Here it is in chart form. The number of rehabbers is down as is animal intake.California Department of Fish & Wildlife losing wildlife rehabilitators. Nicole Carion.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (formerly "Department of Fish and Game") maintains native fish, wildlife, plant species and natural communities for their intrinsic and ecological value and their benefits to people. This includes habitat protection and maintenance in a sufficient amount and quality to ensure the survival of all species and natural communities. The department is also responsible for the diversified use of fish and wildlife including recreational, commercial, scientific and educational uses.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife does not do wildlife rehabilitation. The Department licenses properly trained and experienced wildlife rehabilitators who do the actual work. Wildlife rehabilitators rescue ill, injured and orphaned wildlife for release back to the wild. All wildlife rehabilitators are volunteers who must pay for permits, cages, food, veterinary care... to rescue the animals. Wildlife rehabilitators receive no money or compensation from the Department or state to care for these animals.
Nicole Bowser Carion became the rehab coordinator in October 2004. Before that a warden in each of the six California regions was in charge of the rehabbers in that region. Animal Advocates is located in region five. We are the only facility licensed in the City of Los Angeles serving over 4.5 million people and over 500 square miles. Warden Joseph Baima was the rehab coordinator for region five up until 2004. Warden Joseph Baima did a wonderful job educating, aiding and permitting rehabbers in the region. He did an even better job making sure there was peace among the rehabbers.
Since Nicole Carion became the rehab coordinator the number of permitted rehabbers has decreased by 15%. Number of animals rescued has decreased by 16,358 or 20%. While the economy is probably one of the reasons the number of rehabbers decreased from 2008 to 2012, I believe Nicole Carion is the reason for the previous and continued decrease.
We have lost 15% of our permitted wildlife rehabilitators since Nicole Carion joined Fish & Wildlife. For this reason the number of animals rescued has dropped by 16,358 or 20%. I have been receiving more calls than ever before asking for help with wildlife but we have to refuse a great number of animals because we get full quickly. We take in between 700 and 1,300 mammals a year.
Nicole Carion made it more difficult and costly to become a rehabber. I don't believe the level of care of wildlife has increased. Nicole Carion added a lot more red tape to make it almost impossible for new people to receive permits. The only thing Nicole Carion has to do is file an annual report of the number of rehabbers and animals rescued each year. She was three years behind in her reports until I sent in an information act request to obtain the reports. She finally finished and posted the reports.
Nicole Carion stopped accepting applications for permits when she started. I was the last person permitted in 2003. My permit was signed January 2004. She did not approve a new permit for at least two years. While she is accepting applications I don't know if she is approving new permits. We desperately need new wildlife rehabilitators so we can save more of California's wildlife.
One of the main purposes for having wildlife rehabilitators is so that the public will not try to help the animals themselves. Inexperienced people could be bitten, scratched or attacked while trying to help. They could spread zoonotic diseases and parasites. While we don't have many cases of rabies in California we do have some rabid bats. A caring member of the public could easily be bitten by a dying rabid bat and not know to immediately get post-exposure rabies vaccinations. A caring member of the public also won't know how to properly raise wildlife for release back to the wild. We would end up with many illegal and possibly dangerous wild animals as pets.
Please, contact the directors at Fish & Wildlife to ask them to increase the number of wildlife rehabilitators. The head of the Fish & Wildlife Department is Charlton Bonham. Deputy Director is Kevin Hunting. Dan Yparraguirre is in charge of the wildlife branch which oversees Wildlife Rehabilitation. director@wildlife.ca.gov.
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| Nicole Carion, wildlife rehabilitation coordinator, number, rehabilitators is down, California department of fish and wildlife, annual reports |
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| Nicole Carion, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, wildlife rehabilitators, intake, annual report |
Year Number of licensed rehabbers Number of wild animals rescued 2004 116 83,000 2005 111 75,696 2006 108 69,153 2007 108 68,437 2008 114 70,233 2009 106 79,007 2010 100 71,458 2011 100 66,642 2012 99 No report apx 40,000 2013 98 No report 2014 95 No report
Links have changed
End of Year Reports (the links changed when they updated the site. See below)
2004
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82734
2005
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82735
2006
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82736
2007
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82737
2008
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82738
2009
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82739
2010
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82740
2011
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=82741
Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and theUSDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.
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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.
- Mary Cummins LinkedIn
- Mary Cummins Meet up
- Animal Advocates custom Facebook name
- Mary Cummins Real Estate blog
- Animal Advocates on Google maps
- Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates
- Mary Cummins biography resume short
- Mary Cummins Real Estate Services
- Animal Advocates fan page at Facebook.com
- Mary Cummins Animal Advocates Squirrel Rescue
- Mary Cummins Animal Advocates on Flickr photos
- Mary Cummins Animal Advocates on Twitter.com
- Mary Cummins on Picasa web photo albums
- Mary Cummins on MySpace.com
- Mary Cummins on Google Blogger Blogspot
- Mary Cummins on YouTube.com videos
- Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates on Classmates
- Mary Cummins on VK
- Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates on Google+
