Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center treats animals for county, for no pay

Huntington Beach’s Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center made headlines earlier this year when it took in and treated scores of brown pelicans poisoned by domoic acid, a deadly side effect of the Los Angeles fires.

The largely volunteer-run nonprofit — which treats everything from hummingbirds and baby raccoons needing nourishment to raptors and wounded waterfowl requiring surgery — rallied to rescue nearly 200 emaciated seabirds, nursing them back to health and releasing them as they recovered.

Despite its modest size, the center’s reach is mighty. Last year, the group took in 8,176 wildlife patients, found wounded or vulnerable in backyards, parklands and on beaches throughout Orange County and the city of Long Beach, officials report.

Veterinarian Elizabeth Wood and wildlife technician Teal Helms look over a tranquilized deer found in Costa Mesa in 2023.

Many of those wards were paid for by cities with animal control units that contract with WWCC, such as Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Laguna Beach, paying $125 per animal to cover the average cost of lodging, food, care and whatever treatment is needed.

But of that total population, about 3,708 — more than 45% — arrived at the center from roughly two dozen unincorporated communities and municipalities, including Huntington Beach, served by Orange County Animal Care.

Whether captured and transported by animal control officers or brought in by individuals from locations within the agency’s service area, such animals constitute the lion’s share of Wetlands and Wildlife’s clientele.

Yet, the center receives no funds from the county for their care and treatment and hasn’t since last year, when a five-year contract that offered an annual flat rate of $9,000 expired in August, according to Debbie McGuire, executive director of the wildlife group.

“I had started negotiations with them earlier, then they offered me $12,000 a year,” McGuire said Thursday. “I told them, ‘You guys bring in 45% of our patients — it’s not fair to the animals.’”

Dr. Duane Tom, of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, inspects a Sanderling at the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in 2021.

If the county were to pay the same $125-per-head rate as contracting cities, it would bolster the group’s coffers by up to $463,500 and go a long way toward helping the center cover its $900,000 annual expenses.

Citing budget shortfalls, county animal officials extended the expired working relationship to November, allowing officers to continue bringing wildlife to the center. But when the extension ran out, wildlife experts and volunteers were left to wonder, what was happening with wildlife needing care?

“For a while it was scary, because OC Animal Control would not pick up any animals in need and bring them to us because we did not have a contract,” said Andrea Takla, chair of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center’s 12-member board. “That was very upsetting to us.”

The situation eased this spring, when a wave of emaciated brown pelicans, too weak to fly, were discovered on Southern California beaches, including in Orange County. McGuire said the center sprung into action and concentrated its efforts on rescuing the birds, including 54 from Huntington Beach.

A Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center volunteer retrieves a rehabilitated brown pelican after it failed to take flight.

But the enterprise was a costly one, as pelicans on the mend began consuming up to $45 worth of fish daily. Multiplied out by 200 or more birds across several weeks, the care costs mounted. Still, the county offered no funding.

Today, the center continues to care for critters of all kinds, even those brought in by animal control officers. Alexa Pratt, a community resources spokeswoman for the county, confirmed that in June, OCAC took in 258 live wild animals, 61 of which were transported to the Care Center. Another 58 were taken to other wildlife rehab facilities, while 133 were humanely euthanized or died in care.

Pratt further said between 1997 and 2016, the county historically paid nominal amounts to the center for wildlife assistance, adding that while the agency operates on a $29-million annual budget, it mostly concentrates its efforts on domestic animals and “does not typically provide monetary support to rescue, sanctuary or nonprofit organizations who choose to accept animals in need.”

Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center's Debbie McGuire and Maddy Chiavazza hold baby raccoons in 2023.

“OC Animal Care is empathetic to the financial needs of charities such as [Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center] and we, as fellow animal lovers, appreciate their good work,” she continued in an email. “However, OC Animal Care is not able to divert taxpayer dollars to support charitable work outside of our agency’s contractual and mandated obligations.”

To help right what they see as a funding imbalance, WWCC officials have embarked on a campaign to raise awareness about their funding structure, in hopes cities that contract with the county for such services might consider dealing directly with the nonprofit.

For example, of the 8,176 animals assisted by the center last year, 1,273 came from Huntington Beach.

“There are a lot of cities that contract with OCAC — it makes you think, should they renew?” Takla said Thursday. “If they want to make sure animals are cared for and released [into the wild] maybe don’t renew and then contract with us directly.”

McGuire said the group is simply seeking a way to continue to provide a needed service.

“We’re trying to be sustainable and stay here for the community,” she said Thursday. “We just need help from the cities; I don’t think that’s unreasonable.”