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Coyote
Rescue, Rehabilitate & Educate

Pacific Wildlife Care has been serving wildlife in the San Luis Obispo area since 1984.

Owl
Who We Are

Donors, volunteers & staff working together to support the wildlife of San Luis Obispo County through rehabilitation and educational outreach.

Ducks
What We Do

Pacific Wildlife Care treats nearly 3,000 wild animal patients every year, from over 200 different species. Our goal? To return healthy animals to the wild! We also provide educational presentations for local organizations and schools.

Raccoon
Why it Matters

"Wildlife rehabilitation is a process of coming to know something quite unlike you, to understand it well enough not only to keep it alive but also to put it back, like a puzzle piece, into the gap in the world it left behind."
-- Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk.

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Help Us Build a Forever Home for Wildlife!

Pacific Wildlife Care is thrilled to announce our plans for a new, permanent home in San Luis Obispo. Located on a beautiful 10-acre property, the Kim and Derrel Ridenour Wildlife Rehabilitation Center will enable us to better serve our community’s wildlife. Our comprehensive goal of $11.5 million will secure funding needed for the construction of this transformational project and create a sustainable future for PWC.  Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we’ve raised $5.7 million towards the $7 million needed for initial planning and construction needs. Additionally we have raised $3.8 million in legacy gifts to help create a sustainable future for PWC. 

With construction starting in early 2025, your support is vital. Donate today to help us create a brighter future for wildlife in San Luis Obispo County.

Behind the Scenes at PWC

Pacific Wildlife Care (PWC) has been an advocate for wildlife in San Luis Obispo County since 1984. 

From that time we have grown from a small group of dedicated home rehabilitators into a successful non-profit organization with a well-equipped rehabilitation center, a full-time wildlife veterinarian, a small paid staff, and nearly 200 volunteers.  In addition to the Rehabilitation Center, which is open every day of the year, we maintain a Wildlife Hotline that the public can call to report distressed wildlife (injured, sick, orphaned) and to receive information about our local wildlife.

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The Latest from PWC

Pacific Wildlife Care News

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In celebration of National Veterinary Technician week...PWC celebrates our Rehabilitation Technicians (RTs) that take Vet Tech skills to the next level! 🩺❤️‍🩹 PWCs RTs are essential members of our team who provide the wide variety (over 190 species!) of wildlife patients with the highest level of care available. 🦊🐢🐦🐭🦇🦎🦆🐰🐍🦉🦅🦌🪿🦝🐁🦨🦫🐿 PWCs RTs train and support the many clinic volunteers so essential to our mission. PWCs entire staff helps advance Wildlife Rehabilitation through the dedication, ingenuity and compassion shown towards the wildlife we care for. We are beyond grateful to have such a committed and talented team ~ THANK YOU! Finally, PWC RTs Heather Baer & Sophie Swan were recognized with awards as Young Leaders in Conservation this last weekend ~ CONGRATULATIONS ladies! We are so proud of you! 💗 #wildliferehab #wildliferehabber #wildliferehabbers #wildliferehabilition #wildliferehabilitator #wildliferehabilitationcenter #wildliferehabilitation #wildlife #wildlifelovers #wildlifeprotection #pwcwildlife #wildliferehabtech #slocountywildlife #wildlife #wildlifeprotection #wildlifeofinstagram #WildlifeConservation #wildlifelovers #wildlifeprotection #wildlifeconservationImage attachmentImage attachment

In celebration of National Veterinary Technician week...PWC celebrates our Rehabilitation Technicians (RTs) that take Vet Tech skills to the next level! 🩺❤️‍🩹

PWC's RTs are essential members of our team who provide the wide variety (over 190 species!) of wildlife patients with the highest level of care available. 🦊🐢🐦🐭🦇🦎🦆🐰🐍🦉🦅🦌🪿🦝🐁🦨🦫🐿

PWC's RTs train and support the many clinic volunteers so essential to our mission.
PWC's entire staff helps advance Wildlife Rehabilitation through the dedication, ingenuity and compassion shown towards the wildlife we care for. We are beyond grateful to have such a committed and talented team ~ THANK YOU!

Finally, PWC RTs Heather Baer & Sophie Swan were recognized with awards as Young Leaders in Conservation this last weekend ~ CONGRATULATIONS ladies! We are so proud of you! 💗

#wildliferehab #wildliferehabber #wildliferehabbers #wildliferehabilition #wildliferehabilitator #wildliferehabilitationcenter #wildliferehabilitation #wildlife #wildlifelovers #wildlifeprotection #pwcwildlife #wildliferehabtech
#slocountywildlife #wildlife #wildlifeprotection #wildlifeofinstagram #WildlifeConservation #wildlifelovers #wildlifeprotection #wildlifeconservation
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17 hours ago

🦇 What Happened with Those Baby Bats?

A small cadre of PWC staff and volunteers gained a new level of appreciation for bats this summer, when they were enlisted to care for a group of Mexican free-tailed bat pups brought to the clinic after falling to the ground from their overpass roost in the scorching Bakersfield heat wave.

