted the wallet. There was even a chance to bid on polka lessons, not to be confused with private poker instruction by celebrity player and instructor Annie Duke.
In the children’s corral, youngsters painted faces (or legs), bobbed for apples and, as would be expected at a fundraiser for wildlife, looked askance at the 12-foot long, albino Burmese python who spent a lot of her time resting in a plastic storage locker.
“She gets tired when she’s constantly performing,” the snake’s keeper explained, while allowing a brief peek at the thick, banana-colored reptile, which looked perfectly composed to a layman. “We have to put her away for awhile to rest.”
Other youngsters were fascinated by the Wildlife Learning Center’s (a rescue and teaching facility in Sylmar) glimpse at an Australian sugar glider, a small marsupial possum with winged underarms.
Kasey Gluck, son of CWC treasurer and longtime volunteer Julie Gluck, was enthusiastic about the center.
“You know, they really take care of the animals until the very last moment when they are sure they are fully rehabilitated,” Kasey said. “They don’t just throw them back out into the wild. They care about them.”
If one had worked up an appetite by this point, there was plenty to satisfy. California Pizza Kitchen was offering its new vegan quinoa salad that would go miles to convince someone that going vegetarian doesn’t mean sacrificing taste. Kristy’s Wood Oven & Wine Bar at Zuma Beach was offering crispy-fried risotto mushroom balls that haunt dreams.
But most guests seemed to reserve the live auction for their most raucous participation. Rare jewelry and romantic trips to Venice bid higher and higher, helped along by the genial auctioneer, Jim Nye.
“Enjoy the Patron booths?” Nye asked, while slyly encouraging even higher bidding. “How many of you know that you’re here, but don’t know why you are here?”
The audience gamely laughed and kept bidding.
The CWC event was staffed by dozens of volunteers. Jennifer Harlow was one helper who seemed in awe of the Center.
“I help with lots of philanthropies through the National Charity League,” Harlow said. “The CWC takes in all kinds of wildlife. Even a snake you might run over.”
In the end, the event raised more than $250,000. Rick Gunderson, a longtime supporter of the CWC, made the winning bid to release a rehabilitated hawk back into the wild. As the sun was setting, the recovered native hunter took off for freedom over the Pacific and flew back to the hills where he belongs.