Wildlife
Emergency? Call: 818-948-9453
Non emergency related calls: 818-222-9453
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
will offer critical information pertinent to the caller’s
situation – for example, how to safely reunite a healthy
baby bird with its parents. Additionally, it will provide
the caller with the telephone numbers of accredited wildlife
experts nearest them, specializing in the species they’ve
encountered.
While her vision is to see this hotline serve
the nation, her goal is to debut the system in Southern California,
initially Los Angeles and Ventura counties in 2007. With a
combined area of nearly 6,000 square miles, the service would
be available to over 3,600,000 households. Within 2 years
she anticipates providing service to California, a projected
13 million households.
A comprehensive emergency phone service like
this is the answer.
Each year, within Los Angeles and Ventura counties,
an estimated 70,000 wild animals are reported sick or injured.
This hotline will help 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.
As for the nuts and bolts, an IVR telecommunication
vendor would design and implement the platform. What does
that mean? First of all, interactive voice response (IVR)
is a computerized system that allows a caller to interface
with a phone system by listening to prerecorded voice prompts
and selecting options by, in this case, pressing a number
on their phone’s keypad. For example, by answering simple
questions with the touch of a button, a caller who has found
an injured owl would be offered a list of raptor specialists
in the selected area code.
Furthermore, the company that builds the computerized
system will host the phone line. They will be responsible
for making sure the system stays functional day and night,
maintenance, upgrades – all the technical stuff. The
day-to-day administrative duties will be the performed by
a Program Manager. Their tasks will include logging data collected
by the system and making sure the hotline stays up to date
with current information. Rebecca Dmytryk will assume this
role initially. As director of WildRescue, she will also act
as chief administrator for this program, pro bono, managing
its affairs, including fundraising and publicity.
To evaluate the functionality and success of
the hotline, the system will be programmed to generate a daily
report of the calls received including the time of call, caller
ID, duration, and the callers’ paths within the system.
Quarterly reports will detail this key information.
Through pledged support and in-kind contributions
totaling $66,088.00 start-up costs and a portion of the anticipated
operating expenses for the wildlife hotline have been met.
$25,000.00 must be raised to begin operations.
Rebecca is seeking letters of commitment, for
$1,000.00 or more, to cover the balance of our projected operating
expenses for the first year.
For the proposed budget please email
Rebecca.
How to help WildRescue…
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Please make checks payable to Earthways / WildRescue
EarthWays / WildRescue
C/O Rebecca Dmytryk
P. O. Box 2
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
VOLUNTEER
We are always looking for helping hands on rescues
and for administrative duties. Please inquire for an application.
Currently, we are in dire need of help
with our web site that will be an ancillary resource to the
toll-free hotline service. Please contact Rebecca at the above
email address to inquire.
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