Press

September 21, 2026

Pacific Wildlife Care Wins the 2026 Defender Service Award

PWC Team Clinic News, News Worthy, Press

A three-minute video, a community-wide voting effort, and a lot of Central Coast pride brought the Defender Service Award home to PWC! Where it all started We first heard about the Defender Service Awards in 2025, when Defender reached out to Pacific Wildlife Care (PWC) with information about the awards and an invitation to apply. […]

✨ Freedom Friday! Five more Common Murres returned to the ocean off Morro Bay! After time in our care to regain their strength, these seabirds were ready to head back out to sea 🌊

We’re so grateful to Morro Bay Harbor Patrol for once again helping make this release possible. Their team took our Volunteer Coordinator, Heather, and volunteer Valerie out on the water and helped them locate wild murres so they could release our patients alongside them. This kind of partnership makes a real difference, and we can’t thank them enough for their continued support of local wildlife!

Why have so many Common Murres been washing ashore? These seabirds spend most of their lives on the open ocean, where they depend on finding enough fish to maintain their energy reserves. Exceptionally warm ocean temperatures may be affecting the availability of their prey, making it harder for murres to find the food they need. This time of year also brings added energy demands, including molting and young birds leaving their breeding colonies. Many of the murres arriving at our clinic are severely underweight and need time, food, and careful monitoring to recover.

Our team continues to admit and care for murres, and the unexpected costs of food, medical supplies, and staff time add up quickly. If you’re able, a gift helps us keep providing care to the seabirds arriving at our clinic.

💙 Support our wildlife patients: pacificwildlifecare.org/give

If you find a live seabird stranded on the beach, please keep pets away and call our wildlife hotline at 805-543-WILD. We’ll help you determine the best next step. Thank you! 💙

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12 hours ago

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🖤🕷️ Have no fear! This time of year, you may see wandering tarantulas out and about. They are often males in search of a female. Please give them space and let them go about their business. They generally want nothing to do with us, but like any wild animal, they can bite to defend themselves if they feel threatened. They may also flick tiny irritating hairs as a defense mechanism. Give these amazing animals the respect they deserve, and whenever possible, let them continue on their way undisturbed. And you can walk away knowing you got to see a really cool wild animal! 🙂

📸 Kelly V.

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