The pups had fallen by the thousands. Bat biologist Erika Noel and biologist Brooke Stutz collected as many of the living as possible and implored wildlife rehabilitation centers statewide to take them in, among them PWC, where PWC’s bat expert Melinda Alvarado spearheaded the effort.

Bats get a bad rap. Given their role in the ecosystem, this is both undeserved and harmful to them, the environment, and humans. Consuming 40% of their body weight in insects each night (100% for pregnant or lactating females), they are nature’s pest control, crucial to protecting farmers’ crops from devouring insects. Sadly, in recent years bat populations have declined due to habitat loss, climate change, white-nose syndrome, collisions with wind turbines, and pesticide use.

Ironically, in a terrible cause-and-effect spiral, studies suggest that this decline in bat numbers has caused farmers to use even more pesticides, which in turn leads to more bat deaths. A new study (see August 29 “Science” magazine) suggests it has also led to an increase in human infant mortality linked to chemical exposure.

At Pacific Wildlife Care, folks do understand the importance of bats in the ecosystem, but few had extended experience with them in rehabilitation.
For decades, Alvarado has been PWC’s go-to person when bats are brought in, usually as singletons or in two’s or three’s. Consulting with our veterinarian, Alvarado has taken them for home rehabilitation. This time, however, because these were vulnerable pups, they needed more care than adult bats do, and there were far more pups than she could care for alone. A team was called for.

Because bat species are known vectors of the rabies virus, aprerequisite to be a caregiver for these bats was to have the pre-exposure rabies vaccines. This narrowed greatly the number of staff and volunteers to whom Alvarado could distribute the pups. And when she did, she needed to provide both supplies and a primer on the care, feeding, and handling of bat pups. “Forget everything you know about bunnies and squirrels,” she told them. “Bats are different.”

The caregivers soon learned how true this was. The whole experience “would have been terrifying and stressful,” says Rehabilitation Technician Kathy Duncan, without support from Alvarado and from one another in their group. Temperature was a big concern. It was important to keep the pups warm but not too warm. As adults, bats who are overheated (as in the Bakersfield roost) can fly and cool off, but unfurred pups can’t yet fly. Then caregivers “worried that they were cold,” says volunteer Claudia Duckworth, although Alvarado ”would patiently explain that their body temperature will be the same as the ambient temperature when they are non-active” and go into torpor – a short version of hibernation. Another challenge was the need for frequent time-consuming feedings, first of a specialized formula and later a more complicated, multi-ingredient slurry. The daily life of caregivers in this group revolved around the feeding schedule.

Still, Duckworth says, it was “an incredibly rewarding experience.” Among other revelations was a reminder that each animal is a unique individual, not just a member of that species. Duncan compares two in her care. One, her “favorite guy” would hear her coming and start to chatter and walk toward her for food. The other, she says, “hated” her and would put his ears over his eyes as if to hide.

The pups gained weight, and their fur and teeth grew in. It was time to bring them to the clinic to spend time in a larger space where they could exercise their wings. They were placed together in a net-covered, domed beach tent, the sort that human parents use for their babies. Soon they were moved to a larger aviary to allow for flying practice and to test their flight ability.

Although two were found to be unreleasable (permits will be applied for, to allow them to become Animal Ambassadors), and two others needed more time to mature,the other twenty passed their flight test. The day came for their return to the Bakersfield colony, and they were placed in three “pup huts” for transport.

Melinda Alvarado, her daughter Ivy, and Brooke Stutz stood beneath the freeway overpass. Stutz carried the three pup huts up a ladder, secured each to a tree, and opened the flap. Some bats flew out right away, and chatter could be heard between them and the rest of the colony in the roost. “It was magical,” says Alvarado. The three women wondered if these bats’ mothers might still recognize their young by their unique calls, but there was no way to know.

The next morning, Stutz climbed up to check the pup huts. All of the twenty young bats had flown out. In the weeksthat followed, with some urgency to reunite the young with the rest of the colony before the fall migration, bats from the other rehabilitation centers were returned, too, including the two from PWC that needed time to mature.

Not all pups had survived the early days. They were simply too young or too injured. But most had, thanks to the phenomenal efforts of small clusters of caregivers at each center. Alvarado is hugely grateful to them for sticking with it when it was challenging, time-consuming, and sometimes heartbreaking – but a richly fulfilling education, too.

Erika Noel and Brooke Stutz are consulting on strategies to prepare for almost inevitable climate-change heat waves in the future, when the newly acquired skills of PWC’s “bat team” may be called for again, though everyone hopes not.

To support these and other efforts to save wildlife at PWC, please know how crucial and welcome your donations are!

