The California Wildlife Center’s 3rd annual “Walk on the Wild Side” fundraiser will take place May 15 at Zuma Beach.
By Homaira Shifa / Special to The Malibu Times
The recent stranding of sick and disoriented sea lions on Malibu’s beaches has brought to the forefront the importance of the local animal rescue and rehabilitation organization, the California Wildlife Center.
Through its Marine Mammal Response Team, the center corrals the sick animals and transports them to the Marina Mammal Care Facility in San Pedro if necessary. Even though the center works with unpaid trained volunteers, such operations can cost a great deal of money, and the center relies solely on public donations and grants for funding.
Hence the 3rd annual 5K Walk on the Wild Side will take place at Zuma Beach on May 15 to raise funds for the nonprofit organization. All proceeds will go toward helping sick, injured and orphaned native wildlife.
The center will also have a wild animal release on that day, where a bird that has gone through the rehab and is now ready to go back out in the wild will be released.
Actor and director Dan Cortese will MC the event, while actress and producer Catherine Oxenberg, along with her husband, actor and director Casper Van Dien, will award prizes to the top fundraisers.
The center, located off Piuma Road, was founded in 1998 to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured, abandoned and sick native wildlife and marine mammals. Since 1998, it has cared for more than 18,000 native animals.
The center receives about 3,000 animals a year through a wide variety of places, including animal control, individual homeowners and random people at the beach who encounter injured animals, Reyes said.
“The wildlife rehab facility provides medical care to injured animals,” Cynthia Reyes, California Wildlife Center’s Executive director, said. “It also raises healthy orphans, prepares them to live on their own and sends them back out to the wild when they are ready.”
A recent bloom of algae in the Santa Monica Bay that is producing a toxin called domoic acid is the reason why there are so many sick sea lions lately, Reyes said.
“This happens every year,” she said. “When the sea surface temperature gets warm, natural occurring algae blooms. And it will only get worse with climate change as the ocean temperature keeps going up.”
In addition to rescuing marine life, other spring hazards have included squirrels and birds that are injured or orphaned due to tree trimmers, Reyes said.
Prior to 2006, all animals were treated in one main hospital. In 2006, a grant from the McCaw Foundation helped build a baby unit at the facility, separating the orphaned babies from the injured animals in the intensive care unit. In-kind donations from local businesses provided all supplies for the baby unit.
The baby unit feeds and takes care of all kinds of orphaned animals, including skunks, opossums, squirrels, crows, owls, hawks and much more.
“We always try to first reunite the baby with its mother,” Jeff Hall, CWC emergency personnel for eight years, said. “But if that’s not possible, then we take it in for care.”
An average of $800 is spent every day directly on animal care. The center encompasses three acres and is starting to run out of space, Hall said.
The wildlife center has seven staff members, including one full-time wildlife veterinarian, and 100 volunteers.
“It’s a fun, fulfilling thing,” volunteer Jerry Murphy said. “To give something back to our world. The animals need our help.”
The California Wildlife Center is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization and its free services to the community are made possible through fundraisers such as the walk on May 15.
“It will be a lot of fun to just hang out at the beach,” Reyes said.
More information and registration can be found online at www.cwcwalkonthewildside3.kintera.org. Those who register by May 6 will receive a free T-shirt.