Canada goose in Richmond - rescued!

Today, bright and early, East Bay WildRescue responder, Lisa, gave up her birthday morning to help, Chester, an injured Canada goose that had eluded capturers for over a week. It was a success! BRAVO!!!!

Many, many thanks to our rescue team members Winnie and Lisa who put a lot of energy into his rescue, and to Sandra and Alan for kindly alerting us of his condition. 

Sea lion rescued by TMMC at Elkhorn Slough Reserve

Yesterday evening, our colleagues from The Marine Mammal Center, Monterey Bay Operations, performed a flawless rescue of a sickly California Sea lion at the Elkhorn Slough Reserve. Check out the video:

For more on The Marine Mammal Center, see their website.

Crafting For Barn Owls

The latest Crafting For Wildlife event, held on August 20th in San Francisco, was a tremendous success. SF Bay Area team leaders, Max and Patrick, guided participants in building barn owl nest boxes to be placed in and around the Bay Area.


Urban Ore, in Berkeley, and the Home Depot contributed towards this event! THANK YOU!!!

Next month's Crafting event will center around aquatic birds and their special needs. Crafters will be guided in making  "booties", "donuts", and net-bottoms for cages to be distributed among local wildlife rehabilitation groups. In celebration of Halloween, October's event will involve crafting of ghillie suits for our capture teams.

SKUNK RESCUED FROM STORM DRAIN!

If it hadn't been for two observant and caring 10-year olds and their kindhearted parents, a striped skunk would still be trapped at the bottom of a storm drain catch basin for another night. Apparently, he'd been there for days with no one to help. Finally, WildRescue was alerted.

Our Search and Rescue team responded towards evening to free the nocturnal creature. 

When they arrived, he was curled up, sleeping in the corner of a deep basin at the end of 14th Ave. in Santa Cruz, at the Twin Lakes State Park entrance. Fruit and nuts were scattered about - obviously people had been tossing him food.

The 6' deep cement-walled basin consisted of two drain pipes leading in, with a drop of about 2' to the floor. Once inside, there is no way for a small animal to get out. Imagine how many animals get trapped in these basins and are never found.


Using a long-handled hoop net, the adult skunk was delicately lifted to freedom and released near some shrubs about 20 yards away. It never sprayed. Check out the exciting video below.

NEW! WindowAlert Decals

We have just added WindowAlert decals to our line of merchandise. These decals reflect ultraviolet. Invisible to humans, the reflection is seen as a brilliant glow to birds, helping to stop window strikes, a leading cause of injury and death in wild birds. 


Decorate your windows with butterflies or autumn maple leaves - $6.25 for a set of 4.

Order yours today!

Will justice be served? At least it's on the plate!

Photo courtesy Valley Wildlife Care

We received a call this week from Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, keeping us in the loop about an incident we helped bring attention to back in May. It was very welcomed news! Apparently there is still ongoing inquiry into the situation involving juveniles who reportedly stomped on a nest of house finches at Patrick Henry Middle School in Granada Hills. Here's the story from the Daily News. We will post updates as we can.

Dan to the rescue!

The last glimpse.

One of our newer rescuers had the delightful experience of releasing a trapped skunk from a humane trap in Carmel Valley. The trap had been set to capture a feral kitten. The problem is, when humane traps are left set overnight, the nocturnal animals are lured in. 


Fantastic job - well done Dan!!!!

Of pelicans and fishing...

Over the last week or so, numerous pelicans have been found in the Monterey Bay area - tangled in fishing line, snagged by hooks, wet, and needing help. So many, it's been hard for rescuers to keep up.


We have witnessed such high numbers of fishing line entanglements before when baitfish schooled close to shore. Check out this VIDEO shot in August, 2008. Back then, WildRescue and International Bird Rescue were instrumental in getting pier fishing temporarily banned to reduce the number of pelicans being injured, as this ABC News coverage explains:

One of the pelicans rescued.

This time, though, it seems related to the bass, rockfish and salmon that are delighting fishermen and tourists - possibly just the shear number of people enjoying the sport...


In response to the reported increase in injured pelicans, WildRescue has been canvassing the area for injured birds, rescuing 4 from Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey last Tuesday. 

Foam in the water at Fisherman's Wharf.

We're also finding pelicans that are wet with fish 'oil' or something similar - possibly related to this foam in the water that seems to come from the processing of large catches of fish and squid.

In addition to these ailments, we are seeing many 'hatch year' pelicans - this year's young - up and down the coast. Many are healthy, but others are having a tough go at surviving. Getting hooked or wet only makes it harder on these guys. 

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Tangled mama opossum SAVED!

Today, WildRescue's Sammarye responded to a call in Scotts Valley about an opossum that had been laying in one spot for at least a day. Surprisingly, the animal was stuck - she had managed to get tangled in English ivy and Silver lace vines, some strands so small and tough, it almost looked like fishing line. 

Using scissors, Sammarye carefully and painstakingly cut away the debris, untangling the animal's chest and midsection. 

The poor opossum at my house not only had at least two strands of vine wrapped around its body, it also had managed to get her fur twirled in the the vine as well.  I think she must have twirled around trying to get out or reach what was holding her back....making the situation worse.

Free at last the mother opossum and her ten-or-so wriggling joeys - none the worse for wear - were crated and taken to NAR, in Santa Cruz, to be treated for dehydration. Once the opossum is ready to be released she will be taken back home.

Baby opossums nursing, oblivious to the goings-on.

Helping Los Angeles wildlife

Our offer to help Los Angeles wildlife was mentioned in a recent news article about the ongoing audit of firearms at Los Angeles city animal shelters. The weapons are reportedly used to dispatch wild animals. 

Rebecca Dmytryk, founder and Co-Director of WildRescue, recently entered into a dialogue with Brenda Barnette, General Manager of Los Angeles Animal Services, on an idea that could save the agency money, as well as spare the lives of many wild animals - a win-win proposal.

Dmytryk has decades of experience dealing with LA Animal Services' policies - not all good when it comes to wildlife, citing numerous instances where wild animals were impounded by the shelter only to die or be euthanized because they made no means to transfer animals to local wildlife rehabilitators. She also notes how lack of appropriate equipment and training, specific to wildlife, can result in an animal's death. Here's a quote from her book entitled WIldlife Search and Rescue, due out in late December:

The rescue of wild animals requires a unique set of skills, considerably different from those used in handling domestic animals. How the animal is handled and the quality of care it receives can mean life or death. Even if the animal is not critically wounded, inadequate housing, mishandling, and improper food can be fatal.

Dmytryk is offering to help the City by providing ongoing training courses for its officers as well as a dedicated wildlife hotline, similar to the one she launched in 2007 that serves the entire state of California - 1-866-WILD-911. The automated system helps connect callers with the nearest wildlife rehabilitator specializing in the species they've encountered. It also provides emergency instructions and educational tutorials. This way of 'filtering' calls could save Los Angeles thousands of man-hours and the lives of countless animals, according to Dmytryk.