✍️ Pam Hartmann

#mexicanfreetailedbats #bats #wildliferescue #freedomfriday #homesweethome #backtothewild #bat #savethebats
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4 days ago
October is bat appreciation month and WE APPRECIATE OUR BATS! Did you know California’s Central Coast is home to 19 species of bats, including 7 species of special concern? All bats on the Central Coast are insectivorous, eating mosquitoes, moths, beetles, crickets, spiders, and more! Bats can consume their body weight in insects every night. As nature’s pest controllers, bats help protect our crops from pests and prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Bats in other places eat fruit, pollen, fish, and birds (and blood, but we don’t have any vampire bat species in the U.S.). Bats are well-known for their echolocation skills to navigate and forage in the dark, emitting high-frequency sounds and listening to the echoes that bounce back. Bats are not blind! They have sensitive eyesight tuned to low-light conditions. Bats are the only truly flying mammals – and some can fly really fast! A 2016 study found Mexican free-tailed bats (which we see here in SLO County) flew over 100 mph, making them the fastest mammals on earth! When it gets cold in the winter, some bat species hibernate and other bat species migrate to warmer areas. Bats usually give birth to one or two pups and, like other mammals, the pups are nursed by mom. Like cats, bats spend a lot of time grooming. Bats can have surprisingly long lives, some species have been documented to live more than 30 years in the wild! You can look for bats from dusk to dawn, especially where insects are abundant. If you’re lucky, you may spot the western mastiff bat, North America’s largest bat with a wingspan of 22 inches! If you find an injured or orphaned bat, or need advice with a bat-related issue, do not handle the bat and give our hotline a call! Here’s what you can do to help your local bats: 1. Do not disturb bats 2. Keep cats indoors 3. Skip the pesticides 4. Learn about the wonders of bats 5. Promote the conservation of natural bat habitats We could not do this critical work helping bats and other wildlife without your support because it requires A LOT of resources! Could you check out our Amazon wishlist and donate a few items to help these animals? Today and tomorrow are Amazon Prime day and some of the items on our list are discounted right now! Any help is greatly appreciated! Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y158U67U1M83?ref_=wl_share Stay tuned next week to learn about our State Bat, the pallid bat! #Bats #Wildlife #WildlifeFactsImage attachmentImage attachment+2Image attachment

October is bat appreciation month and WE APPRECIATE OUR BATS! Did you know California’s Central Coast is home to 19 species of bats, including 7 species of special concern?

All bats on the Central Coast are insectivorous, eating mosquitoes, moths, beetles, crickets, spiders, and more! Bats can consume their body weight in insects every night. As nature’s pest controllers, bats help protect our crops from pests and prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Bats in other places eat fruit, pollen, fish, and birds (and blood, but we don’t have any vampire bat species in the U.S.). Bats are well-known for their echolocation skills to navigate and forage in the dark, emitting high-frequency sounds and listening to the echoes that bounce back. Bats are not blind! They have sensitive eyesight tuned to low-light conditions.

Bats are the only truly flying mammals – and some can fly really fast! A 2016 study found Mexican free-tailed bats (which we see here in SLO County) flew over 100 mph, making them the fastest mammals on earth! When it gets cold in the winter, some bat species hibernate and other bat species migrate to warmer areas. Bats usually give birth to one or two pups and, like other mammals, the pups are nursed by mom. Like cats, bats spend a lot of time grooming. Bats can have surprisingly long lives, some species have been documented to live more than 30 years in the wild!

You can look for bats from dusk to dawn, especially where insects are abundant. If you’re lucky, you may spot the western mastiff bat, North America’s largest bat with a wingspan of 22 inches! If you find an injured or orphaned bat, or need advice with a bat-related issue, do not handle the bat and give our hotline a call!

Here’s what you can do to help your local bats:
1. Do not disturb bats
2. Keep cats indoors
3. Skip the pesticides
4. Learn about the wonders of bats
5. Promote the conservation of natural bat habitats

We could not do this critical work helping bats and other wildlife without your support because it requires A LOT of resources! Could you check out our Amazon wishlist and donate a few items to help these animals? Today and tomorrow are Amazon Prime day and some of the items on our list are discounted right now! Any help is greatly appreciated!

Amazon link:
www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y158U67U1M83?ref_=wl_share

Stay tuned next week to learn about our State Bat, the pallid bat!

#Bats #Wildlife #WildlifeFacts
... See MoreSee Less

1 week ago
Our ambassador merchandise page is live!! Melisa with Woollybear Travels has created beautiful images of our animal ambassadors that can now be purchased online! If you want to purchase some merch, go to PacificWildlifeCare.org and click the “Shop Online” link in the top right corner, or click this link: https://pacific-wildlife-care.square.site/. The profits will go directly to funding our mission of rescuing and rehabilitating San Luis Obispo County wildlife and, as always, we greatly appreciate your support!Image attachmentImage attachment+4Image attachment

Our ambassador merchandise page is live!! Melisa with Woollybear Travels has created beautiful images of our animal ambassadors that can now be purchased online! If you want to purchase some merch, go to PacificWildlifeCare.org and click the “Shop Online” link in the top right corner, or click this link: pacific-wildlife-care.square.site/. The profits will go directly to funding our mission of rescuing and rehabilitating San Luis Obispo County wildlife and, as always, we greatly appreciate your support! ... See MoreSee Less

1 week ago
 

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Info

Mailing Address: PO Box 4613, San Luis Obispo, CA 93403
Center Hours: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm daily
with extended hours April to September
Wildlife Hotline Hours: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm daily
with extended hours April to September
501c3 number: 77-0196350

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Our mission is to support San Luis Obispo County wildlife through rehabilitation and educational outreach.