WELCOME to CWC's Youth Wildlife Rescue Blog

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CWC's Youth Wildlife Rescue Blog invites young people to have fun and get involved with the work of California Wildlife Center whose mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release injured, abandoned or sick native wildlife and marine mammals from the greater Los Angeles area. Come and get involved yourself or with your school and help our local wildlife. The Wildlife Center has taken in 19,000+ wild animals since its opening in 1998 and relies solely on public donations and grants. CWC is located in a quiet part of the Santa Monica mountains in Calabasas. Please visit our website at www.californiawildlifecenter.org for more information. We look forward to hearing from you on this blog!

CWC WILDLIFE NEWS, ALERTS and UPDATES - November 19, 2011

We have a brand new website! Check it out! www.cawildlife.org It's awesome!!!

Check out some of our Fall rescues and patients!

Our Grey squirrels are finally rehabbed! See there release below!

Check out Charlie, the elephant seal pups rescue and release back into the wild!

Thank all of you who attended our 13th Annual Wild Brunch fundraiser in September at Gulls Way Estate in Malibu! It was a huge success because of you!

Check out our first, ever Big Free-tailed bat!

Our November 2010 Coyote rehab and release video is finally done. Check it out in our new posts section below. The video of our 5 rehabbed fawns is also up.

Thank you to everyone that turned out for our Wild Brunch on August 22nd. It was a smashing success! Check out Mike Hayward's photos of the event.

Thanks to everyone that came and took a Walk on the Wild Side, May 2nd...You can check out the photos at:Mike Hayward's Special Events Photography.

An awesome time was had by all at our Spring Open House.

News briefs: See a pelican get rescued! We're having a Pelican party in our ICU...first black-coat elephant seal ever rescued by CWC...First marine mammal rescue in SoCal for 2010...Yearling sea lion rescued at Pt. Dume! Update on our rescued fox from Culver City! We have another Youth Rescue blog hero! .DON'T TRIM THAT TREE - baby birds and squirrels are nesting now! Watch the CBS report here...HAVE FUN! HELP THE ANIMALS! EARN COMMUNITY SERVICE CREDITS! Organize a fund-raising event at your school! Contact our youth team with your good (even crazy!) ideas at rescuecwc@california wildlife center.org...

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Here Are Some Of Our Fall Patients



-Ruddy Duck
-Western Grey Squirrel that came in abandoned
-Northern Fulmar; very rare in Malibu
-Infant Pied-billed grebe
-Western Tanager
-Awesome Osprey
-290 lb male California sea lion suffering from malnutrition
-Burrowing owl that was abandoned
-A Brandt's cormorant getting a tube feeding of fluids
-Tiny Canada Goose that was the size of a Mallard
-A Bobcat with severe mange
-230 lb female California sea lion suffering from domoic acid toxicity and leptospirosis

Grey Squirrel Release

The western grey was considered one of the most abundant mammals in the northwest in the 1920s, but by the 1930s an epidemic outbreak of mange decimated many populations in Washington. While the eastern grey and the eastern fox squirrels are capable of producing more offspring in times of abundance to compensate for population loss in lean times, the western grey appears unable to do so, thus limiting its ability to rebound from low populations. Additionally, unlike its eastern cousins, which breed twice a year, the western grey has one litter a year, with between three and five young per litter.
They are shy squirrels, who are dependent upon older mixed forests with a variety of oak and pine or oak and fir trees with interconnected tree canopies for food, cover, nesting sites, and arboreal travel. These squirrels generally nest in the top third of larger trees, building leaf and twig nests called drays, which they line with lichen, moss and bark shavings. They often build more than one nest, and alternate among them.

Favorite foods are pine nuts, acorns, nuts, berries, fungi, green vegetation and insects. The animals are generally non-territorial, but show a dominance hierarchy at food sites.

Western grays are a federal Species of Concern, but are not listed as threatened or endangered. Oregon considers them a State Sensitive Species, and Washington state considers them State Threatened. They are still hunted in California and Oregon. Conservation groups in Washington state have petitioned the federal government to provide an emergency listing for this species. Only time will tell whether these efforts will be sufficient to preserve this squirrel.

These two little guys experienced a bad fall from their nest and were brought in for our help. Months later, they are being released back into the wild. Enjoy!