Here are ways you can help:
- * Make a donation towards our emergency relocation fund (see sidebar)
- *Write to your local city council, to express your views about the importance of having a wildlife center and ask them to help
- *Write to the Mayor to express your views about the importance of having a wildlife center and ask them to help.
- *Contact us with any other ideas, suggestions, or if you have another way to help. CONTACT US
Thank you for your interest and your support!
Here are a few helpful Links:
In Oakland: Remind them that the work we do is important and does not duplicate what Oakland Animal Control does!
Oakland City Council
- jbrunner@oaklandnet.com
- jpkernighan@oaklandnet.com
- nnadel@oaklandnet.com
- jquan@oaklandnet.com
- idelafuente@oaklandnet.com
- dbrooks@oaklandnet.com
- lreid@oaklandnet.com
- atlarge@oaklandnet.com
We are not adverse to moving out of Oakland in order to save the wildlife center. We do need to stay in the Oakland/Berkeley/Alameda area to continue to do our good work here.
To advocate us moving to Alameda, please visit this website for the contact information of Alameda’s mayor and city council: http://www.ci.alameda.ca.us/gov/city_council.html
To advocate us moving to the Berkeley area, please contact the Mayor and City Council at: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=22466
Do you think it is a good idea for us to establish our wildlife rehabilitation & education center in the regional parks? Perhaps near the Little Farm, at the old “pony rides” stables that have been empty and unused for the last 20+ years? If you said yes, please write a letter to the East Bay Regional Park District and tell them so. Feel free to email us for content suggestions. Thank you!
East Bay Regional Park District
2950 Peralta Oaks Court
P.O. Box 5381
Oakland, CA 94605-0381
Or use their email form at this link: http://www.ebparks.org/contact
Thank you for your support. Together, we can SAVE OUR WILDLIFE CENTER!
What does a mother raccoon do when her kit dangles by his claws from a beam 20 feet up in the air?
Why are there so many raccoons in cities?
Should I be worried if I see a raccoon out in the daytime?
Join Megan Isadore, a naturalist and wildlife rehabilitator with Oaklandʼs Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue, for a family-friendly slide and video presentation on one of our most common urban wildlife neighbors. Megan will discuss raccoon life history and behavior, answer your questions on humanely solving nuisance raccoon problems, and show an exciting video update on our most famous raccoon patient, Tiny Tim!
When? Thursday, July 22, 2010 7PM-8PM (half hour talk, plenty of question time!)
Where? Oakland Animal Services, 1101 29th Avenue, Oakland, CA
Cost? FREE
Featuring the beautiful wildlife photography of Jack Gescheidt,
jackphoto.com and raccoonery.com
Although we are deeply involved in trying to SAVE OUR WILDLIFE CENTER from eviction (read more about it) we still want to share with you the daily miracles that are occurring at our wildlife center. Yes, we are still open and accepting animals daily despite our uncertain future. Please enjoy the unfolding tale of Tiny Tim.
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(all photos and video were provided by Jack Gescheidt, photographer, and Amy Pfaffman, Tim’s caregivers!)
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Tiny Tim had broken his back and both his rear legs were paralyzed. Because our job is to release the wildlife animals back into the wild, giving them a second chance, this was a very grave situation for this baby raccoon. Paraplegic animals do not survive in the wild! Something had to be done.
Tiny Tim’s miracle began when he was brought into care with our own “Rancho Raccoon” team and, under the supervision of raccoon team leader, Megan Isadore, placed in the care of two very wonderful fosterers, Amy and Jack, who gave Tiny Tim the extra care he needed.
Here is a video of him at the beginning of his stay with Jack and Amy:
Tiny Tim’s plight caught the interest of Dr. Andrew Sams of The Sams Clinic, an orthopedic specialty vet practice in Mill Valley, who has donated consultations about our rehabilitation raccoons, and provided great veterinary guidance. The Sams Clinic has a neurosurgeon on staff, Dr. Lisa Klopp, who looked at the spinal x-ray and examined the 9-week-old raccoon. Dr. Klopp determined that the fracture would need to heal for a month, and agreed to perform a laminectomy to free the spinal cord from the compression causing his paralysis. Tiny Tim needed back surgery!!
During his month-long healing time before his surgery and after, Tiny Tim received physical therapy from Amy. Amy exercised Tim’s back legs several time a day, helping place them under him, supporting him minimally. Tim barely needed the help; he was determined to do everything a normal raccoon does. While Amy patiently placed his legs under him for walking, Timmy was on to leaping and climbing, never mind the falling. We were worried that he would further injure his spinal cord — but not Tim. He refused to be anything but what he is…a wild raccoon youngster. Amy’s therapy included roughhousing using a raccoon doll so he wouldn’t get too used to playing with humans.
About a week prior to surgery, we rescued a female raccoon a little younger than Tim. Her mother was hit by a car, and she was found crying by the body.
This little girl wanted no part of humans. She’s a normal 12-week-old raccoon who would rather do almost anything than cozy up to us scary monsters. But when we placed her with Tim, they bonded within hours. Tim was so happy to have a REAL raccoon to bite, and she was delighted to have someone of her own kind to cuddle with. And Tim’s human team was equally relieved Tim could learn from his own species. This put an end to our concerns about Tiny Tim’s prolonged recovery and extended contact with human caregivers.
