California Wildlife Center

Membership

Go Wild!

When you become a member of California Wildlife Center (CWC), you will be supporting its two-fold mission: to accept the responsibility of assisting sick, injured and orphaned native wildlife by ensuring each receives the highest level of rehabilitative care for release back to its natural home; and to promote protection of wild habitats and the environment through education, training and partnerships with the community.

CWC’s staff, Board of Directors and trained volunteers are experiencing a steady increase in animal patients, as our communities continue to grow and encroach on native habitats. Because CWC is funded solely by membership, donations and grants, California Wildlife Center relies on the support of the communities it serves and the generosity of individuals and corporations dedicated to its shared mission.

Membership benefits for $50 (Cool Cat) and above include:

• Invitations to special events including our annual "Wild" fundraiser
• Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation training available for interested members
• Invitations to Open Houses and special wildlife excursions
• Subscription to Wild Times newsletter

Membership benefits for $150 (CWC Birds of a Feather) and above include:

• Cool Cat benefits
• Recognition in CWC annual publication
• Package of CWC note cards

Membership benefits for $250 (CWC Deer Friends) and above include:

• Birds of a Feather benefits
• Annual briefing with Co-Founder

Membership benefits for $500 (CWC Wise Owls) and above include:

• Deer Friends benefits
• One ticket to the annual fundraiser

Membership benefits for $1,000 (CWC Rescue Rangers) and above include:

• Deer Friends benefits
• Two tickets to the annual fundraiser
• Recognition on the Donor Wall

Membership benefits for $2,500 (CWC Wild Bunch) include:

• Deer Friends benefits
• Four tickets to the annual fundraiser
• Recognition on the Donor Wall

Adopt-a-Species

Our Adopt-a-Species program makes a wonderful gift for family members and friends. Your intended recipient will receive a gift letter stating your donation, a color photo and interesting facts about the animal.

Busy Baby Season

Each spring, California Wildlife Center is flooded with baby animals. Some have been left orphaned when mom was hit by a speeding car, others might be injured by a zealous house cat and still more are victims of disease, starvation or exhaustion as a result of urban sprawl.

Caring for an infant in captivity is delicate and exacting. Away from its perfectly designed natural world, the animal’s survival is dependent on how well we simulate the proper conditions for its development. CWC meets this challenge with specialized equipment, proper nutrition, tender loving care — and your help.

With your support, California Wildlife Center can use its limited resources to maintain adequate staffing and purchase necessary medical supplies and food — so that no animal is turned away.

Please help us meet our goal by making your baby season gift today!

Specific Funding Opportunities

Don't you like to know where your money goes?! Here are some specific funding opportunities that you can point to with pride.

Baby Care Unit (BCU) Start-up Costs

We are currently in the process of rehabbing our downstairs hospital for use exclusively as our Baby Care Unit. This will require installation of new windows and doors (materials have been donated), scraping, sealing and painting existing walls, purchasing shelving and special lighting, secure storage receptacles, multi-level squirrel caging, various size carriers and kennels, two new incubators for our infants, a refrigerator to store formula, and crock-pots and syringes for warming formula and feeding. Estimated Cost: $5,950

Baby Care Unit (BCU) Operating Costs

The BCU will be in operation from February through late September, as waves of orphaned baby birds, squirrels and opossums are brought to the Center for care. In 2007, 68% of the mammals and 48% of birds that were brought in for treatment were orphans — over 1000! Costs accrue for food, formula, medications, medical, cleaning and general supplies, as well as utilities and the costs for volunteer training and our workman’s comp insurance — Estimated Monthly Cost: $1,400.

Hospital Operating Costs

The Center’s Hospital and Surgical Suite are open 365 days a year. With our part-time wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Duane Tom and our trained staff and volunteers, we are capable of taking care of wildlife injuries on anything from cat caught birds, to animals hit by cars, seabirds caught in fishing lines, head trauma from birds hitting windows, small critters stuck in glue traps, or larger mammals with injuries of unknown origin. Included in our estimate of monthly costs are the following: staff salaries, workman’s comp insurance, purchase of cleaning and medical supplies, repair or purchase of needed medical equipment, as well as utilities for the hospital. Estimated Monthly Cost: $13,100

Marine Mammal Response (MMR) Program

Our Marine Mammal Response (MMR) Program, headed by Cynthia Reyes, provides marine mammal response for over 27 miles of coastline including the City of Malibu and Southern Ventura County. Our response team is available 365 days a year, and responds to all calls about stranded and/or injured marine mammals. Appropriate assessments are done on each animal, and if necessary, animals are rescued and transferred to the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro. Included in our estimate of monthly costs are salaries for one full-time and one part-time responder, workman’s comp insurance (for both staff and volunteers), the purchase and repair of rescue equipment (kennels, nets, herding boards, etc.), and the operation of our 9 year old rescue vehicle. Estimated Monthly Cost: $6,660

Food for Injured and Orphaned Wildlife

While every effort is made to get food donated to the Center, we still need to purchase specialized formulas for fawns, orphaned opossums, hummingbirds, squirrels, basic nestling diet (birds), appropriate fish for various seabirds, mash for baby ducklings, and meal worms (for protein), etc. While these costs are included in the monthly totals for both the Baby Care Unit, and the Hospital, when broken out separately, it is: Estimated Monthly Cost: $1,100

Education Program

CWC currently conducts Spring, Summer and Fall programs for students currently planning to become Registered Vet Technicians and Veterinarians. Each of these sessions include one-on-one hands-on training with Dr. Duane Tom. Students have an opportunity to work directly with our native wildlife — experience that is not available anywhere else in Southern California. The hope is that many of these students will go on to specialize in wildlife rehabilitation — an area that is woefully under served. The program currently covers 15-20 students per year (up to 6 of the students are also provided housing on site during their tenure). The costs for this program includes a portion of our veterinarians salary, workman’s compensation, and a small portion of household utilities. Estimated Yearly Cost: $17,850

Business Partners

Bryan Kest is not only a fan of California Wildlife Center, he’s also a partner. "I heard about the great things they were doing at CWC, checked out their website and sent in a big donation," says Kest, who later paid a visit to the Center where he met co-founder Aaron Frank who is a former student at Brian Kest’s Power Yoga studio in Santa Monica.

"I love what the Center does — the people who work there are my heroes — helping animals who don't have a voice. Even though my business is a start-up, I decided to donate 1-2% of my profits to CWC each month. The more my business grows, the more I can help the work going on up at the Center," says Kest.

If you are interested in joining Bryan and other CWC Business Partners, please contact us.

Donor Wall

The following donors are honored residents of our Donor Wall.

Under Construction!