Wildlife Emergency?
866-WILD-911
or visit
wildrescue.org
OUR MISSION.
WildRescue focuses on the pervasive issues faced by wildlife
casualties and the caring people who find, them through innovative
programs that promote optimum care of sick, injured, and orphaned
native wildlife.
THE NEED. While there are
wildlife rehabilitation facilities dedicated to providing
specialized care necessary for their patients to be returned
to the wild, very few provide 24-hour emergency assistance
over the phone - even fewer have the resources to send rescuers
into the field.
In the absence of someone who can correctly
identify a species, evaluate an animal’s condition,
administer first aid, and provide transport, countless lives
are lost. With her extensive background in wildlife rescue
and rehabilitation, Project Director Rebecca Dmytryk organized
WildRescue in 2000 to concentrate on the problems associated
with the rescue and transport of critically injured native
wildlife. She is committed to improving the way debilitated
wild animals are treated and setting standards of practice
in wildlife emergency response to ensure wild animals receive
proficient attention and a second chance.
There's no reason injured or orphaned wild animals,
or the persons who find them, should go unattended or be given
inadequate attention. There is no excuse for the senseless
killing of viable wildlife, including healthy newborns, which
is policy in many municipal animal shelters. Injured wild
animals deserve the care offered by wildlife rehabilitators
– the opportunity to recover from their injuries, and
be returned home.
DIRECTOR’S BACKGROUND.
Project director, Rebecca Dmytryk, has  been
working in the field of wildlife rescue and rehabilitation
for over twenty years. Daughter of famous film director Edward
Dmytryk and actress Jean Porter, Rebecca moved to the hills
above Malibu in 1974 where her fascination with wildlife and
reverence for nature flourished. At age 13 she was relocating
rattlesnakes from the family’s backyard to the safety
of the surrounding mountains. Inspired by the work of Jane
Goodall, and E. O. Wilson, Rebecca went on to study animal
behavior, and finally, in 1981 she began
her career in wildlife rehabilitation.
She gained experience working as an animal
control officer for Los Angeles County in the mid 1980’s
while continuing to operate her own mobile pet care service.
In 1993, she became a member of International Bird Rescue
Research Center’s Oiled Wildlife Response Team and has
since joined the team on numerous oil spills, including the
Galapagos Island tragedy in 2001. In 1996, Rebecca founded
The California Wildlife Center, a hospital for sick and inured
wild animals, based in Malibu, California. After administrating
the wildlife hospital for four years and earning credibility
as a leading authority in wildlife emergency response, Rebecca
chose to focus her talents on the pervasive issues facing
wildlife casualties. During a recent 2-year term with the
California Department of Fish & Game Wildlife Rehabilitation
Committee she helped establish protocol for the care of native
wildlife.
CURRENT PROJECT
Toll-Free WILD-911
Most people who find injured wild animals are
anxious to help. Unfortunately, they are often at a loss for
what to do, or whom to call. In their attempts to locate assistance,
too frequently they meet with outdated telephone numbers,
busy signals, on-hold gibberish, or shelter attendants who
advise them the animal will be euthanized upon admission.
Nationwide, the primary dilemma for wildlife
casualties and the people who find them is a missing link
– a resource that connects the finder with a wildlife
specialist who can provide sound advice, and proper care.
There has yet to be such a streamlined system in place.
That is, until now.
To answer this need, Rebecca has developed a
comprehensive emergency telephone system - like an automated
911 for wildlife emergencies. This user-friendly phone system
offers critical information pertinent to the caller’s
situation – for example, how to safely reunite a healthy
baby bird with its parents. Additionally, it provides the
caller with the telephone numbers to accredited wildlife experts
nearest them, specializing in the species they’ve encountered.
Each year, within Los Angeles and Ventura counties,
an estimated 70,000 wild animals are reported sick or injured.
This hotline helps link the finders with the specialists who
can offer the animals a second chance. The wild creatures,
and those who care enough to try and help them, deserve such
a resource.
Through generous contributions and in kind donations
the hotline launched in April 2007, serving Los Angeles and
Ventura counties. Within its first year, the hotline received
2633 calls to help wild animals.
While it is Dmytryk’s vision to see the
hotline serve the entire country, she hopes to offer the hotline
service to all of California by 2009. To do so, WildRescue
is seeking financial support to cover the actual per call
/ per-minute charges which could potentially exceed $30,000.00
even in its inaugural year.
For the proposed budget please email Rebecca.
How to help WildRescue…
Please make checks payable to Earthways / WildRescue
EarthWays / WildRescue
20178 Rockport Way
Malibu CA 90265
Email: rebecca@wildrescue.org
RALPHS COMMUNITY PROGRAM
WildRescue is now registered with the Ralphs
Community Program - every time you use your Ralphs card, an
itty-bit will come our way once $200.00 is reached within
one month in a given household... It adds up!
If you could take the couple minutes to register
online, so that when you shop, you'll be helping out WildRescue
too, that would be greatly appreciated!
Have your Ralphs Club Card handy and go to:
http://www5.kroger.com/EnterpriseLoyaltyWeb/crenrollment?divId=703
We have been assigned this NPO number 83630
If this gets confusing just call Ralphs at 800-660-9003
to get your Club Card number or pick one up next time you're
in and remember to register it!
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!!! - Rebecca
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