Tag: werc

Faster, higher, stronger. The best human athletes in the world, many of them from California, have proven their worthiness of an Olympic medal. But there are other “athletes” all around us – our local native wildlife includes some with amazing feats worthy of a medal, and in fact, one of them already holds a world record. These are among the best of the best we have worked with at the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center:

Garlic ice cream, garlic Jelly Bellies, garlic cheesecake, garlic grasshoppers. Well, maybe the last won’t be offered at the Gilroy Garlic Festival (July 27-29) this year, but who knows? The parents of this unusual little baby bird just might have acquired a taste for spicy bugs when they set up “housing” next door to a Gilroy garlic stand.   

“Four little chickadees singing in a tree, One flew away and then there were three. Chickadee, chickadee, happy today. Chickadee, chickadee, fly away.” – Lyrics by Peter and Ellen Allard

They’re not paintings of animals, but paintings by animals. Koko the gorilla, Elepha the elephant, Jello the penguin and Koopa the turtle are just a few of the animal kingdom’s Picassos, Monets and Pollocks. These are animals who actually paint by beak, mouth, paw, flipper or trunk. Some can actually hold a paint brush and others create art hands-on in the same way that children fingerpaint.

On Feb. 28, the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center received a call from Almaden Quicksilver County Park in San Jose about an adult golden eagle found struggling on the ground and powerless to fly away.

A golden eagle has the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center to thank for his life.

Owls have had a variety of symbolic interpretations though the ages. Depending on your culture, it was believed that if you saw an owl it meant either that you could expect prosperity or that you're going to die soon.

Last year, the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center's Oscar, the screech owl who had been a popular educational animal at WERC since 1996, passed away on Easter Sunday. Several months later, WERC put out a notice to other wildlife rehabilitation centers that it was interested in acquiring another screech owl to join its educational animal ambassadors - non-releasable birds, mammals and reptiles that visit schools and public events to teach children and adults about our local native wildlife and habitats.

Early in June, Daniel Pierce was biking along the Sawyer Camp trail above Crystal Springs Reservoir (near Burlingame) when he was startled to come upon a bobcat kitten along the wayside. The tiny animal was weak, starving, possibly sick and could barely stand. Daniel was worried that the kitten was orphaned and might die if not rescued. He quickly called several local wildlife centers for advice on how to handle the situation and was told to contact the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center in Morgan Hill because WERC is nationally renowned for rehabilitating orphaned bobcat kittens.

Nearly everyone recognizes the changing of the season when tree