Wetlands And Wildlife Care Center

Wildlife Education Program

Sick, injured, orphaned, or oiled wildlife arrive helpless at our doors every day. Our education program helps participants gain hands-on experience with California’s Native Wildlife. While participants learn species-specific animal husbandry, they learn safety guidelines to help minimize risks to themselves and their wildlife patients. They learn everything from math calculations for proper animal feeding to the biology of animal diseases and anatomy. Participants gain confidence in themselves while helping native wildlife return to the wild. Public outreach includes phone counseling and on-site visits and educating the public on how to share the environment with our wildlife neighbors. Trained telephone participants advise the public on the appropriate response to various wildlife encounters. Other forms of outreach include speaking engagements, both onsite and virtually as part of activities/events, i.e., Earth Day, school STEM/Steam fairs, Career Days, etc. Virtual outreach allows students and under-represented communities to participate in our programs. Cameras are situated throughout the facility, enabling participants to view procedures performed on the wildlife. Our goal is to produce presentations on the various aspects of wildlife rehabilitation. This grant will help us fund our various education programs, including lab supplies, equipment maintenance, classroom supplies, updating equipment needed for virtual/online access, and staff costs.

Wildlife Disaster Response

Wildfires, oil spills and other wildlife emergency responses are an annual recurrence affecting all wildlife, birds, mammals, and reptiles. Our goal is to provide good quality care for our patients. Dealing with wildlife emergencies involves interaction with a variety of government and community-based agencies, whose priorities are to save human life and property. The goal with animals is to accurately assess, promptly treat those able to be rehabilitated and provide compassionate euthanasia to those suffering from extensive burns or other injuries. Animals may present from these large-scale disasters, or from local small-scale operations that occur during the rest of the year. Veterinary involvement is crucial to the success of treating wildlife. Veterinarians and trained wildlife technicians are required to administer sedatives, anesthesia, medication and care. Our Disaster Response program helps alleviate pain and suffering of affected California Native Wildlife. It provides qualified professional veterinary care to all of our patients. Our patients are the why we do what we do, but YOU are the how. Every dollar raised goes toward our annual operating budget of $850,000. Please help native wildlife return to the wild.

Veterinary Medical Care

Salaries for a full-time, on-site veterinarian, and for 12 wildlife technicians and surgery assistants. Staff performs triage of the wildlife patients including blood draws, catheter placement, wound management, dosing medication, following protocols for nutrition needs, etc. Staff are needed to assist the veterinarian, so we can maintain the high standard of care for our patients. Utilizing our skills for public communication and education helps WWCC to educate the public and raise awareness about the need to care for wildlife.

Support Care for Wildlife encountering Fishing Gear Entanglement

As California's human population grows, more people recreate in the marine environment, and this affects all the wildlife in the marine ecosystem. Primary recreational impacts on seabirds are through fishing gear entanglements and breeding colony and roost site disturbances. Seabirds often eat the same fish being targeted or may be attracted to bait at the end of the line. As a result, birds become accidentally hooked or entangled. Both fishhooks and broken fishing lines may injure and kill seabirds. Seabirds cannot remove hooks or lines. Hooks that penetrate the bird's hollow bones can lead to infection. Broken lines can wrap around bird's legs, wings, or beaks. The entangled bird then starves because it cannot fly or swim, or it cannot feed if the beak is trapped in line. Trailing lines wrapped around legs or other body parts can cut off blood circulation or get entangled with structures. Some seabirds, such as brown pelicans, use their pouches to scoop up water to catch fish. When a pelican's pouch is ripped by a hook, it cannot feed properly and starves because fish fall out through the hole. While seabird entanglements can occur during any type of recreational fishing activity, the most severe problem has occurred at piers when large numbers of bait fish concentrate, attracting both anglers and seabirds. To avoid injury to our seabirds, the WWCC manages 10 Fishing Line Recycling Stations located throughout Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley. Please consider a donation to help us maintain the stations and to help the wildlife that are injured from these entanglements. The Fishing Line Recycling Stations locations include: Greer Park • One station located at Gas Light Dr and Dawson Ln. Huntington Beach, CA 92647 Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (714) 374-5587 Chris Carr Park • One station located at Springdale Ave. / Heil Ave. Huntington Beach, CA 92647 Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (714) 374-5587 Central Park • Two stations located at Lakewiew Dr. / Cliffview Ln. Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (714) 374-5587 Huntington Beach Pier • One station located at Main St. / Pacific Coast Hwy. Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (714) 374-5587 Huntington Beach Pier • Three stations located at the Huntington Beach Pier 1 Main St. Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (714) 374-5587 Mile Square Orange County Regional Park –LAKE 1• One station located at south east lake. Off of Mt. Whitney St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (714) 374-5587 Mile Square Orange County Regional Park-LAKE 2 • One station located at North east Lake (Euclid Ave./ Edinger Ave) Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center (714) 374-5587