Success Stories
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© Stephanie Ellis
Cormorant Gets Best Valentine’s Day Gift Possible
When a wild bird is born with a wing deformity, the chance of it achieving strong enough flight skills for a successful life in the wild is only about 15%.
Apparently no one told that to a special barn owl who arrived as a downy nestling to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley (WCSV) in June 2009. After months of rehabilitation and careful training, the owl gained full flight and hunting capabilities and was released at Alum Rock Park on December 17.
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© Ashley Kinney
Disabled Barn Owl Defies Odds and Learns to Fly
When a wild bird is born with a wing deformity, the chance of it achieving strong enough flight skills for a successful life in the wild is only about 15%.
Apparently no one told that to a special barn owl who arrived as a downy nestling to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley (WCSV) in June 2009. After months of rehabilitation and careful training, the owl gained full flight and hunting capabilities and was released at Alum Rock Park on December 17.
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© Mike Mammoser
Western Grebe Caught in Fishing Line Now Gone Fishin’ Herself
On June 6th, WCSV Director of Animal Care, Stephane Ellis, released a Western Grebe, one of the less common birds we treat at the Center. Here is her account of the grebe’s rehabilitation.
“The grebe came in thin and weak with fishing line constricting movement of the right wing. I removed the line and she had some minor soft-tissue swelling and abrasions where the line had been.
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© WCSV Volunteer
Canada Geese: From Eggs to Release
Over the Easter 2009 weekend, the Center gained some new patients when seven orphaned Canada Geese eggs hatched in our incubators. When they were ready to go outside, they were placed with an adult who didn’t seem too interested in them. Our concern was that the young’uns wouldn’t learn what it meant to be a goose.
Fortunately, on May 5th, the seven hatched goslings—along with four others that had come in to the Center—were successfully released into an existing wild population at Shoreline Park in Mountain View.
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© Connie Devine
When five baby Fox squirrels were taken from their nest in March 2009 by trimmers working on a large eucalyptus tree, they couldn’t have known how lucky they were that the tree belonged to Grady Jackson.
The Morgan Hill resident, who raises Chesapeake Bay retrievers, didn’t know much about squirrels, but he knew he needed professional advice to help these young and vulnerable animals. Grady contacted WCSV and was put in touch with June Ferrero, our squirrel team coordinator.
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© Carmel de Bertaut
Good Samaritan Heeds Coyote Cries for Help
On a Sunday evening in late April 2008, Monique Lee received a phone call from a UCSC student (who prefers to remain anonymous). The student and his girlfriend had heard cries coming from outside his off-campus dorm room and they had discovered two young coyote pups at the entrance to a den eight feet up a cliff face.