Wildlife Center Article

January 19, 2003

Hi.

This article was in the Mercury News a couple of weeks ago. I thought some of you would find it interesting reading.

For those who don't know, I am one of the 150 volunteers referred to in the article. You can read more about the center at www.wcsv.org, and even find some articles I've written!

VALLEY WILDLIFE CENTER LEADS HURT ANIMALS BACK TO NATURE

JANICE ROMBECK, Mercury News

A Canada goose that can't walk straight. A mourning dove with an injured wing. An opossum with a scraped nose. And dozens of orphaned pigeons and squirrels.Each guest staying recently at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley had astory to tell --

if only it could talk.

''Sometimes it's hard to figure it out,'' said animal care coordinator Carmel de Bertaut.The center, a non-profit organization that moved to Penitencia Creek Park in San Jose from Senter Road 18 months ago, cared for 5,400 injured, sick or orphaned wild animals last year.The animals, brought in by residents, rangers or police, included 100 species of birds and 15 species of mammals. Most recovered and were released into their natural habitats if they're native. If not, they were adopted by education programs.On a recent rainy day, the center was home to about 30 animals, mostly birds. The center can be flooded during the busy springtime with as many as 200 animals that come from all over Santa Clara County, mostly from urban areas.''People don't realize how much they have in their own back yards,'' said Janet Alexander, the center's director of operations. ''We've built up this valley so much that they literally have no place else to go.''The center serves and gets funding from San Jose, Santa Clara, Los Gatos, Campbell, Cupertino, Saratoga and Milpitas. Other centers serve the Peninsula and Morgan Hill.

While the patients can't explain their injuries or how they ended up stranded, the three staff members and 150 volunteers have their theories. And many of the injuries are common, a result of civilization encroaching upon wildlife.The Canada goose, for example, recovering from neurological damage, probably was hit in the head by a golf ball, Alexander said. ''We see lots of head injuries from golf balls,'' she said.Many of the birds are injured by cats or dogs. The opossum was caught in a trap -- it scraped its nose and broke a tooth trying to escape. Tiny birds fall from their nests, and squirrels -- about 500 of which end up at the center every year -- can get into all kinds of trouble.

People trimming their trees often don't look carefully enough to spot a nest, de Bertaut said, and birds and squirrels are thrust onto the ground. But sometimes it's not easy. Hummingbird nests can be as small as a half-dollar.The center's guest list over the years represents the Who's Who of Santa Clara Valley wildlife: red-tail hawk, great horned owl, barn owl, burrowing owl, turkey vultures, white-tailed kites, mockingbirds, robins, crows, red-shouldered hawks, hummingbirds, ducks, geese, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, gray foxes, jack rabbits, cottontail rabbits, fawns, coyotes and bobcats.The marbled murrelet, a small seabird and an endangered species, stayed at the center a couple of days. Some guests travel from afar. Two eight- and 16-pound marmots hid in the wheel wells of a vehicle returning from the Lake Tahoe area. A center volunteer drove them back to the mountains.The first thing center workers do after examining the animals is pair them or place them in groups of their species, even if it means sending them to another wildlife center.''You never want to raise a single animal,'' Alexander said. ''You want them to identify with who they are and not with who's feeding them.''When an animal is old enough to feed itself, it's time for humans to keep a distance. Volunteers don't talk to the animals and cages are covered, especially during feedings.''To bond with them is doing them such a disservice,'' Alexander aid. ''It is hard sometimes because all of us who do this kind of work have nurturing types of personalities.''Some animals are taken into volunteers' homes to recover. Alexander took home a baby boar last year that ''screamed bloody murder,'' she said. The neighbors called the police.She's also partial to baby hummingbirds, which need to be fed every 20 minutes. She takes them home in a little cooler, out to restaurants and even to the movies.The goal, of course, is to eventually release animals into the wild. Rescuers -- the people who brought in the animal -- can be a part of that day if they keep in touch.

Some animals never leave, such as the couple of dozen pigeons that call the center home even though they're free to fly away.A favorite success story involved the coyote pups that were raised at the center last year. The first coyote to arrive was less than 2 weeks old and had to be bottle fed. Within three weeks, six more coyotes arrived, ranging in age from 4 to 8 weeks. Shades were kept over their outdoor enclosures and volunteers kept human activity as quiet as physically possible.Two died, but the five others stayed for several months, growing bigger and stronger. They were released together into a 40,000-acre preserve in the east foothills, which can be seen from the center's outdoor area.'There's nothing like the release of a healthy animal,'' de Bertaut said.

Sarah Kishler

www.geocities.com/sakishler