Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue

We have TWO otter pups in care making full use of our Aquatic Mammal Enclosure’s nursery pond! Thanks to this custom buildt pond by the Hendrickson Family, these young otters are learning to swim on their own!

All that growing and skill building in the water builds up quite the appetite! Thanks to a recent fish donation from San Francisco Zoo, we have been able to sustain their hasty diets of multiple fish a day! 🐟🐟🐟🐟

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue is honored to have been given the opportunity to work alongside the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to help return two mountain lion cubs back to the wild!

Read the full story here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/mountain-lion-cubs-19499032.php

UPDATE: WOW!!! What an incredible response from our community! You shared our post nearly 1,000 times and so many of you have already shown up and donated eggs. At this time, our fridges are completely packed and we do not have room for more donations beyond what we anticipate to receive today.

We will likely have a need for eggs again before baby season ends and will update you when that time occurs. Thank you so much for showing your support, we are so thankful to have such an amazing community willing to step up and lend a hand!

ORIGINAL POST:

ATTENTION SONOMA COUNTY RESIDENTS!

We are in urgent need of hard-boiled eggs for our orphaned wildlife patients! As of today, we have nearly 150 patients in care who all have specialized diets to help them grow and thrive. Hard-boiled eggs are a great food resource for many our youngest patients and we are running critically low on this nutrient rich item in our wildlife kitchen.

Hard-boiling the eggs prior to donation will save our staff and volunteers valuable time that we need to care for the patients currently in our care. It will also save us from making multiple trips to refill exhausted propane tanks that fuel our stove.

If you can help, please deliver hard-boiled eggs any day of the week, between the hours of 9 AM to 5 PM, to 403 Mecham Road Petaluma, CA 94952. We have created a drop off station on the front porch outside of the center.

Please notate the date that the eggs were hard-boiled on the container and leave the shells on the eggs, as they are a calcium rich food source for wildlife.

Any contribution is greatly appreciated!

Thanks to ALL of you, the seven coyotes pups are loaded up and ready for take off!!

The coyotes will depart with pilot Ken Wayne of Flying Tails from Channel Islands Aviation at 3 PM and make their 2.5 hour journey north to Sonoma County where they will spend the next several months in care at SCWR.

We could still use your support! If you feel inspired by this story and would like to donate, please click here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=22BBN6DCGCLEJ

SEVEN coyote pups need your help!

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue, California Wildlife Center and Flying Tails are teaming up to care for seven coyote pups who will need continued professional care for the next several months!

These coyotes came into care at the California Wildlife Center at the end of April at just a few weeks old and weighing only 600 grams. At this age, coyotes are near helpless and rely solely on their mother to survive. Unfortunately, these coyotes didn’t get the chance to thrive in their mother's care after their den was discovered underneath a deck in a backyard. Instead of consulting with wildlife professionals on the best course of action regarding their situation, the homeowner kidnapped the seven pups from their mom and had an acquaintance bring them into the California Wildlife Center. After exhausting every avenue, CWC was unable to make contact with the homeowners and were therefore unable to reunite the pups with their mom.

The early story of these coyotes demonstrates an ever-growing need for education regarding human wildlife conflict and how we must learn to better coexist alongside our wild neighbors. Thankfully, we as a community, get to help write a better ending.

Fortunately for the pups, California Wildlife Center had the resources available to provide excellent care to the coyotes and give them the second-best start at life possible. However, with an already busy start to baby season, the California Wildlife Center has reached their capacity for coyotes at their facility.

After coordinating with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, these coyotes will be transferred to Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue, where we will continue the hard work that CWC has started, caring for and conditioning these pups until they are ready to return to the wild in Southern California.

Getting seven coyotes pups from Malibu, CA to our center in Petaluma, CA is no easy feat however. As young, wild animals, it is critical to maintain and cultivate their wild instincts while in care, including their healthy fear of humans. In transport to SCWR, it will be important that these coyotes have minimal human exposure to not only reduce the risk of them becoming too habituated to humans, but also thanks to that very fear that we work hard to keep intact, we need to limit the stress that they will have being in close proximity to humans for an extended period of time during transportation. Thankfully, that is where Flying Tails has offered to lend a hand!

While the drive from Malibu to Petaluma is approximately 7.5 hours, a direct flight between the two centers is about 2.5 hours, reducing their travel time by several hours. Flying Tails was eager to offer their help, arranging for flight transportation with pilot, Ken Wayne, later this week!

