Lindsay Wildlife Museum Hospital for Animal Boo-boos
When you cut your finger or have a bad cold, you head for the doctor. But people panic when they see injured animals, mainly because they don’t know exactly how to help the critters. Where do you find the right kind of doctors to make the boo-boos go away? On a trip with a friend to the Central Coast, unbeknownst to me, my travel companion was sitting down at Ventura pier trying to get help on the phone for not one but two creatures she saw–a pelican that maybe didn’t fly and a sea lion seemingly tangled in fishing line.
If only she’d had access to the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro or Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital at Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek! Its staff helps heal around 5,000 animals per year. As the oldest and one of the largest rehabilitation centers in the United States treating injured and orphaned wild animals, the hospital is a pioneer. Now-standard protocols across the country were developed there.
What to do if you find….
- Bat on the ground: Don’t touch it.
- Adult deer broken leg or injured: Deer cannot endure treatment and captivity. Leave them alone.
- Squirrel hit by car: If alive, carefully place it in secure container and bring it to a care center.
- Get more advice on wildlife-museum.org
