The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley Celebrates 25 Years!

San Jose, CA -- The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley (WCSV) announced its 25th anniversary of providing high-quality care for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife in Santa Clara County. Founded in 1993, WCSV has functioned as a hospital and rehabilitation center for native wildlife living in Silicon Valley.

Each year the WCSV staff takes in over 5,000 animals, and they don’t see the trend ending any time soon. Since 1993, the number of animal intakes has increased by 55 %. “We believe that the steady increase of animals admitted into our hospital is due to their interaction with humans. In fact close to 90% of all of our cases are due to this,” says Laura Hawkins, Executive Director of WCSV. “As we encroach on their habitat, this is bound to happen.” Some of the most common reasons for admission are collisions with cars, tree-trimming, and poisoning.

WCSV is the only Center in Santa Clara County that takes in all native species year round. This includes everything from bobcats and coyotes to songbirds and squirrels. “We take in over 164 species, each with their own special needs,” says Ashley Kinney, The Center’s Hospital Manager. “Our focus is to treat the individual animal and do everything we can to release it back into the wild. This is a big undertaking considering we can get up to 60 animals a day.”

It takes a lot of hands to care for the hundreds of animals WCSV rehabilitates at any one time. Luckily, the Center has a strong group of over 300 trained volunteers who spend upwards of 25,000 hours yearly to help care for all native species and ages of birds, mammals, and reptiles. Volunteers are especially needed during peak season which spans April through September, a full six months out of the year.

Another focus of WCSV throughout its 25 years is on educating the public about coexisting with their wild neighbors. The Center provides information to the public in a variety of ways, such as attendance at community events, on-site telephone support, school programs, their bi-yearly magazine and an informative web site. The non-profit runs almost completely on donations from the public. Without the support of the residents in the surrounding communities, they would not be able to achieve their mission.

Established in 1993, the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley (WCSV) is a wildlife rehabilitation hospital that accepts all local, native wildlife in Santa Clara county and the surrounding communities. Each year WCSV takes in over 5,000 animals with the goal of rehabilitating and releasing them back into the wild. For more information on WCSV go to www.wcsv.org.