While their story had an unfortunate beginning, we are hopeful that the ending will reflect one of a community that came together the get these seven coyotes back to the wild! To do so, we need your help to to cover the cost of transportation.

If you feel inspired and would like to donate to help cover the cost of this mission, please donate here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=22BBN6DCGCLEJ

Flying Tails is a local non-profit organization and valued partner of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue. Having already assisted with flight transportation for many sensitive patients, we knew just who to ask for help when these coyotes were in need of transportation. You can read more about our partnership here: https://conta.cc/47oGp28

Attention SCWR Supporters!

Baby season has officially started and we already have several orphaned animals transitioning from formula to a solid diet! We are in need of hardboiled eggs to support these patient diets!

Hard-boiled eggs are a great food source for many our youngest patients, fulfilling many of their nutritional requirements. Hard-boiling the eggs prior to donation will save our staff and volunteers valuable time that we need to care for the patients currently in our care. It will also save us from making multiple trips to refill exhausted propane tanks that fuel our stove.

If you can help, please deliver hard-boiled eggs to 403 Mecham Road Petaluma, CA 94952. We have created a drop off station on the front porch outside of the center. Please notate the date the eggs were hard-boiled on the container(s) that they are delivered in. Any contribution is greatly appreciated!

This time of year, it is not uncommon for us to get several young owls into care each week because they have fallen from their nest before they are ready to fly. Thankfully, we have an amazing raptor team who works diligently to “renest” these owls as quickly as possible to get them back to their parents in the wild.

So far this year, this team has successfully reunited several great horned owls and have a few more owls ready to go back out over the next few days!

Our black bear cubs are out of hibernation! Bears are a very intelligent species and require a lot of enrichment when in care to prevent boredom and stress in captivity. Our staff works extremely hard to ensure these bears receive the best care possible, supplying them with ample enrichment, food and a clean enclosure!

We would like to give a special shout out to Lynmar Estate who has been essential this spring in providing our black bear cub with willow branches, a rich natural food source that bears often eat when emerging from winter hibernation.

Jak Wonderly, a wildlife photographer and dedicated volunteer of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue for seven years, recently offered his professional services to document the bears interacting with the food and enrichment set up by our amazing staff and featuring some of the willow brought to us by Lynmar Estate!

Raising healthy, wild black, bear cubs truly does take a village, and we are so lucky to have such a supportive community, helping us every step of the way.

You certainly know how to make us smile!!

Thank you so much for your amazing response to our baby season supply fundraiser! We are filling our shelves with towels, our entertainment shed with your beautiful donated china and our supply closet has been restocked all thanks to your generosity!

HUGE KUDOS to Kevin and Micki with who went above and beyond the call of service to help us track down a package we needed for a procedure with two of our black bear cub patients yesterday!!

It’s always so inspiring to see our community come together to help wildlife in need!

Baby season has already begun at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue with a handful of orphaned opossums, squirrels, pigeons and barn owls currently in care! Before we know it, our intake numbers will begin to climb rapidly and SCWR will be the temporary home to many more species of orphaned animals in need of specialized care.

For us to support these animals and prepare them for their return to the wild, we are stocking up now on supplies that we will need to care for patients, to provide education to our community on how to co-exist alongside wildlife, and to fundraise for the costs of operations.

Helping us by donating the items needed will not only help with the cost of supplies but it will also help save our staff invaluable time. We've updated our Amazon Wishlist with both items needed and items that we are wishing for this summer! Many of the items on this list are frequent purchases that we make to keep operations running smoothly and some of them are unique one-time needs.

Shopping our Wishlist will help us get stocked up in time for baby season, and save us time ordering and restocking during the hectic summer months!

Click here to view our Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3R9AV7U885J61?ref_=wl_share

A quick reminder to sign up to this great workshop! Register by tomorrow for $5!

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Inviting all youth aged 9-18 years who raise farm animals to join this workshop at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue this Saturday, March 30th!

Learn more about local wildlife, their habits and abilities; learn to identify different species by their signs like tracks and s**t; and figure out ways to keep wildlife safely away from domestic animals, so that we can coexist well together.

Check out the flier for details and link is below. Share to anyone who may be interested!
https://ucanr.edu/hwi
Explore the true wild!

A quick reminder to sign up to this great workshop! Register by tomorrow for $5!
--
Inviting all youth aged 9-18 years who raise farm animals to join this workshop at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue on Inviting all youth aged 9-18 years who raise farm animals to join this workshop at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue on Saturday March 30th!

