A photo of a little opossum patient from their gallery taken prior to the fire.
After the horrific fires devastated large swaths of forested land in California, Wildlife Watch called numerous wildlife rehabilitators and facilities in the areas that were in or close to the extreme fires. We wanted to see how we could help in some way to direct contributions to them for needs.
The reality of the destruction hit home when we did not hear back from anyone for days. The rehabbers also needed to evacuate to keep from being consumed by the flames and overcome by the smoke. Even the California Department of Fish and Wildlife couldn’t provide any information about the wildlife or who was in a position to take in wild animals affected by the fire. They provided one name, and when we called, the man said that he wasn’t able to continue his work and didn’t know of anyone who was.
Then on November 27th, we got a call from the California Wildlife Center http://cawildlife.org/ in the Malibu area. They explained more about what it was like in the front lines. She said that because people were fleeing the area, there was no one there to report injured wildlife, so they actually hadn’t received calls. She said that as people begin to return, they are sure that calls will come pouring in.
If you would like to help them for that inevitable time in the near future, please contact California Wildlife Center http://cawildlife.org/
We will report anything more that we find out. If you are in a fire-ravaged area, and you know of rehabbers who are helping there, please let us know so we can inform our readers about how to help.