The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach is inundated with sick and injured animals after Tropical Storm Hilary.
The nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation center’s hundreds of animals were evacuated during the storm, with most of them temporarily housed at the Santa Ana Zoo, Executive Director Debbie McGuire tells KNX News’ Emily Valdez.
“Songbirds, all of our baby opossums, squirrels, raccoons, baby ducklings, mallard pelicans, seagulls,” she said. “There's some up at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Network Organization, and I think they had six raccoons and about 30 mallards they're going to be bringing back.”
McGuire said she was glad the animals were evacuated, because the center sustained thousands of dollars of damage during the storm. An outdoor triage tent was blown apart, and some metal cages snapped in the wind.
“I have about $33-50,000 in damage repair that I'll have to try to raise, because I don't budget for things like that,” she said.
Despite the damage, the center is swinging into action to help animals that were injured during the storm. McGuire said they’re being overwhelmed with five times as many animals as usual, including tropical birds that were blown into the area.
The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center is accepting donations at their website.
Listen and subscribe to The L.A. Local podcast: your TL;DR for what's happening in Southern California
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
Related
