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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California |
Due to Fish & Wildlife regulations we are not allowed to let members of the public see wildlife which is being rehabilitated for release back to the wild. We can only legally show our educational animals to the public in person. The only exception of course is if someone is a legal volunteer. Because we can't give physical tours I thought I'd make this virtual tour of our facility because everyone keeps asking.
As you all know everything we do is as "green" as possible. We build our enclosures with used, repurposed materials. Some materials we get free on Craigslist, freecycle or from the movie industry. Some enclosures we bought used on Craigslist. We had to pay to get the exercise wheels made but they are made from repurposed hoolahoops and rabbit hutch wire. We used a grant last year to buy used material and enclosures off Craigslist to build more outdoor enclosures. Our cages cost 1/5 the cost of new enclosures for this reason. We need to stretch our dollars as much as possible to save as many animals as we can.
We have a separate building as our ICU and nursery which has heat, AC, bathroom, sink, shower. Along two walls we have 18" deep storage shelving with incubators on the lower shelves and caging for juveniles on the top. The photo only shows one wall. There are also separate pet crates for injured adults. There are heating pads under all the incubators, crates and cages which we turn on if needed. They're attached to electric strip outlets which are on the back of the shelves. Along another wall of this room is stacked dog crates for larger orphans and injured adults such as coyotes, bobcats, foxes, raccoons, opossums. I generally have towels over the cages and front doors so they won't be stressed but took them off for this pic.
When the animals are old or well enough we put them into large outdoor enclosures. These large enclosures help them acclimate to outdoor weather, sights and sounds of nature. This is also where they get needed excercise and learn to climb, jump, make a nest and forage for hidden food in their enclosure. We have custom made exercise wheels in the enclosures. Once the orphans can feed themselves, we no longer handle them. This is how they become wild again. It's their natural instinct.
We have predator animals on one side and prey animals on the other divided by cage walls and materials so they can't see each other. The cages face out for this reason. They all have roofs, flooring, next boxes, things to climb, tree branches, logs, lofts, hidey holes, food bowls, ponds, swings, enrichment items... Below are a few of our enclosures. All of these enclosures are more than the minimum requirements in terms of size, strength... They are all at least six to eight feet tall walk-in aviary enclosures. There are two bird aviaries on another part of the property. With all these enclosures we are able to save over 1,000 wild animals per year by having the animals in there in shifts. We do one litter size of animals at a time, e.g. six juvie skunks, racoons, squirrels, bobcats, coyotes....in an outdoor enclosure. When we release those we put in another litter size of animals to condition for release.
If you look in the background you can see our compost container. We also have water collection containers and we grow some of our own vegetables to feed to the wildlife. Nothing gets wasted here. Most of our food is donated. Thanks so much!
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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins |
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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins |
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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins |
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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins |
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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins |
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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins |
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| Animal Advocates wildlife rehabilitation facilities, enclosures, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins |
Mary Cummins of
Animal Advocates is a
wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the
California Department of Fish and Game and the
USDA.
Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.
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