[Noozhawk’s note: First in a series sponsored by the Hutton Parker Foundation.]
Jane Slater was having a typical day volunteering at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network when she received a heart-warming call while operating the network’s rescue helpline.
A man called, concerned about a baby duck that had lost its mother, and asked how late the facility was open and when it would open again in the morning. Slater found the inquiry odd so she asked where the man was calling from. She was shocked to hear that he was more than 350 miles away in Las Vegas.
It turned out that the man had found at least 20 baby ducks but could not find a place in Nevada that could get them help. He was willing to drive them to the Goleta care center at his own expense.
“It warms my heart that there are so many people out there who are willing to take their time and effort to help the animals and the wildlife,” Slater reflected on the experience.
“It’s such a rewarding job because you realize how much empathy the general public has for wildlife.”
The rewarding experiences of volunteers are what keeps them coming back to the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, where they are the backbone of the organization. Volunteers are behind-the-curtain heroes who help safely return animals to their natural environments.
“As a nonprofit, we rely on volunteers to help us do our day-to-day tasks,” said Liora Bregman, volunteer coordinator for SBWCN. “Volunteers touch literally every single part of the organization.”
SBWCN started as an only-volunteer organization at its inception back in 1988. Volunteers gave at-home care to animals and housed them in their backyards during the rehabilitation process. Animals would go from house to house receiving care from a network of volunteers.
Five-year volunteer Jane Slater operates the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network’s helpline. (Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network photo)
With operations now centralized at the SBWCN facility at 1460 N. Fairview Ave. in Goleta, there are almost 200 volunteers who have given 8,425 hours of their time just this year, according to Bregman.
Volunteers are responsible for an array of tasks, ranging from preparing diets, doing dishes and setting up cages, to operating the network’s helpline and even participating in rescue and transport.
“Everywhere and anywhere that we need help at the center, we have volunteers there to assist the staff,” Bregman told Noozhawk.
Slater is a dedicated volunteer with more than 800 volunteer hours in the five years that she has helped at the facility. Slater’s love for animals first brought her into the network where she continued to volunteer at least twice a week.
“There’s not a four-footed creature that I don’t adore,” she said. “All my babies have fur and four paws.”
Slater operates the rescue helpline, which “rings off the hook” when people find animals that need rescuing. She receives all kinds of calls from people trying to rescue pelicans, raccoons, bunnies, skunks, and “practically everything,” she said.
Ducklings get some TLC at the SBWCN. (Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network photo)
Beginning volunteers get tasked with simpler responsibilities like doing laundry or washing dishes. As volunteers gain experience, however, they can perform tasks that require more training, like hand-feeding baby birds or performing oil washes. Some volunteers are called in to do special projects like handiwork and equipment repairs.
“Volunteers tend to love what they do because they get to work closely with these wild animals,” Bregman said. “You don’t really get to have these experiences just walking through nature.”
Staff experienced a “stressful and tension-filled time” when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a drop in volunteers, she said. However, SBWCN did not let this obstacle get in the way of giving animals the care that they need to return to a life in the wild. Staff adjusted their operations and figured out how to proceed.
“We had such an amazing response from our volunteer community who came back in full force to help,” Bregman said.
The coronavirus crisis actually led to a new volunteer base for the network.
Most volunteers tended to be elderly and in the at-risk population, according to Bregman. Now, there are a lot more new, young and college-aged students signing up to volunteer.
Gretchen Lieff, vice president for the network’s Board of Directors, actually began her volunteering after the virus hit.
Volunteer Emmar Lewis handfeeds a baby hummingbird. (Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network photo)
“I saw the need,” she said. “Many of our volunteers were no longer able to come in due to COVID.”
Lieff went into the facility one day to assist with ducklings and said she “immediately fell in love.” Bregman praised Lieff for being “absolutely instrumental” in their operations during “baby season.”
Now, Lieff is responsible for the ducklings, taking them out Monday through Thursday at the early hour of 7:30 a.m. Because she has had such a rewarding experience volunteering, she plans to continue her volunteer service even when the pandemic clears.
“I’ll continue to volunteer for the rest of my life,” she said. “It gives me such a purpose to help the life of an animal that wouldn’t otherwise make it.
“It’s a really beautiful experience to help these animals that are so helpless, one of the most gratifying experiences I think I’ve ever had.”
Lieff encourages everyone with a little extra time to consider volunteering and experience this for themselves.
“Animals would many times die without our help,” she explained. “There is an urgency in terms of getting these animals into us as soon as possible.
“We really depend on our local community to help us help wildlife.”
Community members looking to volunteer can fill out an online application to answer simple questions about themselves and their availability. After completing a Zoom orientation, volunteers can watch training videos on the website to get them ready to come into the facility.
“Everyone in here has a hand in giving animals a second chance to live their life out in the wild,” Bregman said.
Click here for more information about the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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