California Wildlife Center is currently the only licensed facility providing marine mammal response as well as full-term rehabilitative care for native wildlife including coyotes, deer, raptors, songbirds, squirrels, opossums, bobcats, etc., in Los Angeles and Orange counties and southern Ventura County.
CWC offers direct services at no charge to the public in cooperation with California State Parks, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, the City of Malibu, local county and city animal control agencies and the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
Federal and state laws and regulations require wildlife rehabilitators to hold valid permits. California Wildlife Center operates under the following permits, which allow it to rehabilitate most local wild animals:
- Under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Permit MB006662-1, CWC is allowed to rehabilitate all migratory birds.
- Under California Department of Fish and Wildlife Permit R5-02-WCR-09, CWC is allowed to rehabilitate birds, land mammals, and reptiles.
- CWC was granted the only deer rehabilitation permit in Los Angeles and Orange counties by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife in the summer of 2001, and in the fall of 2002, was designated as one of five coyote rehabilitation centers in Southern California.
- Through a Stranding Agreement with National Marine Fisheries Service, CWC is permitted to respond to and provide rehabilitative care to marine mammals in distress. CWC’s Marine Mammal Response Program works closely with the National Marine Fisheries Service, local lifeguards, park rangers, and the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department as the local link in the Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
With so few wildlife rehabilitation facilities available to Los Angeles, California Wildlife Center is a crucial resource for federal, state, and local wildlife agencies as well as for the general public.