Learn more about local wildlife, their habits and abilities; learn to identify different species by their signs like tracks and s**t; and figure out ways to keep wildlife safely away from domestic animals, so that we can coexist well together.

Check out the flier for details and link is below. Share to anyone who may be interested!

https://ucanr.edu/hwi

Explore the true wild!

Our first orphaned opossum of 2024 is growing right before our eyes! On intake, just three weeks ago, this joey weighed 34 grams and was on multiple formula feeds a day. Today, it weighs 83 grams and has graduated to a weaning diet!

Attention youth aged 9-18:
Are you raising livestock? Interested in wildlife? Wonder how the two can co-exist well together? Attend the Human-Wildlife Interactions Workshop hosted in collaboration with Audubon Canyon Ranch and UCCE Sonoma on Saturday, March 30, 2024, 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Sonoma Wildlife Rescue. Learn more and register at: https://ucanr.edu/hwi

Non-profit Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue has experienced a tremendous organizational growth in the last 4 years. We are currently seeking an experienced professional to help support our team as a General Manager. This is a part time to full time position. We have excellent benefits and competitive pay. If you love working with people and animals, this could be the meaningful and rewarding position you have been looking for. Please apply to Executive Director, Doris Duncan at [email protected].

Calling All Animal Lovers!

Non-profit, Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue is currently hiring a full-time seasonal position to help support "Baby Season". This position is a full 8-hour day, 5 days a week. We will start the right candidate ASAP to begin their training. The position would end by October 1st. The days of the week are Saturday-Wednesday. (weekends are required with no exceptions) The rate of pay is $16 to $20 per hour, depending on experience and work ethics.

Please click here to Average Beginning Work Day, that our Assistant Wildlife Technician Taylor Thomas provided for our applicants and for more information on how to apply: https://conta.cc/3SVmfYn

Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in our Assistant Wildlife Support Technician position!

We had a great response to our Calling All Animal Lovers post! We had 33 applicants by email and 17 applicants by text express an interest in the position. Out of the 50 applicants who received what an "average day" was like, 23 of those got back to us. The 23 who got back to us received what the pay, hours, and benefits were, 7 of those applicants got back to us. We have scheduled all 7 for "meet and greet" interviews. We will keep you posted on the outcome of those interviews and hopefully introduce you to a new member of our staff by next week!

The numbers are in for 2023! Last year, we helped 1,332 animals in need of care! This intake map displays the location where each animal was reported found.

As you may have observed, many of our intakes occur in the most populated parts of our county. The sad truth is, most of our admissions are the result of human wildlife conflict. While we are lucky to live within a large range of varied and beautiful wild habitats, we must also learn to live alongside our local wildlife.

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue is happy to serve as your resource for any wildlife conflict issues you may encounter. If you find yourself in need of advice on how to peacefully coexist with wildlife, please give Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue a call at 707-992-0274 or email us at [email protected].

You can view and interact with our full 2023 Intake map here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1NwF9KFiJxEqRLbHweLXhEdPaSmxNSw0&usp=sharing

As we close the book on 2023, Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue has helped over 1,300 animals in need of life saving care and we’re ready to do it again in 2024! Please consider making one final tax deductible donation in 2023 in support of your local wildlife.

Make your final donation of 2023 here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=M97PJCN2YWZUA

Catios are a fun and creative addition to any home offering a wildlife friendly outdoor sanctuary for our furry feline friends!

They are great for animals because they:
😻 Allow cats to spend time outdoors
🐈 Keep cats safe from cars, predators and other cats
🪶🐾 Protect songbirds, infant squirrels and rabbits, etc. that we love to have in our yards and gardens

Did you know that cats that are allowed to roam outside kill between 1 and 4 billion songbirds a year? 🙀

Catios are truly a WIN-WIN concept! 😺

We are honored to be featured in yesterday's issue of the Petaluma Argus-Courier. The article is a fantastic update on the Apex Predator enclosure and how our staff has collaborated and dreamed to get to this point in development. Be sure to give it a read!!

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue builds a bear home The animal rescue center’s current bear enclosure only holds about six cubs. Leaders of the facility say a new enclosure will more than double that.

We are feeling the love this thanks to you, our generous supporters!

With your incredible support, this year we have admitted nearly 1,300 wildlife patients! If you haven't already donated this , please consider donating to Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue so that we can continue to provide life saving care for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife throughout Sonoma County.

Make your donation at: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=3RA37VK8U4UQE