Lacking funds, animal care center shuts down

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A Huntington Beach animal care facility -- the

only local center for orphaned and injured wildlife in the Newport-Mesa

area -- has closed because it lacks the funds necessary to keep its doors

open.

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center of Orange County stopped

accepting animals, other than those injured in oil spills, because it

doesn’t have enough money to pay for upgrades needed to keep its city

permit, said Gary Gorman, the center’s facilities manager.

About 75 animals now at the center will be rehabilitated, released or,

if possible, sent to other facilities, Gorman said.

News of the center’s closure came as a shock to the animal control

division of the Newport Beach Police Department, which is one of several

local animal care agencies that uses the services of the center.

“We use them daily,” to handle injured, starving and fledgling birds,

said Jamye Rogers, an animal control officer with the department.

Rogers said the center’s closure will mean that most of the creatures

that would ordinarily have been saved by the department will now be

euthanized.

The center treated Sir Swany, a Japanese black-necked swan from

Newport Harbor, after he was injured in a fuel spill in April.

The swan is one of more than 100 species -- such as pelicans,

opossums, coyotes, gray foxes and squirrels -- that have been cared for

and nursed back to health since the facility opened two years ago, Gorman

said.

It accepts 15 to 20 new animals daily, from locations ranging from

Ventura County, South Orange County and as far inland as Henderson, Nev.

The center is closing because it can not afford to comply with

requirements to obtain a permit for its on-site trailer, pave its parking

lot and carry out other necessary work.

The improvements could cost as much as $50,000, Gorman said. Its

annual operating budget, derived from a combination of public and private

sources, is $65,000.

Fund-raisers may eventually provide enough financial slack to allow

the center to reopen, Gorman said, but it is not clear if or when that

will happen.