San Diego home to important wildlife refuge and treatment group

San Diego is home to an important wildlife group helping to balance the disorder created through the city’s rapid growth over the last few years in a part of the country that previously belonged to the wild, but it needs the constant help of the public.

San Diego is a major city, the eighth biggest in the US and second largest in California and the County Seat of San Diego County. Its economy is supported by several major industries such as defense, manufacturing, real estate and tourism and yet the 1.3 million people who live here share their city with a number of species of wildlife that have been displaced, endangered and disrupted in various ways by the ongoing growth and development in the city.

San Diego’s city limits encompass a number of wildlife reserves such as Torrey Pines State Reserve, Border Field State Park and Mission Trails Regional Park, in addition the unique topography of San Diego means that it accommodates a diverse range of eco-systems, many of which have been influenced by human development.

This has presented the animals that inhabit these habitats with a dangerous problem of less land and increased fatalities through contact with cars and other human activity. The many nature preserves in the city provide a refuge for many species of animal, but wildlife cannot be neatly contained, wild animals do not recognize roads and fences for what they are and subsequently find themselves in trouble.

Project Wildlife is the largest wildlife rehabilitation and medical care provider in the city of San Diego and within the wider San Diego County. The project runs entirely on donations and, according to the group’s website, 85% of these donations are used in the direct facilitation of help to wildlife in the area, while the remaining 15% is accounted for by administrative costs.

The organization was established in 1972 and has cared for thousands of injured, sick and lost animals since then in their two primary care centers. Reflecting the organization’s respect and love of wildlife, the animals that they care for are referred to as “wild patients” and emergency medical and rehabilitation services are provided at their main Wildlife Triage Center in San Diego and their second facility in Carlsbad, which is open during the four busiest wildlife injury months of the year (May through August).

Around 25% of the animals treated by Project Wildlife are casualties of human contact, up to 2,500 animals are brought to the group after being run over and found by members of the public. 10,000 animals are cared for by the group each year on average at their two main facilities and rehabilitation centers and are released back into the wild after their treatment is complete. According to the group’s website, all animals are released within a 3 mile radius of where they were originally found in order to minimize disruption to the city’s already fragile habitats.

This process usually take around 12 weeks and at any given time Project Wildlife may have tens of thousands of animals in their care, a patient load the requires significant resources in terms of facilities, equipment, manpower, training and various foods. These resources are acquired through donations from the public and Project Wildlife runs an extensive community outreach program aimed at both informing the public and asking for their support.

The group engages schools on a regular basis to teach children about the value of conserving wildlife and to encourage the public to have more appreciation for their local habitats. The group actively encourages schools to contact them and organize a program to be run in and around San Diego.

Project Wildlife’s website also has a comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that helps people find ways of dealing with situation in which conflict may arise between themselves and wild animals. For instance, situations in which birds begin nesting on the front porch of the house, if a woodpecker starts hammering away at your home or if you find a baby bobcat, the website aims to provide solutions and answers to the public in order to protect both the animal and the humans involved.

More about Project Wildlife can be found at: http://www.projectwildlife.org/