Finally the day for Tiny Tim’s surgery arrived. Although over the course of Tim’s month of healing he had recovered some use of both legs, he still needed the surgery to repair the damaged spine. Dr. Klopp, Tim’s neurosurgeon, said she’d never seen a smaller spinal cord. She had to perform delicate manipulation to get her instruments to work for a 3-pound raccoon kit! Thanks to the hard work of Dr Klopp, plus two surgical assistants, and an anesthesiologist, the surgery went great!
Three hours post-surgery, Tim was up and about, and even PLAYING with his new sister! His caregivers watched him like hawks and made pen modifications to ensure he wouldn’t fall and jar his tender spine. Nevertheless, Tiny Tim and his sister had to be repeatedly constrained to allow Tim’s staples to stay intact over the following 10 days! Thanks also to Amy’s daily physical therapy, we are seeing improvement in Tim’s abilities. Based on these improvement, and on our experience of raccoon healing, we predict Tim will be released as a normal, wild young raccoon.
Thank you to everyone who was involved in this amazing rescue! Thanks to Dr Sams Clinic, Dr Klopp and her surgical team, Jack and Amy, and Megan.
We will be posting a video of Tiny Tim post-surgery as soon as possible. Thank you for your interest!
Our wildlife center has been helping wildlife and human citizens of our surrounding cities for the last 10 years. We have saved thousands of animals in trouble, inspired thousands of children, and helped thousands of people having problems with wildlife. We are still 100% volunteer-run and donation-funded, still grassroots after all these years. We are the ONLY wildlife rehabilitation & education center in the Oakland/Berkeley area.
Now, ten years into this, our wildlife center is a vital community resource. But we are being evicted from the property we have operated on for the last 6 years. The owner has taken the property off the rental market and has asked us to leave.
The GOOD News is….
There is a piece of property for sale here in Oakland which would be the PERFECT place for the wildlife center. It is 2/3rd of an Acre of flat, beautiful, forested land. Plenty of land for our pre-release enclosures, plenty of quiet, beautiful field for our fawns to run in, our squirrels and raccoons to learn to climb trees in. But we need your help to get it.
We have found the PERFECT property to relocate our wildlife center to but it is selling as a “cash-only” sale. We have launched a fund-raising effort but still need to raise $125,000 in order to buy the property outright.
- We are looking for tax-deductible donations or matching funds to help us during this crisis. However, we are not just looking for money.
- We are also looking for someone who supports our work who might be willing to privately finance the purchase of this property by providing us with a bridge loan.
Thank you for your support and with your help, we can SAVE OUR WILDLIFE CENTER!
Please, if you want to be involved in any way or have suggestions, call me at 510-547-9897 or email me at lila@yuwr.org
Thank you for your ongoing support and assistance.
Sincerely,
Lila Travis
director
This 9-week-old raccoon Tiny Tim’s rear legs are paralyzed from a spinal injury. Our own “Rancho Raccoon” Team is arranging for Tim to undergo spinal surgery. If successful and he recovers his mobility, he’ll be released to the wild when full grown!
Thank you for your support!
This year we have had more orphaned wildlife come in sooner than ever before.
We are frankly a bit intimidated. In May of 2009 we had a total of 113 patients. This year, we have 203 patients so far.
Luckily, we have some really great, reliable volunteers this year and are handling it in stride.
Thank you to the volunteers who come here daily to clean and cook for the animals.
Thank you also to the volunteers who have opened their hearts and homes to our orphaned babies, giving them both a family and a second chance at a normal life in the wild. Without our volunteers we would not be.
Coming Soon
Title: Wildlife Center CLEAN UP DAY!
Location: 7036 Balsam Way, Oakland CA 94611
Link out: Click here
Description: Come help us Spring Clean and get ready for the coming wave of orphaned babies!
Haul branches, move lumber, clean cages and kennels! Sweep stairs, wipe walls, change lightbulbs, and fix anything you see out of place!
Bring fresh branches and stimulus for our wildlife patients to prettify their cages!
Bring old towels, puppy training pads, paper towels, tissues, or anything else from our wishlist to help us get through the coming year!
Thank you!
Start Time: 12:00
Date: 2010-03-06
End Time: 17:00
Title: Volunteer Orientation
Location: 7036 Balsam Way, Oakland CA 94611
Link out: Click here
Description: Meet us, take a tour of our facility and talk about what we need from our volunteers. If you like our facility and want to volunteer, you can sign up for a shift right then, or set up a time to train for foster care.
This will probably take only 1 hour.
Start Time: 12:00
Date: 2010-02-13
End Time: 13:30
We received our first wildlife patient for the 2010 year. A gray fox was stuck in a live trap for 4 days. Aside from some scrapes and bruises and a very empty tummy, he is fine and will be released in a few days, following a little fattening up.
If he looks sinister it is because I accidentally woke him up taking this photo. He will be with us a couple more days to fatten up and recover from his four day starvation diet.
